一只貓?zhí)M(jìn)鴿群里的場(chǎng)景很容易讓人想到《貓和老鼠》里Tom會(huì)制造的種種混亂。不管是不是打算弄一只解饞,有這么多會(huì)動(dòng)的溫順玩具在身邊,小貓想不興奮都難。不過(guò),小貓是高興了,鴿子們可就該撲棱棱亂飛做一團(tuán)了。英語(yǔ)當(dāng)中就有一個(gè)形容這樣場(chǎng)景的短語(yǔ)Put the cat among the pigeons。故意將一只貓放進(jìn)鴿群,目的就是要“挑起糾紛;引起麻煩”了。我們來(lái)看看下面這個(gè)對(duì)話:
A:The rich old lady told her sons and daughters that she would leave everything to her gardener and nothing to them. 這個(gè)有錢的老太太告訴她的兒女們,她將會(huì)把全部遺產(chǎn)留給園丁,而她的兒女們將一無(wú)所得。
B:She is really putting the cat among the pigeons. 這真是在制造混亂。
A:Yeah. Her sons and daughters don’t leave her house and they believe the gardener played some tricks on their mother. 是啊。他的孩子們都不肯離開(kāi)她的房子。并且他們認(rèn)為那個(gè)園丁一定是使了什么鬼計(jì)策。
再來(lái)看看另外一次混亂。
A:Arthur and his wife are in a big quarrel. Arthur和他妻子大打了一架。
B:What happened? 發(fā)生什么事兒了?
A:Julia told Arthur’s wife where he was on Monday night. Julia把Arthur星期一晚上去哪里告訴了他的妻子。
B:That really put the cat among the pigeons. 那像把貓放進(jìn)鴿棚一樣,一定會(huì)引起大麻煩。
這則習(xí)慣用法非常形象,也比較容易記,希望大家能在適當(dāng)?shù)臅r(shí)候正確運(yùn)用,讓自己的英語(yǔ)聽(tīng)起來(lái)更地道,生動(dòng)。好了,我們下期再見(jiàn)吧。
更多信息請(qǐng)查看生活口語(yǔ)