In other words, one who punches above his weight overachieves.

Conversely, if one punches below his weight, he underachieves, giving an underwhelming performance.

Britain, if you’re a close observer of international affairs, often appears to stand alongside America over wars or other policies in general. By doing that, it perhaps hopes to look like a heavyweight.

Ironically, America, which clearly is a heavyweight, does not always recognize Britain as such, i.e. a shoulder-to-shoulder equal. In fact, Barack Obama a year ago called Cameron a “lightweight” (‘Cameron’s a lightweight’, New Statesman, December 4, 2008).

Going back once again to boxing, a lightweight (at about 60 kilograms) is literally seven WBA (World Boxing Association) classes below the heavyweight (about weighing 90 kilos or more).

Therefore perhaps Cameron and other Brits should be a bit more realistic. They should not be talking about Britain punching above its weight all the time – you know, by always siding with America (even though admittedly that’s sometimes more due to nostalgia about its own imperial past than out of genuine agreement with USA).

Instead, they should try to avoid Britain punching below its weight.

To achieve that, if you ask me, an English language learner, aspiring international politicians may want to quote more Shakespeare than Churchill.

【Britain punching above its weight】相关文章：

★ 中考英语九大题型答题技巧

★ 史上最详细写作练习法！

★ “鱼”与“熊掌”可兼得

★ 小学英语 英文之妙语连珠超级94句(2)

★ 写好小升初英语书面表达的方法

★ 初中生征服英语词汇的十大方法

★ 我是怎样将新概念英语108篇课文背诵下来的

★ whether the weather

★ 新概念英语速成解读

★ 54条小学英语绕口令