從蘋果開始我們的“水果之旅”:美國人愛吃蘋果派,不難看出他們對蘋果是情有獨(dú)鐘。所以我們描述一個(gè)非常地道的美國人,就可以說He is as American as apple pie.而要描述一個(gè)地方非常整潔、井井有條,可以說Everything here is in apple-pie order。
通常,賣蘋果的商販會(huì)將蘋果擦得锃亮以勾起人們的購買欲望,但是apple-polisher可不是“擦蘋果的人”,而是“溜須拍馬的人”,動(dòng)詞是apple-polish.我們常說的”掌上明珠“在英語中叫 “the apple of one’s eye”.比如說“梅是她父親的掌上明珠”,就是May is the apple of her father’s eye.大寫的(the)Big Apple,是美國的紐約市。
英語中與水果有關(guān)的詞語還有:top/big banana是大老板。Who’s your top/big banana?誰是你們的老板?go bananas是指一個(gè)人“大發(fā)雷霆”。Tom was worried that his parents would go bananas when they found out that he had put a dent in their car.湯姆擔(dān)心一旦他父親發(fā)現(xiàn)他們的汽車被他撞出一塊凹痕,就會(huì)大發(fā)雷霆。也可用來指一個(gè)人“發(fā)狂”。例如:He went bananas when he was informed of passing college entrance examination.當(dāng)被告知通過高考時(shí),他高興得發(fā)狂。
lemon檸檬,指“劣質(zhì)商品”。例如:His car was a lemon-it broke down in a month.他的車質(zhì)量有問題,一個(gè)月內(nèi)壞了兩次。
sour grapes 酸葡萄,也就是我們常說的“吃不著葡萄就說葡萄酸”,例如:He said he didn’t want the job anyway, but that’s just sour grapes.他說他不想干這份工作,只不過是吃不著葡萄說葡萄酸而已。這里要注意,sour grapes 雖然是復(fù)數(shù)形式,與之搭配的動(dòng)詞則是單數(shù)形式。