作者：李景莉

61. Let sleeping dogs lie.

從字面上來(lái)看,Let sleeping dogs lie. 的意思就是"不要去惹正在睡覺(jué)的狗"。該習語(yǔ)的意思是"別多事;別惹麻煩;莫惹是生非"。該習語(yǔ)也可說(shuō)成"Let a sleeping dog lie." 或"Don't wake a sleeping dog."下面是一個(gè)婦女在給她的朋友提出勸告:

If I were you, I would not tell Nellie you saw her husband having lunch with another woman. They might have been perfectly innocent, so you'd let sleeping dogs lie. 要是我是你的話(huà),我就不會(huì )去告訴內利你看見(jiàn)她丈夫和另一個(gè)女人一起吃午飯的事。也許他們根本就沒(méi)有什么事,所以你還是別惹麻煩。

下面這個(gè)例子說(shuō)明每個(gè)人在采取行動(dòng)前都需要慎重考慮,要想到可能產(chǎn)生的后果:

Can you prove that your neighbor stole your lawnmower? If not and you call the cops, he could make real trouble for you. Better to let sleeping dogs lie! 你有證據證明你的鄰居偷了你的割草機嗎?要是你沒(méi)有證據,又去報了警,他可以給你制造好多麻煩的。你還是算了吧!

62. Every dog has his / its day.

Every dog has his / its day. 的意思是"凡人皆有得意時(shí);每個(gè)人總會(huì )有實(shí)現自己愿望的一天"。比如,一個(gè)公司的職員很想被提升,但是,他的愿望沒(méi)有實(shí)現,而另一個(gè)同事卻被提升了�；氐郊依�,他的妻子聽(tīng)到這一消息后對他說(shuō):

Darling, I know how upset you are that you didn't get the promotion. But don't take it too hard-your turn will come. You know what they say-every dog has his day! 親愛(ài)的,我知道你因為沒(méi)有被提升而感到很不開(kāi)心。你可別把這件事看得太重了。你以后會(huì )有機會(huì )的。就像他們說(shuō)的:人人都有得意之時(shí)嘛。

下面的例子是一個(gè)作家因找不到出版商出版他的作品而感到煩惱,他的朋友勸他說(shuō):

Okay, so this publisher sent back your manuscript, there are plenty of other publishers. You'll find one who'll buy it-remember, every dog has his day! 行了,就算這個(gè)出版商把你的手稿退了回來(lái),那還有好多出版商呢。你會(huì )找到一個(gè)愿意接受你作品的出版商的。別忘了,人人都會(huì )有機會(huì )的。

63. to put on the dog

美國人總是說(shuō):狗是人類(lèi)最好的朋友。許多美國人對家里的狗就像對待家里的人一樣好。有錢(qián)人還往往會(huì )出幾千美元去買(mǎi)一只稀有品種的狗。 to put on the dog就是 "擺排場(chǎng)給別人看"。大概一百多年以前,一些有錢(qián)的人往往花很多錢(qián)去買(mǎi)一只稀有品種的小狗來(lái)顯示自己很有錢(qián)。一些闊太太們經(jīng)常在接待客人的時(shí)候把一只小狗抱在腿上來(lái)炫耀自己的闊氣。當時(shí)耶魯大學(xué)的學(xué)生就使用to put on the dog這一說(shuō)法來(lái)嘲笑那些暴發(fā)戶(hù)。請看下例:

Joe Doak is sure putting on the dog since his rich aunt died and left him 10 million dollars. He's bought the biggest house in town and a Mercedes-Benz 600, and talks about buying some riding horses. 喬?多克自從他那位富有的阿姨去世,留給他一千萬(wàn)美元遺產(chǎn)以后,可真是擺闊氣。他買(mǎi)了城里最大的一棟房子,還有一輛奔馳600型號的汽車(chē)。他還說(shuō)要買(mǎi)幾匹馬騎著(zhù)玩呢。

但是有錢(qián)的人也不都是那樣揮霍的。下面就是一個(gè)例子:

I had this friend in the army who was the son of one of the richest men in the country. But what I like about him was that he never put on the dog to show off his money.我在部隊服役的時(shí)候有個(gè)朋友,他的爸爸是美國最有錢(qián)的人之一。我很喜歡這個(gè)朋友,因為他從來(lái)也不炫耀自己多么有錢(qián)。