美國(guó)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)：877 stop cold

我星期二晚上在家烤蛋糕，參加女兒學(xué)校的義賣活動(dòng)，結(jié)果材料都準(zhǔn)備好了，電動(dòng)攪拌機(jī)沒(méi)用一分鐘，卻突然罷了工。沒(méi)辦法，只好改電動(dòng)為手動(dòng)，累得我胳膊都快折了。不過(guò)，這也讓我想起一個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)可以跟大家分享，那就是：stop cold.

Stop cold，意思是突然停止。我烤蛋糕的時(shí)候電動(dòng)攪拌機(jī)突然壞了，就可以說(shuō), it stopped cold. 再比如，孩子跳舞表演，我興致勃勃地拿著錄像機(jī)，打算全程錄下來(lái)，誰(shuí)知道，the camcorder stopped cold five minutes into the program. 表演剛開(kāi)始五分鐘，攝像機(jī)就不工作了。原來(lái)是沒(méi)電了。

在下面這個(gè)例子里，一個(gè)公司經(jīng)理被困在了電梯里。我們一起聽(tīng)聽(tīng)他的經(jīng)歷。

例句-1：I've rarely thought about the possibility of getting stuck in an elevator. Yet, as I was heading up to my office on the tenth floor, the elevator stopped cold. There I was trapped with no way to get out. Finally, after about half an hour, it started moving again. Maybe it was a sign that I should take the stairs and get some exercise!

這個(gè)人說(shuō)：我?guī)缀鯊臎](méi)想到自己會(huì)被困在電梯里?？蓜偛?，我上十樓去辦公室，電梯中途突然停了。我被困在了電梯里面。差不多半個(gè)小時(shí)后，電梯才又恢復(fù)工作。也許這是在暗示我，應(yīng)該去爬樓梯，多鍛煉鍛煉。

我侄子現(xiàn)在正處于青少年開(kāi)始對(duì)異性產(chǎn)生朦朧意識(shí)的階段，他跟男同學(xué)在一起有說(shuō)有笑，可是只要一有女孩子加入進(jìn)來(lái)，他立刻就啞巴了。Girls just stop him cold.

******

我這個(gè)人雖然不是追星族，但如果真有個(gè)大明星突然出現(xiàn)在我眼前呢?有一次，我正在做采訪，電影明星喬治·克魯尼突然走進(jìn)了演播室。我當(dāng)時(shí)就暈了。His presence stopped you cold.

下面例子中這只球隊(duì)整個(gè)賽季過(guò)關(guān)斬將。我們聽(tīng)聽(tīng)隊(duì)員是怎么說(shuō)的：

例句-2：Many of the teams we've faced off against expected to advance to the finals. But they haven't been able to beat us. We've got some excellent players this season. That's why we've been stopping our opponents cold. If we keep it up, we'll make it to the finals!

這個(gè)隊(duì)員說(shuō)：跟我們交手的很多球隊(duì)都是想進(jìn)決賽的強(qiáng)隊(duì)，但誰(shuí)也打敗不了我們。這個(gè)賽季我們有很多優(yōu)秀隊(duì)員。這就是為什么對(duì)手都過(guò)不了我們這一關(guān)。照這樣下去，我們一定能進(jìn)決賽。

Stop cold, 這個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)是十九世紀(jì)末出現(xiàn)的，因?yàn)閏old除了寒冷以外，也有突然和徹底的意思?，F(xiàn)在，大家知道這個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)的意思了，下次如果有人用到這個(gè)詞，你一定不會(huì)感到陌生和意外: It won't stop you cold next time you hear it.