我剛開(kāi)編輯會(huì)回來(lái)。老板通知我們,這個(gè)星期的節(jié)目要另嘉賓,因?yàn)閯e的制片人把我們?cè)瓉?lái)請(qǐng)的嘉賓挖走了。我同事聽(tīng)到這個(gè)消息,氣急敗壞。這也讓我想到了一句習(xí)慣用語(yǔ),那就是: cook someone's goose.
Cook意思是煮,goose是鵝。連起來(lái),to cook someone's goose, 可并不是煮鵝的意思,而是指打碎某人的計(jì)劃,或者毀了一個(gè)人的名譽(yù)。
在上面的例子中,別人挖走了我們的嘉賓,我同事氣急敗壞,she is probably going to cook the guy's goose who stole our guest. 她八成要狠狠地整一下那個(gè)挖走我們嘉賓的家伙。
在下面的例子中,我們要聽(tīng)聽(tīng)一個(gè)叫Brad的人在得知他女友的所作所為之后做了什么:
例句-1:Brad's girlfriend should have told him that she was out with another guy last weekend. When he found out, he was more than jealous. He was furious. Not only did he break up with her, but he also sent an e-mail to all of their friends about what she's done. That cooked her goose. Her reputation was ruined.
這段話的意思是說(shuō):布拉德的女朋友本應(yīng)告訴他,她上周末跟另一個(gè)男人出去約會(huì)了。布拉德自己發(fā)現(xiàn)后,不光是嫉妒,簡(jiǎn)直就是氣得發(fā)瘋。他不僅跟這個(gè)女孩分手,而且還給他們倆的所有朋友發(fā)電子郵件,告訴大家她的所作所為,徹底壞了這個(gè)女孩的聲譽(yù)。
這女孩確實(shí)做得不對(duì)??墒荁rad也夠狠的。大家還記得前一陣子國(guó)際貨幣基金組織前總裁卡恩的性丑聞么? The sex scandal cooked his goose. 那次性丑聞徹底毀了他的名譽(yù)。
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我上大學(xué)的時(shí)候有個(gè)好朋友,她因?yàn)槭矣芽偸峭党运氖澄?,所以決定要報(bào)復(fù)。她在烤餅干了放了瀉藥,she really cooked her roommate's goose that time. 她那次真是把自己的室友好好修理了一頓。
大家恐怕都有過(guò)這樣的經(jīng)歷,就是有的時(shí)候,整整一天都倒霉,干什么事情都不順。
下面的例子就談到了這樣的一天。讓我們來(lái)聽(tīng)聽(tīng)看:
例句-2:Our plane is leaving in an hour. And here we are stuck in some of the worst traffic we've ever seen. If we don't make that flight, we'll miss our connection. Then our goose will be cooked! We won't get to the port in time to board our cruise. Our vacation plans will be ruined.
這段話是說(shuō):我們的飛機(jī)一小時(shí)之后就要起飛了??涩F(xiàn)在我們卻被塞在路上。如果我們趕不上這班飛機(jī),就會(huì)錯(cuò)過(guò)轉(zhuǎn)機(jī)。那我們的計(jì)劃就完全被打亂了! 我們也沒(méi)辦法按時(shí)登上游輪。那我們的渡假計(jì)劃就徹底泡湯了。
渡假計(jì)劃被打亂是最讓人沮喪的事情。這里用了被動(dòng)語(yǔ)態(tài),our goose will be cooked. 意思跟cook our goose是一樣的,就是破壞了我們的計(jì)劃。