美國(guó)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)Lesson 85 - throw a wet blanket on sth...

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to throw a wet blanket on something

to throw a monkey wrench

中國(guó)人經(jīng)常會(huì)用"潑冷水"這個(gè)詞來(lái)形容一些影響人們熱情的事。那么，美國(guó)人是怎么說(shuō)的呢？他們說(shuō)：to throw a wet blanket on something。

A wet blanket就是一張濕的毯子。To throw a wet blanket on something就是消除別人的熱情或者是破壞別人的享受。那么，這個(gè)俗語(yǔ)是從哪兒來(lái)的呢？大家可能都注意到，每當(dāng)發(fā)生火災(zāi)的時(shí)候，人們往往用濕的毯子來(lái)滅火。這個(gè)俗語(yǔ)還經(jīng)常被用來(lái)形容那些讓人感到掃興的客人，請(qǐng)聽(tīng)下面這個(gè)例子：

例句-1: Let's not invite Dick to the dance--he is such a wet blanket with that sour look on his face and his boring talk.

這個(gè)人說(shuō)：我們開(kāi)舞會(huì)可別請(qǐng)迪克，他那愁眉苦臉的樣子，還老說(shuō)那些沒(méi)有人感興趣的話(huà)，太掃興了。

下面這個(gè)例子是一個(gè)人在談?wù)搰?guó)家經(jīng)濟(jì)動(dòng)向的問(wèn)題：

例句-2: Bad news today: the government says that corporate earnings weren't as good as expected the last quarter. That'll throw a wet blanket over plans of investors to get into the stock market.

這句話(huà)的意思是：今天的消息可不好。政府說(shuō)，上一季度私營(yíng)企業(yè)的盈利并沒(méi)有期望中那么好。這個(gè)消息對(duì)那些想在股票市場(chǎng)投資的人來(lái)說(shuō)就好像潑了一盆冷水一樣。

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下面我們要給大家介紹的一個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)是：to throw a monkey wrench。A monkey wrench就是那種用來(lái)擰螺絲的活動(dòng)扳頭。要是一個(gè)工人在工作的時(shí)候不小心把扳頭掉到正在運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)的機(jī)器里去了，那個(gè)機(jī)器就會(huì)停頓。這也正是to throw a monkey wrench的意思，那就是影響、或終止某些本來(lái)該發(fā)生的事。下面的例子是一個(gè)人在對(duì)他的朋友訴苦：

例句-3: The family and I planned to leave Monday for a two-week vacation in California. But the boss threw a monkey wrench into our plans today when he told me I have to go to a business meeting in New York next week.

他說(shuō)：我們?nèi)矣?jì)劃星期一去加州兩個(gè)星期渡假。但是，老板今天突然要我下星期去紐約參加一個(gè)會(huì)議，這下可把我們?nèi)胰说挠?jì)劃都打破了。

下面這個(gè)例子是美國(guó)人可能在新聞節(jié)目里聽(tīng)到的消息：

例句-4: A federal judge threw a monkey wrench into the project to build a new oil refinery on the river. He ordered the company to stop work until they had a better plan to guard against water pollution.

新聞報(bào)道說(shuō)：聯(lián)邦法官終止了在河上修建新的煉油廠(chǎng)的工程。他下令那個(gè)公司在制定出更好的防止水污染計(jì)劃之前停止這項(xiàng)工程。