來看《每日郵報》的標題:
Kate loses her girl Friday as Duchess of Cambridge's private secretary leaves her post after 10 years
凱特王妃私人秘書離職 “得力女助手”為王室服務十年
Girl Friday就是指忠誠能干的得力女助手。先來看解釋:
The term girl Friday is generally used to indicate a female administrative assistant who handles many organizational tasks. It can also be used to denote a woman who is a personal assistant and takes care of another individual’s private matters.
“得力女助手”通常指的是女性行政助理,負責處理很多組織性的任務;還可以用來指負責照料個人私事的私人秘書。
在《魯濱遜漂流記》中,魯濱遜曾在荒島上救下一個野人,因為那天剛好是周五,就給他取名為“星期五”。“星期五”后來成為魯濱遜在島上的好搭檔。之后,人們就用Girl Friday來形容得力的女助手。
The expression plays on man Friday, a name for a devoted male servant or assistant. The name Friday comes from Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, whose shipwrecked hero named the young native who became his faithful companion for the day of the week when he found him.
這個表達的原型是man Friday,指的是忠誠的男仆人或男助理。Friday這種說法來自于丹尼爾-笛福創(chuàng)作的《魯濱遜漂流記》,魯濱遜給他救下的野人取名為“星期五”,因為遇見他的那天正好是周五,后來“星期五”成為他忠實的伙伴。
“得力女助手”還可以用right-hand woman來形容,來看下面的報道:
Rebecca Deacon, 34, has been Kate's right-hand woman since being appointed in 2012, the year after the Cambridges married. 34歲的麗貝卡•迪肯自從2012年被任命后就成為凱特的得力女助手,當時凱特王妃結(jié)婚剛一年。
例句:
I'll have my girl Friday get the papers together.
我會讓女助手把文件整理好。