例句-1:Honey, I have bad news. I got a pink slip in my pay envelope today. The boss says I'm a good worker, but our business is way down and he just can't afford to keep us all working.
这就是我们要学的第二个用法:get the boot。Boot的意思是“靴子”或“长筒靴”。Get是得到的意思。这跟解雇有什么关系呢?Boot在这里实际上是指用靴子“踢”人的动作。
Get the boot这个习惯用法的意思是,雇员做错了事情,至少是让老板不高兴,结果被老板“踢”了出来,也就是中文里的“炒尤鱼。”下面请听一个例子。
例句-2:The boss kept warning Bill he had to get to work on time. But Bill didn't listen; he kept arriving up to an hour late. So the boss finally lost patience and gave him the boot.
如果雇员因自己的问题被老板解雇,英语里还有一个表达方法,就是:get the heave-ho。Heave的意思是举起、用力拉或抛弃的意思。Heave-ho是水手用语。水手们在把铁锚从海底拉起来的时候就会喊heave-ho,也就是“用力拉呀。”
从40年代起,人们开始用它来表示解雇,或“炒尤鱼。”我们听一个例句。
例句-3:Our company had to give our accountant the heave-ho after we had an audit that found out over 75,000 was missing from our bank account and the accountant couldn't explain why.
例句-4:Our TV sets just couldn't compete with others on the market. So we closed down that operation and downsized about 600 people who'd been working in that part of the factory.