今天我们 来给大家介绍两个由skin组成的习惯用语。我们要讲的第一个常用语所形容的景象可能你们永远都看不到。这个俗语是:to jump right out of one's skin。
To jump就是:跳;to jump right out of one's skin要是直译的话,就是某人从皮肤里跳出来。这当然是不可能发生的,所以你永远也不可能看到这种现象。实际上,to jump right out of one's skin是指一个人由于突然发生的事,或者是由于没有预料到的危险,使他吓一跳。同样的,要是突然发生一件令人非常高兴的事,使某人非常惊喜,在这种场合下也能用这个常用语。下面就是一个例子。
"When the door opened, I almost jumped right out of my skin. There was my brother, arms loaded with Christmas presents. He lives all the way out in California, but he'd decided to surprise me by flying to Washington for Christmas."
"When it started to rain, I ran toward a big tree for shelter. But there was a flash of lightning and I jumped right out of my skin -- the lightning hit the tree just before I reached it."
不同的国家和民族对某些事物的看法各不相同,这也就是风俗习惯的不同,或者是所谓的文化差异。中国人要是见到一个很久没有见面的朋友,往往会说:"吆,你发福了!"或者是说:"你心宽体胖呀!"可是,要是美国人对朋友说:你胖了,那他的朋友可是要生气的。下面我们要给大家介绍的这个俗语就和这一情况有关:all skin and bones。
大家都已经知道,skin是皮肤,那末,什么是bone呢? Bone就是人体内的骨头。All skin and bones,从字面来解释,它的意思就是:全是皮肤和骨头。实际上,all skin and bones和中文里的"皮包骨"的说法完全一样。美国人经常用all skin and bones来形容那些很瘦的人,这是一个非常普遍的说法。当然,all skin and bones是夸大其词,因为一个人要是只剩下皮和骨,那这个人就没有可能活下去。
但是,这正是习惯用语的特点。它们往往通过夸张的形式来使人们印象更深,我们今天讲的第一个习惯用语 to jump right out of one's skin就是如此。刚才我们说过中国人和美国人对胖和瘦的看法有所不同,我们举一个例子就可以显示这一点:
"Have you seen Henry lately? For two months he's been on this special diet to lose weight. Well, he's taken off forty pounds and now he's all skin and bones."
"There's nothing sadder to see than a picture of children who are all skin and bones because they live someplace where most people don't get enough to eat."
今天我们讲了两个和skin有关的习惯用语。我们讲的第一个习惯用语是:to jump right out of one's skin。To jump right out of one's skin是指吓一跳,它可以是由于高兴而感到惊喜,也可能是因为危险或其他不幸的事而感到震惊。我们今天讲的第二个习惯用语是:all skin and bones,就是皮包骨的意思,是指那些很瘦的人。