烏龜脖子的特殊結構和功能讓它無論在哪種語言里都和“怯懦，膽小”之類的詞語掛鉤。比如今天我們要介紹的這個習語，stick one’s neck out。把脖子縮回去是膽小，那非得把脖子伸出來，就有“冒險；處于危險之中”的意思了。

我們來看一個老人和律師的小對話：

A: I will leave all my money for Paul. 我會把所有的錢都留給Paul。

B: Not your spouse or children? 不給你的配偶和孩子們嗎？

A: No. When I was in trouble, Paul was the only one who would stick his neck out to help me. 不。我遭難的時候，Paul是唯一愿意冒險幫助我的人。

再比如下面兩個例子：

We all know he is going the wrong way. But no one is going to stick his neck out and tell him the truth because he will blame everything on you. 我們都知道他的路子不對，但是沒人愿意冒風險去告訴他實情。他會把一切過錯都賴到你頭上。

I think my boss is completely wrong about hiring his son-in law, but I’m not going to stick my neck out and tell him! 我認為我的老板雇傭他的女婿是絕對錯誤的。但是我才不愿意冒風險告訴他呢！

大家要是都抱著這樣的心態那就很難聽到真話了。好在總有敢于冒險的人。比如：

I admire him a lot. He’s one of the politicians who is not afraid to stick neck out and say what he really thinks, even if it costs him some votes. 我很欽佩他。他是一個敢于冒風險說自己心里話的政治家，盡管這樣會使他失去一些選票。

勇敢令人欽佩，但縮脖子有時候也是技巧甚至智慧。就看用在什么地方了。好了。今天的內容我們就說到這里。