雅思閱讀材料之名著中的典故(1)

　　1.a dog in the manger占著茅坑不拉屎的人

　　出自《伊索寓言》(Aesop's Fables)，有一篇狗站馬槽的故事，說的是一頭狗躺在堆滿稻草的馬槽里，狗是不吃草的動物，而當(dāng)馬或牛一走進(jìn)稻草時，這頭狗卻朝著馬，牛狂哮，不準(zhǔn)食草動物享用。因此，“狗站馬槽”就成了一個家喻戶曉的成語而進(jìn)入英語中，常用來比喻a person who prevents others from enjoying sth that is useless to himself; a churlish fellow who will neither use a thing himself nor let others use it，諷刺那些占據(jù)說職位或某些物質(zhì)卻不做事的人。

　　a dog in the manger是個名詞性短語，常與系動詞連用，充當(dāng)表語(主語補足語)

　　eg:He borrowed a lot of books from the library,but he didn't read a book.He was really a dog in the manger.

　　There are some officials who are only the dogs in the manger.

　　Smith was a dog in the manger over that roll of wire;it was no use whatever to him,but he wouldn't let us have it.