on a cloud
under a cloud
你們肯定都知道英文里的前置詞有時會使人很混亂,它們在句子里雖然不顯眼,但是作用卻很關(guān)鍵,用錯了一個前置詞意思可能完全不同。我們先來講on a cloud這個詞。
On a cloud是很高興的意思,高興得走路輕飄飄的好像騰云駕霧一樣。下面這個大學(xué)生就是一個例子:
例句-1: I've been on a cloud all day long - I heard this morning that I got an A on my final biochemistry exam.
這個學(xué)生說:我今天一天都很高興,因為我早上聽說,我生物化學(xué)期末考試得了一個A。
令人高興的事是層出不窮的,下面這位太太也是很高興,至少她的先生是這么說的:
例句-2: My wife has been on a cloud since I told her the other day I would spend my year-end bonus at the office to take us to Hawaii to celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary. And to tell you the truth, I'm really looking forward to it myself.
這位丈夫說:我那天告訴我的妻子,我要把辦公室發(fā)給我的年終獎金用來和她一起去夏威夷旅行,以慶祝我們結(jié)婚二十周年。自從那天起,我太太一直很高興。說實話,我自己也非常想去。
夏威夷雖然是美國領(lǐng)土的一部份,但是由于它位于太平洋中間,離開美國本土很遠(yuǎn),所以去那里旅行不如去別的地方那么容易。當(dāng)然,夏威夷那島國風(fēng)光非常吸引人,因此能去夏威夷一游實在是令人向往的。
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我們剛才講的是on a cloud。下面我們把前置詞on換成under,也就是under a cloud。任何人under a cloud是絕對不會高興的,因為他不是丟盡了面子,就是被懷疑做了什么壞事。下面是一個人在講另外一個被逮捕的人,這人被指控和販毒有關(guān):
例句-3: The judge had to let him go because there wasn't enough evidence against him. But he's going around under a cloud because most people think he's guilty.
這個人說:法官由于沒有足夠的證據(jù)來定罪,所以只好放了他。但是,他到哪兒都受懷疑,因為大多數(shù)人都認(rèn)為他是有罪的。
下面這個例子是一個人在飯館里對別人說的話:
例句-4: See that man sitting at the table by himself? He's supposed to be a very smart lawyer, but he's been under a cloud ever since he was mixed up in a scandal involving a company that was run by a mobster.
這人說:看見那個桌子邊獨自坐著的人嗎?他本來是一個很能干的律師,但是他跟一個公司的丑聞有牽連,而那個公司是由流氓集團(tuán)經(jīng)營的。從那時起他一直被人懷疑。