源于天氣的英語習語

　　英國人見面寒暄的開場白，十之八九是從天氣開始的。作為四面環(huán)海的島國，由于受到四季海風的影響，英國的天氣變化很快，英國人甚至認為“在英國本土沒有氣候，只有天氣”(There is no climate in England, but only weather.)。英語里有許多和天氣有關(guān)的習語被廣泛地應(yīng)用。下面筆者就這類常見習語做一簡單介紹：

　　一、weather 天氣

　　1. I am feeling a bit under the weather this morning. I kept up very late last night.

　　今天早晨我有點兒不舒服，昨天晚上睡得很晚。

　　2. Keep a weather eye open for any small faults with your car — if they are not repaired immediately they could cost you a lot of money.

　　留意你車子的任何小毛病——如果不及時修理，以后可能要花好多錢。

　　3. Bob, my fair-weather friend, left me when I badly needed his help.

　　鮑伯是我的一位不能共患難的朋友，當我正需要他的時候，他卻走了。

　　4. The young man made terribly heavy weather of mending the puncture. It only took a few minutes when he finally did it.

　　這個年輕人對修補扎破的車胎小題大做了，他最后只用幾分鐘就補好了。

　　二、rain 雨

　　5. Come rain or shine, I’ll meet you at nine tomorrow morning at the cinema.

　　明天早上九點無論如何我都在電影院和你見面。

　　6. After graduation, you’d better put some money by for a rainy day.

　　你們畢業(yè)后最好積蓄一些錢以備不時之需。

　　7. It was raining cats and dogs when I was on my way to my school.

　　在上學的路上，我遇到一場傾盆大雨。

　　三、snow 雪

　　8. How Alice has changed! When she was a teenager, she was as pure as the driven snow.

　　艾麗斯的變化多大啊!在她十六七歲的時候，她的心地純潔無瑕。

　　9. Since they issued the prospectus, they have been snowed under with inquiries.

　　計劃書發(fā)布后，他們被大量的咨詢弄得焦頭爛額。

　　四、ice 冰

　　10. The girl’s joke broke the ice. We all relaxed afterward.

　　這女孩的笑話使氣氛活躍起來，之后大家都不那么拘謹了。

　　11. You were skating on thin ice when you praised his ex-girl friend’s book. Didn’t you know they have nothing to do with each other?

　　你贊揚了他前女友的書，這可是個很敏感的問題。難道你不知道他們之間已經(jīng)沒有來往了嗎?

　　12. David’s success at school and college cut no ice with the HR. What they wanted was a man with practical experience.

　　戴維在中學和大學的優(yōu)異成績對人事部門不起作用，他們需要的是有實踐經(jīng)驗的人。

　　13. Finally we had to put your plan on ice. We would have another look at it in half a year.

　　最后我們只能把你的計劃暫時放在一旁，半年后再研究一下。

　　五、chill 寒冷

　　14. The news of the death of the hero cast a chill over the party, and we all sat about in gloomy silence.

　　在聚會上聽到這位英雄去世的消息，大家都非常難過，默不作聲。

　　15. What he saw in the room chilled his blood. 他在房間里看到的情景令他毛骨悚然。

　　六、fog 霧

　　16. The man hasn’t the foggiest idea what we are talking about.

　　那家伙對我們所說的事情一無所知。

　　17. When we saw Bob that evening, he was all in a fog about what to do.

　　那天晚上我們看見鮑勃時，他對要做什么茫然困惑。

　　七、cloud 云

　　18. The difficulties are only temporary. We must wait till the clouds roll by.

　　困難只是暫時的，我們必須等待有利時機。

　　19.It’s no good asking him about this matter. He has his head in the clouds.

　　問他這件事情沒有用，他總是白日做夢，不切實際。

　　20.Don’t be so over pessimistic. After all, every cloud has a silver lining.

　　不要過于悲觀，畢竟黑暗中總有一線光明。

　　21. Tom has been under a cloud in his company ever since the petty cash went missing.

　　自從一小筆錢丟失后，湯姆在公司里一直受到懷疑。

　　八、wind 風

　　22. The teachers in the office have been exchanging knowing glances for the last week.Something is in the wind.

　　上個禮拜，辦公室里的老師們一直互換會意的眼色。好像要發(fā)生什么事情了。

　　23. We got wind of the resignation of the mayor two days before it was announced in the local paper.

　　市長辭職的消息在當?shù)貓蠹埳吓肚皟商?，我們就聽到了風聲。

　　24. You put the wind up me, telephoning at one in the morning. I thought some-thing terrible had happened.

　　你在凌晨一點鐘打電話可把我嚇壞了，我還以為發(fā)生了什么可怕的事情。

　　25. After a bad start, Alan got his second wind and tried again.

　　雖然開頭不順利， 但是艾倫重振精神，又試了一次。

　　26. His brother once sold gold in the black market in the teeth of the wind.

　　他的哥哥一度冒著風險在黑市倒賣黃金。

　　九、storm 暴風雨

　　27. The mayor refused to resign. He said he would ride the storm, no matter how long it lasted.

　　那位市長拒絕辭職，他說他會渡過難關(guān)，不管需要多久。

　　28. There was such an outcry when the government put forward its proposals that it was forced to bow before the storm and withdraw them.

　　政府提出的這些倡議引起如此軒然大波，以致政府被迫向公眾的抗議作出讓步，收回倡議。

　　29. Don’t worry about the silly row. It’s just a storm in a teacup.

　　別為這無聊的的爭吵擔心，那純粹是小題大做。

　　十、thunder 雷

　　30. Someone stole my thunder by leaking my announcement to the press.

　　有人搶先把我要宣布的事情向報界透露了。

　　31. There were at least five murders in the blood-and-thunder novel.

　　這部充滿刺激性情節(jié)的小說中，至少有五起兇殺案。

　　十一、lightning 閃電

　　32. We have never seen anyone move so fast. He ran like a streak of lightning across the playground.

　　我們從沒看見過跑得像他那樣快的人，他閃電般地穿過運動場。