You’re talking to your native English-speaking friend about your recent breakup and how depressed you are when suddenly he turns toward you and says “Don’t worry about it man, girls like that are a dime a dozen!” You then stare at your friend in confusion. You simply don’t understand why your good friend is comparing the girl that was once the love of your life to $1.20.
某天，你跟一個(gè)老外朋友說(shuō)起自己剛跟女友分手，現(xiàn)在很難過(guò)。就在此時(shí)，對(duì)方突然拍了拍你的肩膀?qū)δ阏f(shuō)：“Don’t worry about it man, girls like that are a dime a dozen!”你不解的盯著對(duì)方。你很難理解老外怎么會(huì)把你曾經(jīng)深愛的女友說(shuō)成只值一塊二毛錢!
Actually “a dime a dozen” doesn’t mean anything even remotely close to what the individual words in the phrase implies. For native speakers of English, a dime a dozen simply means that something is common and easy to obtain. Because we cannot figure out the meaning by examining the phrase alone, “dime a dozen” is what we call an idiom. As a non-native speaker of English, the best way to understand idioms is to memorize their meanings from the standpoint of a native speaker. We’ve listed the 10 most common idioms in English and their actual meanings.
其實(shí)，“a dime a dozen”跟“一塊二毛錢”沒有半點(diǎn)關(guān)系。對(duì)于母語(yǔ)為英文的人來(lái)說(shuō)，它指的是某事物多的很不值錢，想要得到它也不是很難(天涯何處無(wú)芳草)。由于單看字面意思我們很難明白其中的真正含義，”a dime a dozen”其實(shí)就是一句習(xí)語(yǔ)(和中文的成語(yǔ)一樣)，作為非英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)人士，想要記住習(xí)語(yǔ)最好的辦法就是站在native speaker的角度來(lái)理解記憶習(xí)語(yǔ)。下面我們就一起來(lái)看看英文中最常用、最有趣的幾個(gè)習(xí)語(yǔ)：
1. A Piece of cake 小菜一碟
No, when someone says that the assignment they just finished was a piece of cake, it does not mean that their professor gave them a red velvet cupcake for their midterm paper, what a piece of cake actually means is that something is very easy to complete.
不，當(dāng)某人說(shuō)他們剛剛完成的任務(wù)就像一塊蛋糕，那么它并不是說(shuō)教授因?yàn)樗麄兊钠谥锌荚嚦煽?jī)獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)他們一份紅絲絨蛋糕，“a piece of cake”實(shí)際是指某事很簡(jiǎn)單很容易完成。
2. Costs an arm and a leg 花了我一大筆錢
It would be a strange world we lived in if buying that fancy shiny purse literally required us to chop off our body parts to give as tribute to the Louis Vuitton gods. When something costs an arm and a leg it actually means that something is very expensive.
如果為了買我們心愛的閃亮的包包，比如LV，卻要讓我們砍掉手腳以示敬意，那這個(gè)世界未免太奇葩了吧。當(dāng)某物花掉你的胳膊和腿時(shí)，它實(shí)際是指這個(gè)東西超級(jí)貴。
3. Break a leg 祝你好運(yùn)
Oh, look, another idiom about legs. You’re about to take your dreaded calculus final and before you head into your classroom your roommate texts you, “Break a Leg!” Why, you think in your head, would he ever wish that upon me? I thought we were cool with each other. Well, your roommate surely doesn’t want your bones to break while walking to your seat in the exam room that’s for sure. Break a leg actually means good luck!
哦，快看，又一個(gè)與腿有關(guān)的習(xí)語(yǔ)。你馬上要參加你最害怕的微積分期末考試了，在你進(jìn)入考場(chǎng)教室前你的室友給你發(fā)來(lái)了一條短信：”Break a Leg!” 什么，你在腦中暗暗的想，難道他希望我斷胳膊斷腿?我一直以為我們關(guān)系很好呢。那么，事實(shí)上你的室友并不是希望你在走入考場(chǎng)位置時(shí)摔斷骨頭，這是肯定的。Break a leg實(shí)際上就是“祝你好運(yùn)”的意思!
4. Hit the books 用功讀書
If you’re a student in an English speaking environment you’re probably going to be hearing this phrase a lot. Before you imagine students running into their campus library and punching, kicking and wrestling apart the complete works of Shakespeare, we would just like to say that hit the books actually means to study. There there, you can still punch books in your spare time if you want, we won’t judge you.
如果你是一個(gè)生活在英語(yǔ)環(huán)境下的學(xué)生，你肯定會(huì)經(jīng)常聽到這句話。當(dāng)你腦子里在歪歪各種學(xué)生沖進(jìn)校園圖書館拳打腳踢撕扯莎士比亞著作的畫面時(shí)，我要告訴你hit the books實(shí)際上指的是去學(xué)習(xí)(用功)。當(dāng)然當(dāng)然，如果你想，你還是可以在閑暇時(shí)間猛捶你的書，我們不做評(píng)論。
5. Hit the nail on the head 恰到好處，一針見血
This idiom has to do with doing or saying something that is precisely right. If you don’t understand this, just think about that sweet feeling you get when you swing a hammer at a nail and hit it perfectly.
這個(gè)習(xí)語(yǔ)表示做某事或說(shuō)某事恰到好處。如果你還是不懂，那么就想象一下當(dāng)你揮舞著鐵錘恰到好處地正中要害，一錘定音，那種感覺有多美妙。
6. You can’t judge a book by its cover 不要以貌取人
How many awesome books do you think you’ve never read in your life just because the cover did not catch your eye? This idiom does not only apply to books however, but can be used for everything in general. Essentially it means that you should not decide upon something based just on outward appearances.
你能想象下僅僅由于封面不夠吸引眼球，你錯(cuò)失了多少本好書嗎?這個(gè)習(xí)語(yǔ)不僅僅適用于書，還可以廣泛的應(yīng)用于很多場(chǎng)合。總體而言，它是指不要光從事物的表面現(xiàn)象來(lái)做決定。
7. Bite off more than you can chew 貪多嚼不爛，自不量力
Imagine your waiter brings you the biggest juiciest hamburger from your favorite American restaurant. In your hunger, you grab it quickly and take a giant bite out of it. Unfortunately, the bite you’ve taken is too big, and you end up looking like an idiot trying to shove this bite down your throat while drinking water and trying not to choke. That is the most literal sense of the meaning, but in general it just means to attempt to take on a task that is too much for you to handle.
想象一下在你最喜歡的美國(guó)餐廳，服務(wù)員為你帶來(lái)最大最美味的漢堡包。饑腸轆轆的你，抓起漢堡狠狠地咬了一大口。很不幸，你咬的這一口太大了，以至于你最終的結(jié)局是一邊想要艱難努力的咽下這一大口食物，一邊又喝水以防嗆到自己，場(chǎng)面是不是像個(gè)白癡一樣很傻很可笑。
8. Scratch someone’s back 投之以桃，報(bào)之以李
We all know how difficult it is to scratch that itch on your back that your hand just aren’t flexible enough to reach, so why would you want to scratch some random person’s smelly back? Because if you do, they may eventually be willing to scratch your own smelly back when you need it! What this idiom means is to help someone out with the assumption that they will return the favor in the future!
我們都知道想要給后背撓癢是件很麻煩的事，因?yàn)槭直蹧]有那么靈活，那么你為什么還要偶爾給別人的后背撓癢呢?答案是，如果今天你幫了別人，那么某一天也會(huì)有人愿意幫你的后背撓癢!這句習(xí)語(yǔ)的意思就是預(yù)支自己對(duì)他人的幫忙，以防日后自己不時(shí)之需時(shí)可以有人情債可收。
