時差N小時:劃定界限 Draw A Line In The Sand

Imagine a tribal leader in a desert area where sand iseverywhere. There are no trees, rivers or mountains,nothing to look at and say, "This is the border of ourland, this is the place that we will fight to defend."Since there are no natural landmarks to relate to,that commander then takes a stick and drags italong the ground, (and in that sense "draws" a line inthe sand), and says, "Here is the border of our landthat we will fight to defend.

想象一下，沙漠地區(qū)有一個部落首領(lǐng)。那個地方到處都是沙子。沒有樹木，沒有河流，沒有山脈。首領(lǐng)說;“這是我們土地的邊界，這是我們必須捍衛(wèi)的地方。”但是，那個地方?jīng)]有自然標志，因此首領(lǐng)拿過一只木棒在地上拖了一圈(也就是在沙子上劃了一道線)，并說：“這里是我們土地的邊界，我們將誓死維護它。”

Beyond this line, no enemy must come." It is from that exotic image that we get this idiommeaning to define a symbolic point beyond which there is no further compromise. Whateverideas or discussions are on one side of the line, that is okay, but beyond that point there can beno further discussion. The "line in the sand" represents a symbolic border for negotiations.

任何敵人不可越過這條線。通過這個形象的解釋，我們知道了這個習(xí)語的意思——就是指定了一個象征性的界線，如果越過了這個界線，就不會達成進一步的妥協(xié)。你站在界線的那一側(cè)，好的，任何想法或問題都可以談;但越過了這個界限，休想做進一步的討論。“沙線”代表著談判的界限。