英語早間課堂:Lay your cards on the table.

Morning!I am Juliet. Nice to meet you through network. Hope we could spend a wonderful morning together. An hour in the morning is worth two hours in the evening.

一天之計在于晨，若您有個美好晨間生活，相信您一天的生活都是美好的，您會由此干感到快樂的。A hard beginning makes a good ending. 常言道：善始善終。

【溫故知新】

Last time we finished learning "Just come out and say it." which is a way of saying "Tell me something even if it isn't nice." "Come out" means "become to be known". And we put emphasis on the phrases study which are : would rather and rather than. Finally I leave some translation exercises for you and now I am about let it out in the open.

1 江姐寧死不屈。

Miss Chang would rather die than surrender.

Miss Chang sooner die than surrender. 【點評】

(1)would rather...than和 sooner...than兩個非常精彩的短語。

(2)would rather die than surrender 寧死不屈2 我倒希望你立即把信件寄出去。

I would rather you post this letter right away. 【點評】這句話理解了would rather somebody do something的用法，用于別人在2個選擇中，你為別人做出建議性的選擇。經(jīng)常中文說的“最好，到希望”就可用這個句式。

3 你為何不向別人求助而是自己干呢?

Why didn't you ask for help rather than trying to do it on your own. 【點評】這句話妙語連珠呀。rather than doing something和on one's own很精彩的2個短語. On one's own比用by oneself來得更為精彩。此外，在同一句子或是同一文章中，使用不同的短語表示同樣的意思，這樣是文字不單調(diào)枯燥，讀者不厭煩。

4 寧缺毋濫。

We would rather leave the post vacant than have it filled by anybody unqualified for it.

【點評】

1 leaver+ something + 形容詞 和 have something done 這2個短語結(jié)構(gòu)很精彩。

2 精彩形容詞性短語unqualified for something修飾前面的不定代詞anybody. We would rather go without than make somebody do with anything not up to the work.

【點評】

1 詞句妙語連珠：go without 沒有 do with 處理 up to 勝任2 掌握了up to 是形容詞性短語，否定結(jié)構(gòu)在其前加上not, 共同修飾前面的不定代詞anything.

【今日主題】

And this morning we are about to begin a new lesson. In this lesson I'd like to share an idiom including "card" with you which is equal to this short sentence "Tell me the whole truth." that expresses the speaker is telling somebody to say everything honestly. Guess what it is. Let's get the answer from the following simple situational dialogue. A : I want to ask Sara to marry me. B : Lay your cards on the table. See what she says.

【答疑解惑】 It is "Lay your cards on the table." That means "to tell somebody honestly what your plans , ideas, etc. are". It can also be said as "Put your cards on the table". Lay (put) one's cards on the table. 從字面意思來看：把某人的拍攤在桌面上，這樣做不就是讓對方知道自己的牌了。So , in oral English, 引申為：攤牌;(把計劃和打算等)和盤說出。

【視野拓展】

We have a very idiom including "card" that is opposite to it. It's so lively that we can figure out it's real meaning. It is "play one's cards close to one's chest". It means keep one’s planes, ideas, etc. secret. play one's cards close to one's chest非常形象的表示出其意思為：守口如瓶，不漏聲色，秘而不宣等等。從字面意思看：我們玩牌時就是把牌對于自己的胸前，不讓別人知道。那也就引申出了上面的意思。What's more, it can be said as: keep one's cards close to one's chest or hold one's cards to one's chest.

There is another familiar idiom including "bush" which is equal to "Lay (put) one's cards on the table.". It is "Beat around bush." It is so lively that we can imagine it's meaning. 字面上說：繞著灌木叢打轉(zhuǎn)轉(zhuǎn)，那不就是說總打不到目標(biāo)。So, it's similar to saying in Chinese: 拐彎抹角; 旁敲側(cè)擊。

這個人不想惹禍上身，知道很多事情就是不說出來，而這件事你有很想知道，你就會不高興的說：He knew the matter perfectly well but held his cards close to his chest. I don't why he did so even if you are his best friend. 他很清楚這些事，但是就是守口如瓶。即使是他最好的朋友也這樣，我真不知道他為何這樣做。男生要逃的到女生的花心，很是累人的，要花錢，還得賠上自己的很多時間，可是人的忍受度是有限的，超越了，男生會說：I'm just going to put my cards on the table to tell you I would rather have a break-up with you because I cannot put up with you any more. 對不起，我要跟你攤牌了，我再也受不了你了，我決定和你分手。Yeah , sometimes we may have to bite the bullet, lay our cards on the table and end a romance. 是的，有時候我們必須忍受著痛苦，攤牌說出真心話而結(jié)束浪漫的愛情。這個人想加薪水可是老是對老板說他的業(yè)績?nèi)绾?，老板并不知到他的目的是想加薪，因此這人的朋友就說：Why should you beat around the bush when asking for better wages. I think you should put your cards on the table in front of your boss. 你要加薪水有何必拐彎抹角呢?你要當(dāng)著老板的面把話挑明著說呀。