绿禾新天地

绿禾新天地
http://lv-he3.blogspot.com/2011/01/blog-post_5607.html

Sunday 26 February 2012

天降之汁

啡 语


☉阿五


啡友说他爱喝果汁,特别是orange juice。他说有一次和美国朋友一起午餐,问他:How about some orange juice? 那朋友说:I would like some cow juice。不要橙汁,要母牛汁,指的当然是milk了。
把牛奶叫作cow juice,似乎是儿童用语,啡友说,其实它是已经流行了百年有余的老词汇。如果你要一杯水,可是说:give me a glass of sky juice。天降之汁,指的是雨水,改用以称water。
谈到orange juice,不免想到榨果汁用的juicer。谚语中有说:The orange that is too hard squeezed yields a bitter juice。以juicer榨橙,榨得太干,会流出苦味的汁,用来比喻过犹不及(too much is as bad as not enough)。
在stew in one's own juice的成语中,juice指的是人的体汁。这话也可以说成:fry in one's own grease,那是13世纪时已有的说法,原来是指受火刑的犯人用自己的油脂自煎,现在一般只用stew in one's own juice,形容人在悔恨、懊恼、感情激动时胃液分泌增加,有如在自己的胃液中自煮,是一种suffering,是suffer from the consequence of one's own actions,自作自受也。谚语还说:If you squeeze a cork, you will get little juice。榨瓶塞,即使是橙汁的木塞,也无汁可得,徒劳也。

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