經(jīng)常用的八個(gè)日常短語 它們的起源卻出人意料

柳葉眉的柳葉刀

　　1,。 Pass the buck

　　推卸責(zé)任

　　We all know that buck is informal American English for a dollar。 Indeed,， it can also be used for an Australian dollar,， a New Zealand dollar， a South African rand,， and an Indian rupee – but none of those senses are related to pass the buck,， meaning ‘shift the responsibility to someone else’。

　　我們都知道buck表示美元,，是一個(gè)不正式的美式英語詞,。它還能用來指澳元、新西蘭元,、南非幣和印度盧比——但是沒有一個(gè)意思和推卸責(zé)任的短語有關(guān),。

　　This particular buck is ‘a(chǎn)n article placed as a reminder in front of a player whose turn it is to deal at poker’ – which means passing it make much more sense,。 This item also gives us the phrase the buck stops here； both figurative phrases have moved far beyond their poker origins,。

　　這里的buck特指用來提醒打撲克牌的一件東西,，這樣傳遞它就講得通了，而且還有一個(gè)短語是責(zé)任止于此,。這些比喻性的短語比它們?cè)醋該淇伺频挠梅ǜ�常用�?/font>

　　2,。 Turn over a new leaf

　　洗心革面

　　You might have wondered what raking the lawn had to do with the decision to ‘start to act or behave in a better or more responsible way’。 Well,， it has nothing to do with foliage,， in case you were wondering， but relates to another common use of leaf： one of the pages in a book,。 A similar derivation gives us to take a leaf out of someone’s book,， meaning ‘imitate or emulate someone in a particular way’。

　　你或許會(huì)好奇用耙子耙草坪跟洗心革面有什么關(guān)系,。事實(shí)上,，它和枝葉沒有關(guān)系，而是和leaf另一個(gè)常用的意思有關(guān)：書頁,。一個(gè)相似的衍伸詞組是take a leaf out of someone’s book,，表示“模仿某人或把某人當(dāng)做偶像”。

　　3,。 Push the envelope

　　挑戰(zhàn)極限

　　This envelope isn’t the sort you’d put letters in,。 As we discovered in a post about the linguistic influence of aviation， push the envelope was originally aviation slang relating to graphs of aerodynamic performance and exceeding the set of limiting combinations of speed and altitude,。

　　這里的envelope并不是平時(shí)放信件的那種,，這個(gè)短語最初是航空俚語，和空氣動(dòng)力性能有關(guān),，超出了速度和海拔的限定,，所以有挑戰(zhàn)極限的意思。

　　4,。 Ring the changes

　　換湯不換藥

　　An editor might ring the changes in red,， but this phrase – meaning ‘vary the ways of expressing or doing something’ – has nothing to do with pen and paper。 Instead,， it came originally with allusion to bell-ringing and the different orders in which a peal of bells may be rung,。

　　它最初和響鈴的典故有關(guān)，有不同的訂單,，接著會(huì)有一串響鈴的聲音,。

　　5。 Leave someone in the lurch

　　不顧他人的安危

　　Lurch means ‘a(chǎn)n abrupt uncontrolled movement,， especially an unsteady tilt or roll’,。 It turns out that they’re unrelated,； the word  lurch in this phrase derives from the French lourche， which is the name of a game resembling backgammon,。 In French,， you might find it in demeurer lourche， ‘be discomfited’,。

　　Lurch表示突然失控的移動(dòng),，尤其是不穩(wěn)定的傾斜或滾動(dòng),。但和這個(gè)短語沒有關(guān)系,，短語里的lurch起源于法語詞lourche，是個(gè)類似十五子棋的游戲名稱,。

　　6,。 Lick into shape

　　塑造，整頓

　　In Medieval Europe,， it was believed that bears’ young were born shapeless,， and licking into shape refers to the alleged practice of bears licking their offspring into ursine form。

　　在中世紀(jì)的歐洲,，人們以為年幼的熊出生時(shí)是不成形的,，licking into shape據(jù)稱指的是熊會(huì)舔它們的后代，讓它們變成像熊的樣子,。

　　7,。 Flash in the pan

　　曇花一現(xiàn)的人或物

　　The flash arises from an explosion of gunpowder within the pan， which was a part of the lock that held the priming in old types of gun,。

　　這里的flash源自火藥的爆炸,，是舊式手槍點(diǎn)火鎖的一部分。

　　8,。 Pull out all the stops

　　全力以赴

　　These stops are organ pipes of a particular tone and range of pitch and the handles which control them,； by pulling all the stops out， you would create a louder,， more elaborate sound,。

　　這里的stops是指特殊音調(diào)的風(fēng)琴管、音域和控鍵,，把這些都拔掉后,，你能制造更大更精美的聲音。（滬江英語）