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In these days of dieting and weight watching, most people would love to be able to tighten their belt after losing a few kilograms. In times when food and jobs were scarce, however, tightening one's belt was a sign that times were getting worse, and there was simply not enough food to put on the table.
在節食和減肥的日子里，大多數人會因為能夠在減去幾公斤后收緊腰帶而感到高興。然而，在工作難找和食品匱乏的時代，收緊自己的腰帶則代表著生活的日趨艱難——這是因為餐桌上根本就沒有足夠的食物。
As time passed, this physical act of actually tightening one's belt became a symbolic statement, and hence an idiom. This means that today, you can use this expression even if you never wear a belt at all. Now, "tightening one's belt" simply means that the next few weeks or months or years are going to be more difficult, and we may have to work harder to get less.
隨著時間的流逝，這樣一個“勒緊腰帶”的行為變成了象征性的表達方式，并因此成了一個成語。也就是說，如今即使你從來不系腰帶，你也可以使用這種表達方式。現在，“勒緊腰帶”這種表達方式意味著在未來數周、數月或數年你的生活會更加困難，而且你可能需要干得更多但享受得卻更少。
注：本文譯文屬可可英語原創，未經允許，請勿轉載。
