get sb's goat,不要理解为“取得某人的山羊”
无数的经验告诉我们,若一些短语或词组的意思很奇怪或不符合逻辑,那么它肯定是一个习语,比如 put one's feet up,它不是“抬起某人的双脚”的意思,因为这个很离谱,它的寓意是“放松,好好休息一下”,例如:
You go home and put your feet up.
你回家好好休息一下。
After a day of gardening I'm ready to put my feet up.
经过一天的园艺工作,我已经准备好好休息一下。
又如 eat crow,不要理解为“吃乌鸦”,因为那给人的感觉很奇怪,它的寓意是“被迫认错或收回自己的话”,通常会引起很大的羞愧,例如:
I think Ellen is a perfectionist because the thought of having to eat crow terrifies her.
我认为艾伦是个完美主义者,因为一想到要承认错误,她就害怕。
When it became clear that they had arrested the wrong person, the police had to eat crow.
很明显警察抓错人了,他们只好被迫认错。
同样,get sb's goat 不要理解为“取得某人的山羊”,它是一个习语,跟山羊没有关系,用来比喻激怒或惹恼某人,例如:
She got my goat the moment she said my mother was no good at parenting.
她一说我母亲不善于育儿,我就生气了。
其实,用来比喻类似惹某人生气的单词或短语还很多,常见的还有:
一、常见表生气的单词
1、angry 发怒的,愤怒的,生气的等,例如:
The passengers grew angry about the delay.
延误使乘客气愤起来。
二、常见表生气的短语
1、drive sb crazy/mad/insane 把人逼得发疯 / 发狂 / 失去理智,例如:
They're building a house next door and the noise is driving us all crazy.
他们在隔壁盖房子,噪音把我们都逼疯了。
2、in a fit of anger 气头上,一时气愤,例如:
When she didn't get her way, she drove off in a fit of anger. 当她不能随心所欲时,一气之下开车走了。
3、bite one's head off,非常生某人的气,例如:
I'm very sorry I lost my temper. I didn't mean to bite your head off.
很抱歉我发脾气了。我不是故意要生你的气。