美國(guó)習(xí)慣用語：879 swallow one's pride

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我昨天跟同事爭(zhēng)得面紅耳赤。美國(guó)聯(lián)邦最高法院明明是11位大法官，可她非說只有9個(gè)。我還理直氣壯地說人家連這點(diǎn)基本常識(shí)都沒有。

結(jié)果一查，才知道，原來真是9個(gè)，是我自己錯(cuò)了。這也讓我想起一個(gè)可以跟大家分享的習(xí)慣用語，叫：swallow one's pride. Swallow是吞咽，pride是驕傲。

從字面上看，swallow one's pride，意思是吞下自己的驕傲，引伸為放下自尊，忍氣吞聲。

本來嘛，最高法院明明只有9個(gè)大法官，我卻很無知地非說有11個(gè)，最后也只好忍氣吞聲地承認(rèn)自己錯(cuò)了。You had to swallow my pride and admitted that I was wrong. Yes, I did.

在下面這個(gè)例子里，意大利廚師羅伯特好象跟我有類似遭遇。不過人家處理得可比我強(qiáng)多了。我們一起聽。

例句-1：Chef Roberto has received almost every honor for his Italian cooking. Yet, despite his years of experience, he accidentally cut his finger on live television last week. He could have pretended that nothing had happened. Instead he swallowed his pride, joking that even he makes mistakes from time to time.

這段話意思是：羅伯特廚師憑借一手意大利廚藝，幾乎贏過所有烹調(diào)比賽。盡管他有如此豐富的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，上星期還是不小心在電視上切破了手指。他本來可以裝得若無其事，可他沒有這樣做，而是放下自尊心，開玩笑說，就連他，也會(huì)時(shí)不時(shí)犯點(diǎn)兒錯(cuò)誤。

或許，這樣做反而更能得到大家的尊重。不久前，日本豐田汽車公司發(fā)現(xiàn)，已經(jīng)出廠的數(shù)百萬輛汽車都有毛病，于是， They swqllowed their pride，宣布召回這些車輛，免費(fèi)檢修。

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我打電子游戲，早就不是八歲女兒的對(duì)手了，認(rèn)輸成了家常便飯，但是下面例子里這個(gè)當(dāng)舅舅的，下棋輸給七歲的侄子，卻感到十分意外。讓我們聽聽他是怎么說的：

例句-2：When my seven-year-old nephew begged me to play chess, I indulged him. My plan was to let him take out a few of my pieces to build his confidence. Imagine when he checkmated me within four moves! That was humiliating. I'm not used to swallowing my pride, but I had to admit defeat and congratulate him.

這個(gè)人說：我七歲的侄子求我跟他下棋，我同意陪他下一盤。我本來打算讓他幾個(gè)子兒，幫他建立點(diǎn)自信心。誰知道，他只走了四步，就將了我的軍。太丟人了。我雖然不習(xí)慣忍氣吞聲地放下自尊，但還是不得不認(rèn)輸，并向他表示祝賀。

其實(shí)這不算什么。我有個(gè)朋友，準(zhǔn)備求婚的前一天，被女朋友甩了，He had to swallow his pride and return the engagement ring. 他不得不放下自尊，回到珠寶店，把訂婚戒指退掉。