Reader question:
Please explain “That’s the deal” – it’s the title of a song by Kathy Mattea, with these words:
There was a gentleman I knew
A stroke held his wife fast asleep
And his whole life had come down to
The vigil he would daily keep
I asked would he rather be free?
And this is how he answered me
That’s the deal, that’s the bargain that you make
That if better turns to worse you will abide
That’s the deal, if it were not for God’s grace
I might be there in her place and she’d be right by my side
That’s the deal
My comments:
Lovely, isn’t it? To have a worthy and deserving relationship like that – the bedridden wife is worthy and deserving of the care he is now giving him in natural return for the care and happiness she gave him before. I mean, that’s the logical conclusion I have – otherwise couples would’ve split long before that. About half Americans in big cities, and the figure is high here in big Chinese cities too, divorce at any rate, some more than once.
Anyways, originally the “deal” refers to your “hand” the handful of cards you have to play with in a poker game. You know, at the beginning of each game, the cards are reshuffled before someone deal out the cards to each and every player. And the cards you get become “your deal” for that particular game.
Good or bad, that is, that’s your deal.
Good or bad?
Yeah, obviously you can’t have all the trump cards to yourself and therefore you’ve got to deal with what you have the best you can.
Hence, the deal becomes, metaphorically speaking, the overall situation one finds oneself in, good or bad.
And hence therefore, you can understand “that’s the deal” as: that’s the situation, that’s the arrangement, that’s the bargain.
Or, using an even shorter American expression, that’s it.
Similar to the situation described above in the song of Kathy Mattea, an American country singer, is the experience of C.S. Lewis, the renowned British writer who wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, among others. In Shadowlands, the movie, the aging (and previously very dull) Oxford Professor Lewis (played by Anthony Hopkins), recounts his days with his young, passionate and spirited American wife, who died of cancer after three years of marriage, thus (or insofar as I can recall):
Why love
when losing hurts so much?
I don’t have the answers any more,
only my life’s experiences.
Twice, I have been given the choice,
first, as a boy,
then a man.
As a boy, I choose safety.
As a man, I choose suffering
because the pain is the happiness.
That’s the deal.
About the author:
Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.
小学六年级英语作文:A Farewell Party
小学六年级英语课文 lesson 19
小学六年级英语作文:Tom’s Holiday
小学三年级英语课文《Lesson 7 What’s for lunch?》教案
小学四年级英语课文Module 10
英语六年级日记:给小狗洗澡
小学六年级英语课文 lesson 15
小学四年级英语课文 Module 8
英语六年级日记:去公园玩
小学三年级英语课文《Lesson 6 What’s for breakfast?》教案
小学六年级英语课文 lesson 5 just read and speak
小学五年级英语课文 《UNIT 1THIS IS MY DAY》教案
英语六年级日记:我的一天
小学六年级英语作文:A Bad Cold
小学四年级英语课文UNIT 1
小学四年级英语课文Module 6
小学四年级英语课文Module 4
小学六年级英语课文 Lesson 9
英语六年级日记:花园
小学六年级英语课文lesson 3 just read and speak
小学六年级英语课文 lesson 1 just read and speak
小学六年级英语课文Lesson 11
小学五年级英语课文 《unit2 what's your favourite season?》教案
小学六年级英语课文Lesson 27
小学三年级英语课文《Lesson5 Breakfast Lunch and Supper》教案
小学六年级英语课文 Lesson 25
小学六年级英语作文:Zoom’s Weekend
英语六年级日记:我的网友
英语六年级日记:我的周末
小学四年级英语课文Module 5
| 不限 |
| 英语教案 |
| 英语课件 |
| 英语试题 |
| 不限 |
| 不限 |
| 上册 |
| 下册 |
| 不限 |