Xiaohua: Hello, and welcome to RoundTable's Word of the Week. This week we are talking about some fruit-related idioms.
John: That's right. Today we are going to be looking at， in particular apples. So I think everyone knows about apples. Apples they come in so many different varieties. And for some reason in English, there are so many different idioms and sayings around apples.
Xiaohua: 蘋果好像在英美文化中有非常重要的文化屬性，所以有很多的idiom短語是跟蘋果有關(guān)的。
John: That's right, so we're going to take a look at a few here. So starting off, “as American as apple pie”, basically saying that apple pie is the epitome of being American, and so if you’re as American is apple pie, then you’re just very American.
Xiaohua:蘋果餡餅是非常具有美國特色的一種食品，as American as apple pie 就是說像蘋果餡餅一樣極具美國特色。
John: Yeah, so baseball, jeans, hamburgers, the American flag, fireworks on fourth of July, things like that.
Xiaohua: Disney, something like that.
John: Yes, as American as apple pie. And the second one, you can compare “apples and oranges”. This is actually one of my favorite because what happens a lot of times that people like to make comparisons between what seem like are similar things. Apple and orange are both fruits, but if you look at them, it's impossible to compare them because they are so different.
Xiaohua: 當(dāng)你在指出別人邏輯上的錯誤時你可以用這個短語comparing apples and oranges, 就是把完全不一樣的東西放在一起比較。
John: Right. There's “apple of someone’s eye”, so a favorite or a well-like person. So for example, my children are the apple of my eye.
Xiaohua: So for anyone who has heard the song "you're the apple of my eye", right?
John: I have no idea what that is.
Xiaohua: What? Are you an American?
John:I am, but not as American as apple pie.
Xiaohua: Yeah, that's what I'm going to say. 所以apple of one's eye 就是極為珍視的人，非常珍愛的人。
John: Then “the apple never falls far from the tree”, so a person’s personality traits are close to those of the person’s parents. This can be good and bad, in fact. And usually the way I remember to hearing it is in a negative context. You know his parents or her parents, they won't very nice people. The apple really falls far from the tree.
Xiaohua: I see. 這有點(diǎn)像中文里的有其父必有其子，“蘋果落地離樹不遠(yuǎn)”也是這個意思，這個短語有褒義也有貶義，但這里好像貶義的應(yīng)用居多。
John: Then “as sure as God made little green apples” basically just means that you are very certain. So I'm sure this, as sure as God made little green apples.
Xiaohua:當(dāng)你對一件事情確認(rèn)無疑毫無疑問的時候你就可以說as sure as God made little green apples.

John: Then to be a “bad apple” or a “rotten apple” is to be a bad person. You can also say that “one bad (or rotten) apple can spoil the whole bunch (or barrel)” implies that one flawed person can basically undermine an effort or a group, and you can be “rotten to the core” to be thoroughly bad or worthless.
Xiaohua: bad apple 就是壞家伙, rotten apple也是這個意思。而one bad apple spoils whole bunch有點(diǎn)像中文里的一粒老鼠屎壞了一鍋粥的意思，或者說害群之馬，而 rotten to the core就是說這個家伙壞透了。
John: Then there is “How do you like them apples?” It’s kind of a rhetorical question not actually looking for an answer. Usually it can be neutral or taunting just kind of you take a look at the situation and for example, you’ve created a situation where the other person’s going to like it and you're kind of poking at them and say "Well, how do you like them apples?"
Xiaohua: “How do you like them apples?”就好像是用一點(diǎn)揶揄的口氣問或者反問，這兒事兒你怎么看？這回你怎么看？ John：Yeah, perhaps a good example might be you know, when you are kid, and you have some really good food you brought from home, and one of your friends wants that food, you say no because you want to eat it all. And then the next day, they bring food that you want to eat from their homes and they say no and also say how do you like them apples? Basically, just kind of throwing it in your face, that you did something bad and they did something bad.
Xiaohua: I see.
John: Then you can “polish (one’s) apple” is to flatter someone and then a flatterer is an “apple polisher.”
Xiaohua: "Polish one's apple"就是拍某人的馬屁，而apple polisher 則是阿諛奉承的人。
John: Like for example, I can polish Xiaohua's apple. You know Xiaohua, that scarf is just so lovely today.
Xiaohua: It doesn't work on me, anyway.
John: Anyway, last but not least “upset the apple cart” is to ruin plans.
Xiaohua: 嗯，把蘋果車給弄翻了，就是說把事情搞砸了的意思。And that's all we have for this week's Word of the Week.