你可知道，在陸地上，魚雖然釣不到，但是人們往往想釣別的東西，例如 to fish for compliments。Compliments就是“贊揚(yáng)”或者“恭維”。To fish for compliments就是用一種巧妙的方法來讓別人恭維你、贊揚(yáng)你。下面就是一個例子：

Do you notice how Dora always fishes for compliments? She keeps asking the men in the office what they think of her new hairdo, or whether they think her new dress is the right color for her.

你有沒有注意到多拉是怎么讓別人恭維她的？她在辦公室里老是問一些男同事喜不喜歡她的發(fā)式，或者她新衣服的顏色是不是合適。

下面是一個作家在和一個人說話，他很可能是想要那個人說幾句贊揚(yáng)他的話，盡管他不承認(rèn)。先聽聽他是怎么說的，然后你來做判斷吧：

I hope you don't think I'm fishing for a compliment, but have you had a chance to read my new book? The reviews are good, but I'd like to hear what you think about it.

我希望你不要以為我是要你恭維我。不過，你有沒有看過我的新書？評論界的反映不錯，但是我很想聽聽你的意見