例句:The theory must sound good to corporate execs, but even in business you can't have your cake and eat it.
Pie in the sky
就算你不是天文学家,你也知道天空中不可能会有 pie,虽然这是很美妙的想法。于是这个表达的意思就是“想起来令人愉悦,但很难实现的事情”,类似画饼充饥、空中楼阁。这一表达来自工人运动激进分子 Joe Hill 于1911年创作并演绎的歌曲《牧师与奴隶》(The Preacher and the Slave):
You will eat, bye and bye,
In the glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You’ll get pie in the sky when you die.
(天堂里有的是面包,
到时候你会吃得到;
先干活祈祷睡稻草,
死去时天堂有甜包。)
这首歌模仿了救世军赞美诗《赞慕福地歌》(In the Sweet By and By),以及最初关于天堂里的奖赏或人世间的痛苦的著名歌词。
例句:I had to convince them that my plans to renovate it weren't just pie in the sky and persuade them that I'd actually finish it.
Cakes and ale
Cakes and ale 明显是说“美好的时光”。这一表达似乎首次出现在莎士比亚于1623年创作的戏剧《第十二夜》(Twelfth Night)。在这部戏剧中,托比·佩尔奇爵士问马福利奥:“你以为你自己道德高尚,人家便不能喝酒取乐了吗?(Dost thou think because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more Cakes and Ale?)”这一表达在近代英语中的变体是 beer and skittles,而苏格兰人也有 cake and cheese 的说法。
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