【字面理解】聲多雨少
【英文解析】great braggers, little doers; a lot of fuss with little effect; a lot of fuss about nothing
【中文解析】徒勞無功;空口說白話,雷聲大雨點兒小
【典型例句】① Our politicians repeatedly pledge to root out corruption, but it is always much cry and little wool. 我們的政客再三指天誓日地說要根除貪污,可是始終 雷聲大雨點小。
② His diary was much more cry than wool.他的日記里空 話遠遠多于實事。
【注釋】源自中世紀(jì)神秘劇《大衛(wèi)和阿比該》(David and Abigail):阿比該的丈夫拿八(Nabal)曾經(jīng)把羊按 在地上剪毛,魔鬼看見了,也想學(xué)他那樣剪羊毛,但 是,卻抓了些豬來按在地上剪,結(jié)果把豬弄得嚎叫起 來,而魔鬼當(dāng)然也剪不到羊毛。劇中原文是:Great cry and little wool, as the Devil said when he sheared the hogs (正如魔鬼給豬剪毛的時候說的,羊毛沒有,叫 聲卻響)?,F(xiàn)在,人們往往把這句話略作much/great cry and little wool。