大多數(shù)人都很喜歡吃水果。水果顏色鮮艷,形狀多樣,看起來也怪可愛的。一些和水果有關(guān)的美國成語和俗語也都具有肯定的含義。但是,這倒也并不是千篇一律,也有一些由水果組成的習(xí)慣用語表達(dá)的是反面的意思。

我們首先要給大家介紹的一個(gè)俗語是:lemon。Lemon就是檸檬。檸檬是非常酸的一種水果,大概沒有其它東西比它更酸的了。但是,lemon 作為一個(gè)俗語它的意思就成了那種質(zhì)量很壞的東西,不能起它應(yīng)有的作用。美國人經(jīng)常把一輛經(jīng)常出問題的汽車稱為lemon。下面就是一個(gè)例子:

例句-1: Mr. Lee paid $15,000 for his new car. But he got a real lemon: it's never run right and it spends more time in the garage getting fixed than it does on the road.
這個(gè)人說:“李先生花了一萬五千塊美金買了這輛新車??墒?,這輛車卻是毛病百出。這車從來也沒有好好地跑過,它在車行里修的時(shí)間比它在馬路上跑的時(shí)間還多。”

Lemon 這個(gè)俗語也不局限于壞的汽車,它還可以指其它那些不理想的東西,下面這個(gè)人的經(jīng)驗(yàn)就是一例:

例句-2: Mister Green usually gives me good advice. But the computer company stock he told me to buy was a lemon. I had to sell it at the price I paid for it.
這是說:“一般來說,格林先生給我提供的建議都是很好的??墒沁@次他讓我買那個(gè)電腦公司的股票卻是個(gè)餿主意。我不得不按原價(jià)拋出。”

下面我們要講的一個(gè)俗語是:going banana。對(duì)我們大多數(shù)人來說,香蕉是很好吃的,又香又甜,營養(yǎng)很豐富。可是,going banana的意思是:快要發(fā)瘋了。究竟為什么要把香蕉說的這么糟糕,這實(shí)在很難解釋。然而,這個(gè)俗語在美國那些家里有青少年的家長(zhǎng)當(dāng)中是十分普遍的。你聽聽下面這位父親,他在說他那十四歲的女兒:

例句-3: Mary spends all her time listening to loud music, talking on the phone, or looking at herself in the mirror instead of studying or helping us around the house. I tell you, that kid is driving us all bananas!
這位父親說:“瑪麗把她所有的時(shí)間都用在聽音樂,還得把音量放得大大的,或者是打電話,或者照鏡子,而不是把時(shí)間用在學(xué)習(xí)上或幫助我們做點(diǎn)家務(wù)。我告訴你,那個(gè)孩子真是快要把我們逼瘋了?!?/p>

家里有十幾歲孩子的聽眾恐怕在這方面也有同感,即便情況有所差別。下面我們要舉的例子也是很普遍的:

例句-4: I'm going bananas over the noise in the apartment next door. They play their television loud enough for the whole building to hear. And they never turn it off until one o'clock in the morning!
這個(gè)人抱怨說:“隔壁人家的鬧聲真快把我逼瘋了。他們把電視機(jī)開得那么響,整個(gè)樓都聽見了。而且,不到半夜一點(diǎn)他們從來不關(guān)電視機(jī)?!?/p>

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lemon 質(zhì)量很壞,不理想

例句:Mr. Lee paid $15,000 for his new car. But he got a real lemon: it's never run right and it spends more time in the garage getting fixed than it does on the road. 李先生花了一萬五千塊美金買了這輛新車。可是,這輛車卻是毛病百出。這車從來也沒有好好地跑過,它在車行里修的時(shí)間比它在馬路上跑的時(shí)間還多。

going banana 快要發(fā)瘋了

例句:I'm going bananas over the noise in the apartment next door. They play their television loud enough for the whole building to hear. And they never turn it off until one o'clock in the morning! “隔壁人家的鬧聲真快把我逼瘋了。他們把電視機(jī)開得那么響,整個(gè)樓都聽見了。而且,不到半夜一點(diǎn)他們從來不關(guān)電視機(jī)。