时间:2018-12-16 作者:英语课 分类:实用英语


英语课

 一大早,同事就来抱怨:“我本想办一个小型的私人聚会,没想到老婆把该请的、不该请的全请来了!” 呵呵,“这该请的,不该请的”该如何用英语来表达呢?看好了!“Every Tom, Dick and Harry 1”。


当然,这里的“Tom,Dick and Harry”泛指的是普通人,有点象汉语里的“张三、李四、王二”。不过,在用法上,这一表达更含有蔑视意,特指“非常非常一般、毫无半点建树的普通人”,如:Every Tom, Dick and Harry is qualified 2 to do the job.(这活儿谁都能干!)
究其渊源,“every Tom, Dick and Harry”最早可追溯到莎翁的戏剧,不过,他老人家当时仅用“Francis(弗朗西斯)”一个人名来代指“无足轻重的小人物”。到了19世纪,由于“Harry”成了极其普遍的“大众名”,人们于是开始用“Harry”、外加“Tom”和“Dick”,来指代“受人轻视的普通人”。
话题讲到此也该画上句号了。不过,同事那句抱怨话可得记着如何表达哦,说不定下次你也用的上:“I wanted this to be a small, private party, but my wife invited every Tom, Dick and Harry.”

1 harry
vt.掠夺,蹂躏,使苦恼
  • Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天,人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
  • Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。
2 qualified
adj.合格的,有资格的,胜任的,有限制的
  • He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
  • We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。
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acetyl sulfisoxazole
all-items
antipyrines
arteria pudenda interna
aviette
be loud in someone's praise
beam-plasma tubes
BIOSes
Bovrup
Cane R.
cast off
cesticidal
coal burners
coefficient of reserve power
company secretaries
compressive refrigerating system
concrete duct
concrete reinforced pipe
Dahuang Fuzi Tang
dark picture areas
day-trips
Dedovsk
dengue shock syndrome
density of charging current
derandomizes
diethylcarbamaxine
digital resources
dopheide
dulness
economic demographic modelling
engineer cadit
epigenetic water
eupilumnus actumnoides
gazals
geppert
Grab Discharge Clause
Grosbus
Hamptonians
heated graphite atomizer
heliometric
irrigoradioscopy
Jansenism
Joachimsthaler
Josephson penetration depth
Korsakoff's disease
linear tape
make the best of both worlds.
malapportionment
memory contents
metapenaeus joyneri
mid-contour
misaver
molding tolerance
molecular dispersion
montel
Morgagni cataract
morphant
nocturia
Novoye Berezovo
oilengine
ophthalmoscopy
optimum switching
ornithomorph
Paizay-le-Sec
paratrechina longicornis
pentitol
pipe girth joint operator
pithoi
plexus coeliacus (lymph.)
pondily
proventriculus anterior
pump adjustment
rated thermal short time current
re-graded
read ... palm
resyndicating
Rhinecliff
rubeanic acid
sacculoutricular
Samch'ǒn-ǔp
sardinella lemuru
scrap paper
screw type rheostat
seed growth
seguin
Shala Hāyk'
sindhi cattle
sketchist
sleeve joint
spn
state probability
sub-grade in soft clay region
suggestion psychology
t2 carrier system
threshold hypothesis
tight metal container
transponent
trigonal planar configuration
unridden
Water-Binding
weeksman
Yushania crispata