例句-1: "When Joe went to his new job, he got off on the wrong foot -- on the first morning he upset his new boss by arriving at the store two hours late. And right now he's out looking for a job again."

這個人說：“喬找到了一份新的工作,可是他剛開始到那家店里去上班時就給人一個壞印象。第一天上班他就晚到兩個小時，讓他的老板好不高興。現(xiàn)在他又在找工作了。”

To get off on the wrong foot 這個俗語實際上可以適用于任何情況。下面一個例子是一個男學生在說他交女朋友的情況：

例句-2: "I finally got a date with that new girl in class but I sure got off on the wrong foot with her: I had car trouble and got to her place almost two hours late."

他說：“那天我終于和班上新來的那個女同學約好了出去玩。可是，當天我的車出了問題，晚了兩個小時才去接她，所以我一開頭就把事弄糟了。”

有意無意做錯事、說錯話的情況是很經(jīng)常的。下面我們要講的一個俗語就是無意中說錯了話而傷害了別人，或者叫自己很不好意思。這個俗語就是：to put your foot in your mouth。

我們來舉個例子看看什么樣的情況才 to put your foot in your mouth：

例句-3: "When Sally told that silly joke about the sailor with one leg she really put her foot in her mouth. She didn't know the man across the dinner table had a brother at home in a wheelchair."

這句話翻成中文就是：“沙莉吃晚飯時說了一個笑話，拿一個只有一條腿的水手開玩笑。她可不知道坐在飯桌對面那個人的哥哥就是個殘廢，行動都得靠輪椅。”

Sally如果事后了解情況的話,她肯定會說: "Well, I certainly have put my foot in my mouth."

下面我們再來舉一個例子:

例句-4: "I certainly put my foot in my mouth at the party last night when I asked Mister Brown to say hello to his wife for me. Somehow I'd forgotten that his wife died six months ago."

這人說：“我昨晚在那個聚會上無意中說錯了話。我讓布朗先生替我向他的太太問好。不知怎么回事，我忘了他太太已經(jīng)在半年前去世了。”

今天我們給大家介紹了兩個由 foot 這個字組成的習慣用語。第一個是 to get off on the wrong foot。 To get off on the wrong foot 是指一個人在做某件事的時候一開始就給人一個壞印象，或者一開始就把事弄糟了。我們今天介紹的第二個俗語就是 to put one's foot in one's mouth。這是指無意中說錯了話而傷害了別人。

第四十五講
Words & Idioms Lesson 45

cold feet

jump in and get your feet wet

一個人在充滿信心的時候往往就會無所畏懼，勇往直前。但是，當一個人對某件事感到膽怯的時候，他就會畏縮不前。我們經(jīng)常可以看到一種情況：有的人對一件事開始的時候很有信心，很有把握。可是，事到臨頭就變得沒有勇氣了。在英文里有一個俗語是用來形容類似情況的，那就是 cold feet。 Cold 是冷的意思， feet 就是兩只腳。 Cold feet 并不是在雪地里走而使你的腳很冷。Cold feet 是指臨時上場感到膽怯。例如：

例句-1: "Peter told his wife that this time he was really going to walk in and demand a pay raise from the boss. But when he arrived at the office, he got cold feet."

這句話翻成中文的意思是：“這個名字叫皮特的丈夫?qū)ψ约旱钠拮诱f，這次他可一定要到他老板的辦公室去要求增加工資了。可是，他一到了辦

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