hang on to your hat
to keep something under your hat
要是你頭上根本沒有戴帽子,而有人對(duì)你說(shuō):Hang on to your hat. hang on就是抓住的意思,所以Hang on to your hat從字面上解釋就是:抓住你的帽子。那么,你既沒有戴帽子,為什么人家要叫你:抓住你的帽子呢?Hang on to your hat這個(gè)俗語(yǔ)的真實(shí)意思就是:有特別驚人的消息,你要準(zhǔn)備好,不要因?yàn)檫^于驚奇而讓帽子都從頭上掉了下來(lái)。下面這個(gè)例子是一個(gè)女子在對(duì)她的朋友說(shuō)話:
例句-1: Hang on to your hat--you won't believe this but last night Bill asked me to marry him!
她說(shuō):"告訴你一件特大消息,你肯定不會(huì)相信??墒?,昨天晚上比爾向我求婚啦!"
可是,對(duì)那些已經(jīng)結(jié)了婚的人來(lái)說(shuō),喜從何來(lái)呢?他們也有各式各樣的喜事。美國(guó)人都很向往到夏威夷的檀香山去,那里四季溫暖,景色迷人,當(dāng)?shù)厝擞质且詫?duì)人友好著稱。所以,下面這個(gè)例子里說(shuō)話的人當(dāng)然就很高興了:
例句-2: Hi, honey, I have something to tell you! Now hang on to your hat--the boss says he wants me to take charge of the new office in Honolulu. How about that for a nice surprise!
這個(gè)人對(duì)他的太太說(shuō):"親愛的,我要告訴你一個(gè)消息。你得小心聽著:我的老板說(shuō),他要我負(fù)責(zé)管理檀香山新開辦的分公司。怎么樣,這個(gè)出人意料的消息不錯(cuò)吧!"
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帽子是一個(gè)藏東西的好地方,不管是把一封信放在帽子底下不讓別人看到,還是戴上一頂帽子把自己的禿頂遮起來(lái)。下面我們要講的一個(gè)俗語(yǔ)就是這個(gè)意思:to keep something under your hat。To keep something under your hat的意思就是:我要告訴你一個(gè)秘密,但是千萬(wàn)不要告訴任何人。例如,下面這個(gè)女子正在告訴她的朋友有關(guān)另一個(gè)朋友的秘密,她說(shuō):
例句-3: Mary told me her husband is seeing another woman and she's thinking about leaving him but please keep it under your hat.
她說(shuō):"瑪麗告訴我她的丈夫有在外面亂搞?,旣愓诳紤]跟她丈夫分手。不過,請(qǐng)你千萬(wàn)不要對(duì)別人說(shuō)。"
世界上好像要保密的事很多。下面又是一個(gè)例子:
例句-4: Can you keep a secret? The boss's secretary just told me he's leaving for another job. She told me not to tell anybody else, so keep it under your hat.
這個(gè)人說(shuō):"你能保密嗎?我們老板的秘書剛剛告訴我老板要上別處去工作了。他的秘書叫我不要對(duì)任何人說(shuō),所以你得保密呀!"