英语习语集锦(11):a safe pair of hands是什么意思?
【往期回顾】
英语习语集锦(10):make a rod for your own back是什么意思?
【本期内容】
一、习语41
1、习语
2、Spark且说
该习语选自莎士比亚的代表作《Romeo and Juliet》:
“What's in a name? that which we call a roseBy any other name would smell as sweet;So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,Retain that dear perfection which he owesWithout that title. ”
by any other name意思是“换做其他任何名字”,该习语的字面意思是“玫瑰更其名而不改其香”,用来喻指“what matters is what something is, not what it is called”,也就是说“一个东西叫什么不重要,重要的是它是什么”。人也是如此,一个人叫什么名字不重要,重要的是这个人本身如何。
二、习语42
1、习语
2、Spark且说
这句习语出自美国诗人Gertrude Stein(格特鲁德·斯坦,如下中图)之手,她的作品独树一帜,标新立异,她致力于语言文字的创新,对语言文字进行了变革。这句习语就选自她1913年的诗作《Sacred Emily》,原诗句是:
Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose。
当被问及为何会写出这样的诗句时,她提到了在著名诗人荷马(Homer)以及乔叟(Chaucer)的时代,“the poet could use the name of the thing and the thing was really there.”
也就是说,“所写就所见”,她认为有时事物本该回复其原本的样子,玫瑰就是玫瑰,就是一种花而已,不一定非得指爱情什么的。
三、习语43
1、习语
2、Spark且说
这个习语源于英式英语,过去主要用来指代被赋予需要小心处理的敏感任务的政客或外交官,但该习语最早源于板球和英式橄榄球运动中,用来指代可靠的队员。该习语如今用来喻指“可靠的好帮手;可以委托的人”,如:
Seen as a safe pair of hands he was appointed World Bank chief economist in 2000, at a time of institutional turmoil.
在2000年的机构动荡中,他被世界银行视为可靠人选,任命为首席经济学家。
四、习语44
1、习语
2、Spark且说
该习语出自莎士比亚(Shakespeare)的剧作《暴风雨》(The Tempest,1610):
ARIEL [sings]:
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell.
a sea change用来表示“彻底的改变;巨变”,如:
A sea change has taken place in young people's attitudes to their parents.
年轻人对待父母的态度已经发生了三百六十度转变。