英語早間課堂:話說地道美語 Lesson 13 (1)
“覆水難收”最早出現(xiàn)在南朝.宋.范曄寫的《后漢書. 何遷傳》，文中寫道：“國家之事，亦何容易!覆水不能收，宜深思之。”后來演變?yōu)?ldquo;覆水難收”，一直沿用至今，成為家喻戶曉的一個(gè)成語。那么它是是什么意思呢?“覆水難收”顧名思義就是指潑在地上的水無法再收回，比喻事情已成定局，無法挽回。
So , “覆水難收”means "spilt water can't gathered up" and is compared to "what's done cannot be undone."However, we have a colourful sentence to express it. What's it? Let's listen to the following sentence: It's no use crying over spilled milk that you feel deeply depressed that you are not the first in the final examination for English. 你在英語期末考試中沒有獲得第一名感到懊悔沮喪，可是這是覆水難收，悔而無補(bǔ)呀!It's /no use/ crying over spilled milk/ that you /feel deeply depressed/ that you are not the first in the final examination/ for English. 親愛的聽眾朋友，您覺得這句話中哪里表述出了“覆水難收，悔而不補(bǔ)”的意思呢?
它是一個(gè)句子，這個(gè)句子中含有連個(gè)重要的短語，一個(gè)是：cry over, c-r-y, cry(哭)，o-v-e-r, over(因?yàn)?，cry over意思是：因......而哭;一個(gè)是：spilled milk, s-p-i-l-l-e-d，spilled(打潑的，打翻的)， m-i-l-k ，milk(牛奶)，spilled milk意思就是：打潑在地上的牛奶。Spilled是實(shí)義動(dòng)詞spill的過去分詞，這里做形容詞，因?yàn)樗c被修飾的名詞milk存在著被動(dòng)關(guān)系。那么表示出“覆水難收，悔而無補(bǔ)”的意思的這個(gè)句子是：It's no use crying over spilled milk. 意思是：為打潑在地上的牛奶而哭沒有用。我們知道牛奶打潑在地上了，無論你是孫悟空使出千般招兒，牛奶也不會(huì)回到原處，還沒等到你的眼淚哭干，打翻在地上的牛奶就已經(jīng)蒸發(fā)干了。那么，哭有用嗎?Of course, it's no use.
It's no use crying over spilled milk.這句話中關(guān)鍵的短語是：cry over spilled milk. It means " to waste time worrying about something that has happened that cannot do anything about". 譯為：枉為無可挽回的事而擔(dān)憂;作無事于補(bǔ)的擔(dān)憂;作徒勞、無益的后悔，沮喪。It's no use crying over spilled milk. 引申為：對已成定局無法挽回的事兒后悔沮喪是徒勞，沒有用的。這正是我們中文說的“覆水難收，悔而無補(bǔ)”。當(dāng)然，我們也可以用一個(gè)否定結(jié)構(gòu)的祈使句說：Don't cry over spilled milk.還有一種說法我們在前文提及，它是：What's done cannot be undone.但是使用含有“cry over spilled milk”這個(gè)短語的句子更為地道。
此外，再詳說一下這個(gè)句子：crying over spilled milk是動(dòng)名詞短語做真實(shí)主語，it's no use中的it是形式主語。
那么當(dāng)您的朋友因挫敗而整天郁郁寡歡，茶飯不思，徹夜難眠時(shí)，您不妨用這句話安慰他：“It's no use crying over spilled milk. ”“Don't cry over spilled milk.”“What's done cannot be undone.”覆水難收，悔而不補(bǔ)。木已成舟，悔而無補(bǔ)。不要做無益，徒勞的后悔了。
Let's look at two more sentences. 1 I am sorry for you! You are crying over your stolen wallet,since it happened, just let it go, you know —— it 's no use crying over spilled milk. 我非常理解你的心情，你的錢包被偷了，傷心掉淚，那么既然此事已經(jīng)發(fā)生，就忘掉吧，你知道的，覆水難收，后悔也無濟(jì)于事呀。(備注：be sorry for 對某人表示同情。stolen wallet這里是用steal的過去分詞來修飾wallet，它們之間存在著被動(dòng)關(guān)系。 Let it go.這個(gè)句子我們也可以說為：Let bygones be bygones.)2 Don't cry over spilled milk, just be sure you won't make the same mistakes. 覆水難收，悔而無補(bǔ)，記住別犯同樣的錯(cuò)誤就行了。
【課堂總結(jié)】
在今天的課堂上，我們學(xué)了表述“對已經(jīng)成事實(shí)而無法挽回的事兒傷心懊悔沒有益處，是徒勞”的說法：It's no use crying over spilled milk. Don't cry over spilled milk. What's done cannot be undone. 就是中文的成語“覆水難收，悔而無補(bǔ)。”“木已成舟，于事無補(bǔ)。”前2個(gè)句子的關(guān)鍵短語是：cry over spilled milk 字面意思是：為打潑在地上的牛奶而哭，引申為：做徒勞，無益的后悔沮喪。此外，spill與milk 存在著被動(dòng)關(guān)系，要用spill的過去分詞來修飾milk這個(gè)名詞，cry over something也可以說為cry about something，意思是：為......而哭。
親愛的聽眾，你記住了嗎?I am sure you've done. So , please finish the exercises left if you are available after work. 記住在下班后如果有時(shí)間的話，最好完成留給您的習(xí)題練習(xí)，學(xué)了不用很容易就忘記了。Practice makes perfect. If you practise it over and over , you can use it with ease. 熟能生巧。如果您不斷的反復(fù)練習(xí)所學(xué)的東西，那么到時(shí)候就運(yùn)用自如了。So , have a nice day. Thank you for your listening this time . See you! Thank you, listeners! See you!
【課后習(xí)題】
1 Please complete the following sentences according to the Chinese.
(1) 已經(jīng)決定了，你就別沮喪了，沮喪也沒有用呀。
The decision made and it's no use .
(2) 公司已經(jīng)不給你升職了，你就別做徒勞的傷心了。
Your company made the you couldn't get and cry milk.
2 Please find the mistakes in the following sentences and correct them.
You have been against the law. It's no use to cry over the spilling milk.
