「美国习惯用语」第一百一十三讲
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turkey
cold turkey
美国人很喜欢吃火鸡。每逢感恩节和圣诞节,火鸡总是家家户户节日盛宴的主菜。有的时候,人们把感恩节称为"火鸡日"。火鸡在英文里就是:turkey。
尽管美国人很喜欢吃火鸡,但是大多数人认为火鸡不仅很难看,而且还笨头笨脑的。所以,要是你把某一个人叫做turkey,那就等于说那个人无能、很笨。我们来举个例子吧:
例句-1: "I wouldn\'t go out on a date with Mary if she was the last woman in the world. She\'s such a turkey with that boring personality and stupid grin."
这人说:"即便我在世界上找不到其他女人,我也不想约玛丽一起出去玩。她那性格很让人讨厌,还有她那傻笑。她真是个笨蛋。"
可是,有的人表面上很精明,实际上也是个turkey,就像下面这个办公室主任说的那样:
例句-2: "This man came with a good recommendation from his last job, but it turns out he\'s just a turkey who simply can\'t do anything right!"
这位主任说:"这个人来的时候,他原来工作的公司还给他写了很好的推荐信。可是,他原来是个笨蛋,干什么都干不好。"
说到吃火鸡,美国人有的时候吃热的,也有的时候吃冷的。可是,cold turkey作为一个俗语,它的意思就不是冷火鸡肉了。Cold turkey作为俗语的意思是指一些人突然终止某种已经成隐的习惯,如非法吸毒、酗酒或抽烟等。我们用一个烟隐很大的人来做例子吧:
例句-3: "You know, for 25 years I smoked two packs a day. But the day a good friend of mine died of lung cancer, I decided to go cold turkey and never light up another cigarette. It was tough, but it was the smartest thing I ever did in my life."
他说:"你可知道,我以前每天抽两包烟,抽了二十五年。后来我一个要好朋友因为肺癌而死了。就在他去世的当天,我下定决心戒烟,从此以后我再也没有抽过一支烟。那是很不容易的,可那是我一生中我做的最明智的一件事。"
从这个例子我们可以看到,cold turkey是指立即全部停止一个行为,而不是逐步的。 下面这个例子也很说明问题:
例句-4: "I needed to lose weight quick, so I gave up ice cream, cake and other rich foods cold turkey. And do you know I lost ten pounds in just a little over a month!"
这个人说:"不久前,我认为我必须要减肥。于是,我就开始不吃奶油、蛋糕和其他热量很高的食品。你知道,仅仅一个多月我就减掉了十磅。"
我们今天讲了turkey和cold turkey。用turkey这个字来指人,那就是说那个人不聪明、笨头笨脑的意思。Cold turkey是立即停止长期养成的习惯。
「美国习惯用语」第一百一十三课就讲到这里。欢迎下次再一起来学习美国习惯用语。再见。
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