Lesson 85 - THROW A WET BLANKET ON STH...
时间：2019-02-04 作者：英语课 分类：美国习惯用语
to throw a wet blanket on something
中国人经常会用"泼冷水"这个词来形容一些影响人们热情的事。那么，美国人是怎么说的呢？他们说：to throw a wet blanket on something。
A wet blanket就是一张湿的毯子。To throw a wet blanket on something就是消除别人的热情或者是破坏别人的享受。那么，这个俗语是从哪儿来的呢？大家可能都注意到，每当发生火灾的时候，人们往往用湿的毯子来灭火。这个俗语还经常被用来形容那些让人感到扫兴的客人，请听下面这个例子：
例句-1: Let's not invite Dick to the dance--he is such a wet blanket with that sour look on his face and his boring talk.
这个人说：我们开舞会可别请迪克，他那愁眉苦脸的样子，还老说那些没有人感兴趣的话，太扫兴了。
下面这个例子是一个人在谈论国家经济动向的问题：
例句-2: Bad news today: the government says that corporate 2 earnings 3 weren't as good as expected the last quarter. That'll throw a wet blanket over plans of investors 4 to get into the stock market.
这句话的意思是：今天的消息可不好。政府说，上一季度私营企业的盈利并没有期望中那么好。这个消息对那些想在股票市场投资的人来说就好像泼了一盆冷水一样。
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下面我们要给大家介绍的一个习惯用语是：to throw a monkey wrench。A monkey wrench就是那种用来拧螺丝的活动扳头。要是一个工人在工作的时候不小心把扳头掉到正在运转的机器里去了，那个机器就会停顿。这也正是to throw a monkey wrench的意思，那就是影响、或终止某些本来该发生的事。下面的例子是一个人在对他的朋友诉苦：
例句-3: The family and I planned to leave Monday for a two-week vacation in California. But the boss threw a monkey wrench into our plans today when he told me I have to go to a business meeting in New York next week.
他说：我们全家计划星期一去加州两个星期渡假。但是，老板今天突然要我下星期去纽约参加一个会议，这下可把我们全家人的计划都打破了。
下面这个例子是美国人可能在新闻节目里听到的消息：
例句-4: A federal judge threw a monkey wrench into the project to build a new oil refinery 5 on the river. He ordered the company to stop work until they had a better plan to guard against water pollution.
新闻报道说：联邦法官终止了在河上修建新的炼油厂的工程。他下令那个公司在制定出更好的防止水污染计划之前停止这项工程。
- He gave a wrench to his ankle when he jumped down.他跳下去的时候扭伤了足踝。
- It was a wrench to leave the old home.离开这个老家非常痛苦。
- This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
- His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。
- That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
- Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。
- a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
- a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会