美國(guó)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)Lesson 92 - crocodile tears / sob story
大家知道，眼淚的英文字就是tears。英文里有一個(gè)說法，叫做：crocodile tears。 Crocodile就是鱷魚。Crocodile tears和中國(guó)人常說的"貓哭老鼠假慈悲"是一樣的意思。Crocodile tears這個(gè)俗語(yǔ)來自一個(gè)古老的神話，說是鱷魚往往發(fā)出一種哭的聲音來引誘那些它們要吃的動(dòng)物，然后一面吃一面流眼淚。這當(dāng)然不會(huì)是事實(shí)，但是這個(gè)說法已經(jīng)成常用語(yǔ)。下面我們來舉個(gè)例子：
例句-1: The truth is that Pete never liked his rich Uncle John. But you should have seen his crocodile tears when the old man died and left him a million dollars!
這句話是說：皮特從來都不喜歡他那個(gè)有錢的叔叔約翰，這是事實(shí)?？墒悄抢先巳ナ赖臅r(shí)候給他留了一百萬美元，你可真該看看皮特當(dāng)時(shí)那假傷心的樣子。
下面這個(gè)例子說的是一位政客：
例句-2: In his speeches the mayor always puts on a big show of crocodile tears for poor and homeless people. But I don't see him doing anything to help them.
這是說：這位市長(zhǎng)在講話的時(shí)候總是裝得好像他對(duì)窮人和無家可歸的人非常同情。但是，我并沒有見到他做些什么來幫助他們。
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我們要講的另一個(gè)和"哭"有關(guān)的俗語(yǔ)是：sob story。Sob是哭泣的意思，story就是故事。Sob story的意思就是某人編造一個(gè)令人傷心的故事來贏得別人的同情，甚至于讓別人給錢來幫助他。下面是一位女士在描述她怎么聽了一個(gè)sob story以后受騙的：
例句-3: Usually I don't give money to beggars. But this nice young man told me a sob story about needing money for a bus ticket to see his dying mother, so I gave him two dollars.
這位女士說：一般我是不給乞丐錢的。但是，這個(gè)看上去挺不錯(cuò)的年輕人告訴我他需要錢坐公共汽車去看他那快要死的媽媽。他說得這么悲慘，我就給了他兩塊錢。
世界上好心人是不少的，下面這個(gè)例子又是一個(gè)人上了sob story的當(dāng)：
例句-4: On my way to work this man stopped me and said that he hadn't eaten in three days so I gave him a dollar. On my way home I saw him get into a new car and drive off and now I know he had given me a sob story.
這個(gè)好心人說：在我去上班的路上那個(gè)人擋住了我，對(duì)我說，他已經(jīng)三天沒有吃東西了。所以我給了他一塊錢?？墒?，我在回家的路上看見他跨進(jìn)了一輛新的汽車后就開走了。我這才知道他說的事全是假的。
我們今天講的兩個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)都是和眼淚有關(guān)的。它們是：crocodile tears和sob story。Crocodile tears從字面上來解釋就是：鱷魚的眼淚，實(shí)際上也就是"貓哭老鼠假慈悲"。Sob story是編造悲慘的故事來贏得人們的同情。
