大家一定知道kill这个词意思是“杀死,” 大家也许觉得kill是个杀气腾腾的词,给人不祥的感觉,没想到在某些习惯用语里kill竟然跟一些令人高兴的事儿沾上边了。我们今天就来讲这样两个习惯用语。第一个是:make a killing。
一般说来killing意思就是“杀,” 但是killing前面加上了make就完全改变意义了。那么make a killing表示什么呢?我们听个例子来揣摩它的意思。它说的是能在片刻间给人带来万贯家财或者让人倾家荡产的华尔街证券交易所。
例句-1:Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street. In two days this stock he bought doubled in price so he sold it off quick at a 100 percent profit just before it went down again.
例句-2:It was a joke, of course, but five million Americans were amused enough to pay five dollars a piece for the rocks. And the man who dreamed up the idea really made a killing.
我们接下来要学的习惯用语是:dressed to kill。Dressed to kill意思当然不是穿上蒙面的紧身衣去干杀人的勾当;dressed to kill用来指穿上了华丽讲究或者时髦新颖的服装大出风头,可能有人会想不通这个习惯用语的来历。
一种解释是如此漂亮的打扮让人见了倾倒销魂。人们说某人dressed to kill通常的含义是这人精心打扮为了吸引异性的注意。比方说在下面的例子里说话的人在说他兄弟Pete去跟女朋友约会时的穿着打扮。
例句-3:Pete usually wears jeans and a T-shirt. But last night it was hard to recognize him -- he was dressed to kill because he finally got a date with that blond he's admired for so long.
让我们再听一个用dressed to kill这个习惯用语的例子,但是这个例子说的是个女孩。说话人的妹妹Mary为参加毕业舞会而精心打扮:
例句-4:It took Mary two hours to get ready, but it was worth it -- she was dressed to kill and the center of attention. Everyone was saying she was the most beautiful woman at the prom.