to get a foot in the door
to be dead on one's feet
美國(guó)的商品推銷(xiāo)員在不很久以前還是挨家挨戶(hù)地去推銷(xiāo)商品,例如吸塵機(jī)、廚房用品、百科全書(shū)和圣經(jīng)等。當(dāng)一位家庭主婦聽(tīng)到敲門(mén)聲,把門(mén)打開(kāi)的時(shí)候,精明能干的推銷(xiāo)員就會(huì)把一只腳先伸到門(mén)里邊,這樣可以避免在他還沒(méi)有機(jī)會(huì)介紹他的商品之前女主人就把門(mén)關(guān)上了。這種挨家挨戶(hù)訪問(wèn)的推銷(xiāo)員現(xiàn)在幾乎已經(jīng)消聲匿跡了,大多數(shù)推銷(xiāo)員現(xiàn)在都靠電話來(lái)招攬生意??墒?,把一只腳先伸到門(mén)里邊這個(gè)說(shuō)法卻成了一個(gè)人們經(jīng)常用的俗語(yǔ)了,在英文里就是:to get a foot in the door。 To get a foot in the door的意思就是:為了達(dá)到一個(gè)目的邁出了第一步,盡管你可能離達(dá)到目的的距離還很遠(yuǎn)。下面這個(gè)例子是一個(gè)學(xué)生說(shuō)的話:
例句-1: You know that beautiful girl who sits ahead of me in English class? She keeps turning me down for dates, but I finally got a foot in the door today: she met me for coffee after class.
這個(gè)學(xué)生說(shuō):"你知道英語(yǔ)課坐在我前面那個(gè)很漂亮的女孩子嗎?我請(qǐng)她出去玩,她老是拒絕我??墒牵裉煳宜闶沁~出了第一步。她答應(yīng)下了課和我一起去喝咖啡。"
下面我們要舉的例子是兩個(gè)人在談?wù)撘粋€(gè)很有政治野心的朋友。其中一個(gè)人說(shuō):
例句-2: Getting into politics is tough. But Martin got his foot in the door when he volunteered to go around town putting up posters for the Republican candidate for Congress.
他說(shuō):"要進(jìn)入政界是很難的??墒?,馬丁曾經(jīng)在當(dāng)?shù)亓x務(wù)地幫助那些共和黨競(jìng)選國(guó)會(huì)議員的候選人張貼標(biāo)語(yǔ),這樣他為能夠進(jìn)入政界邁出了第一步。"
一整天在電線干上貼標(biāo)語(yǔ)或招貼畫(huà)確實(shí)是很累的。馬丁回到家的時(shí)候可能會(huì)感到兩只腳累得連站都站不動(dòng)了。這也有一個(gè)俗語(yǔ)來(lái)形容這種情景的: to be dead on one's feet。美國(guó)雖然是最先進(jìn)的國(guó)家之一,但仍然有好多職業(yè)需要工作人員站著做的。售貨員就是其中之一。站了一天,到了下班的時(shí)候,他們必然會(huì)感到兩只腳很累。下面就是一個(gè)售貨員在對(duì)他的太太講話:
例句-3: Honey, I've got to sit down and rest before I take you out to dinner. I'm really dead on my feet tonight: we had the big year-end sale on and I was so busy I didn't even have time for lunch.
他說(shuō):"親愛(ài)的,我得坐下歇一會(huì)兒再和你一起出去吃晚飯。我今天晚上兩只腳實(shí)在累死了。我們正在舉行年底大減價(jià),我忙的連午飯都沒(méi)有時(shí)間吃。"
下面的例子是一個(gè)孩子在跟他的同學(xué)說(shuō)他們?nèi)胰タ磻c祝海灣戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)游行的情況:
例句-4: My parents took me to Constitution Avenue to see the parade. After standing there for a whole day, my mom was so dead on her feet that she could not even cook dinner for us by the time we got home.
這個(gè)孩子說(shuō):"我爸爸媽媽帶我到憲法大街去看游行。我們?cè)谀莾赫玖艘惶欤氐郊业臅r(shí)候,我媽媽的腳累得要死,連做晚飯也做不動(dòng)了。"