美國(guó)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)Lesson 68 - kick up one's heels / kick off

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to kick up one's heels

to kick off

人們大概都看到過(guò)一匹年輕的俊馬在寬闊的草原上興高彩烈地奔跑的情景吧！這是一幅很美麗的圖象。馬的前腿往前伸展，后腿很有節(jié)奏地往上踢。美國(guó)有一個(gè)俗語(yǔ)就是建筑在這一形像之上的。這個(gè)俗語(yǔ)就是：to kick up one's heels。To kick up one's heels，從字面上來(lái)解釋就是：把后腳往上踢。但是，實(shí)際上to kick up one's heels是用來(lái)形容人們到外面去尋歡作樂(lè)，就像馬在草原上奔跑一樣。比如說(shuō)，有兩個(gè)人在辦公室里說(shuō)話(huà)：

例句-1: How about coming out with us Wednesday night? We're all going to take Bill Glover out to dinner. Then later we'll drop into a few night spots. It's Bill's last chance to kick up his heels, you know--he's getting married the next morning.

這人說(shuō)："星期三晚上跟我們一起出去玩，怎么樣？我們大家一起請(qǐng)比爾格洛弗出去吃晚飯。然后，我們?cè)俚綆讉€(gè)像夜總會(huì)那樣的地方去玩。這是比爾到外面去尋歡作樂(lè)的最后一次機(jī)會(huì)了，你知道，他第二天上午就要結(jié)婚了。"

To kick up one's heels并不一定是年輕人的事，上了年紀(jì)的人有時(shí)也想到外面去輕松輕松。下面的例子就很能說(shuō)明問(wèn)題：

例句-2: My mother and dad are over sixty, but they still like to go out once in a while to have dinner and do a little dancing and kick up their heels. Of course, they go home a lot earlier than they used to.

這個(gè)人說(shuō)："我的爸爸和媽媽已經(jīng)六十多了，但是他們有時(shí)還是喜歡到外面去吃晚飯、跳跳舞，高興高興。當(dāng)然羅，他們現(xiàn)在回家的時(shí)間要比以前早多了。"

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下面我們還要給大家介紹一個(gè)和kick這個(gè)字有關(guān)的美國(guó)俗語(yǔ)。這個(gè)俗語(yǔ)是：to kick off。To kick off的意思是一項(xiàng)活動(dòng)，或一個(gè)計(jì)劃的開(kāi)始。To kick off原來(lái)是用在足球比賽的。每次比賽開(kāi)始都是由一個(gè)球隊(duì)把球踢到對(duì)方球隊(duì)去?？墒乾F(xiàn)在這個(gè)俗語(yǔ)幾乎可以用在任何方面，表示：開(kāi)始。美國(guó)人經(jīng)常用to kick off來(lái)表示競(jìng)選活動(dòng)的開(kāi)始。有的時(shí)候，你可以從電臺(tái)上聽(tīng)到這樣的報(bào)道：

例句-3: Last night Michael Smith kicked off his campaign for the U.S. Senate with a speech here promising lower taxes and a bigger budget for schools and more help to the farmers.

這則消息說(shuō)："昨晚，邁克爾斯密斯在這兒發(fā)表講話(huà)，作為他競(jìng)選美國(guó)參議員競(jìng)選活動(dòng)的開(kāi)始。他在講話(huà)中向選民們保證降低稅收，增加學(xué)校經(jīng)費(fèi)，并給予農(nóng)民更多的幫助。"

下面這個(gè)例子是一個(gè)學(xué)生在準(zhǔn)備他的暑期活動(dòng)。他說(shuō)：

例句-4: Now that my exams are all finished, I'm going to kick off the summer vacation by going down to Ocean City for a week to get some sun, some surf and a chance to look at the girls.

這個(gè)學(xué)生說(shuō)："現(xiàn)在考試已經(jīng)全部結(jié)束，我要先到歐欣城去玩一個(gè)星期，去曬曬太陽(yáng)，在海上玩沖浪，還可以看看那里的姑娘們。這就作為我暑假的開(kāi)始。"