英語早間課堂:話說地道美語 Lesson 15 (1)

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首先，let's warm up。我們先來熱熱身，進入我們的“Review”環(huán)節(jié)。大家還記得我們在第14課中講到的“表示小瞧，輕視，小看，貶低，低估(某人或某事或某物)”的表述法嗎?它們分別是：sell something short，sell somebody short。

在sell somebody short 中，somebody是反身代詞的話，即：sell oneself short，意思就是“妄自菲薄”。那么“妄自菲薄”還有更多的表述法，such as：feel oneself inferior, self-abased , unduly humble oneself, belittle oneself a lot, underestimate one's own capabilities。 Sell...short有“小看，輕視”之意源于股市的交易方式，那么sell short仍然使用在股市中，在股市領域中是“賣空”的意思。

【今日課題】

I am in a bad mood this morning and I don't know why? 我今天早上起來莫名其妙地感到壓抑，煩躁，怕事得了“起床病”了。And how about you? 我的朋友，您呢?早上睡醒后會心情不好、對人發(fā)脾氣、無精打采、心理陰暗、對叫醒你的人怒目相視甚至大罵……恭喜你，這些都是“起床病”的癥狀。很多動漫中的人物也有起床氣，比如《純情羅曼史》中的宇佐見秋彥……“起床氣”其實是個很普遍的癥狀。If you feel down or feel blue too this morning, how do you say it in real American English? 如果您也感到心緒不好，情緒不不佳的話，we have a colorful expression. So , what's it? 那么，想知道，現(xiàn)在就進入我們今天的課題：Lesson Fifteen How to say "起床病" in real American English?

【課堂詳說】 Let's look at matters of a man's heart to get it: I'm sorry I'm in such a bad mood today - I just got up on the wrong side of the bed. But our baby cried all night long. And I forgot to set the alarm so I had no time to eat breakfast. After a good night's sleep I'll be okay again!聽完了這個人的內心表白。這個人還是有自知之明的，對他過激的言行而道歉。我們來看看他在道歉中說了些什么東西。I'm sorry I'm in such a bad mood today. 對不起，我今天脾氣真糟糕。I just got up on the wrong side of the bed. 我一整天都情緒不好。But our baby cried all night long. 我們的孩子昨晚哭鬧了一夜，And I forgot to set the alarm so had no time to eat breakfast. 而我又忘了上鬧鐘，所以今天早上早飯都來不及吃。After a good night's sleep I'll be okay again!只要晚上好好睡一覺，我就會恢復正常的。說到這里，我想大家都只知道了是用“get up on the wrong side of the bed”來表述“起床病”。In America, someone who is having a bad day is said to have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. 要是直譯就是“起床的地方不對頭”或者是“起床的方式不對”。這是個在美國通用的習慣用語，從二十世紀三十年代起一直沿用到今天 。 And now let's go back to that time. 我們現(xiàn)在就回到那個時代去了解一下它的起源。為何get up on the wrong side of the bed是表示“整天情緒不好，心緒煩亂”之類的意思呢?

E. Cobham Brewer, a writer who lived in 1870, published the book Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. In it, he claims the saying "getting up on the wrong side of the bed" originated from an ancient superstition that getting out of bed with your left leg first was unlucky. Many Romans, were cautious when getting out of bed, making sure it was on the right side. This expression was usually used by saying, "You got out of bed the wrong way." or "You got out of bed with the left leg foremost." Those developed into the idiom, "get up on the wrong side of the bed" ,we know and use today. 作家E. Cobham Brewer出版了一部習語和寓言的詞典。詞典中說“getting up on the wrong side of the bed”起源于古時候的迷信。古時候，如果你用左腿下床的話，就示意這不幸運，相信迷信的人如果知道自己違背了迷信的條規(guī)，那么會因此整天心緒不安，情緒不佳。很多羅馬人在下床時非常謹慎，一定要確定了是用右腿從右邊下床才下床。最初的說法是：“You got out of bed the wrong way.”或者是“You got out of bed with the left leg foremost.”這些說法后面就發(fā)展為我們現(xiàn)在所知道以及運用到的習語了，即：get up on the wrong side of the bed。

【課堂總結】

在今天的課堂上，我們學了“表示一個人整天情緒不安”的非常有趣的說法：get up on the wrong side of the bed。這個說法是源于古代英國人以及羅馬人的迷信，所以我們還追蹤了歷史，了解了這個說法的起源。