今天我们要讲两个由hair这个词发展而来的习惯用语,大家一定早就知道hair是头发。我们要学的第一个习惯用语是: win by a hair。Win意思是赢得。我们常说“细如发丝。”头发在日常所见各物中也许算是最细的了,所以你一定能想象如发丝那点宽度有多么细微。习惯用语win by a hair就出自这里。
我们听个例子来体会win by a hair含义是什么。这段话在说争州长职位的竞选。其中的对手势均力敌,票数非常接近。
例句-1:It was as close as an election could be. A million people voted and the candidate I voted for won by only 350 votes. She only won by a hair but that still makes her our new governor.
领先票数三百五十和总票数一百多万相比是微乎其微的,所以他说,won by a hair,意思是以毫厘之差取得险胜。
既然有人以毫厘之差取胜,就必然有人失之毫厘。这就是我们要学的第二个习惯用语: lose by a hair。我们来听个例子。说话人的女儿Nancy在全州中学田径锦标赛中参加四百米赛跑。我们来听听比赛的结果是什么。
例句-2:Nancy ran faster than ever before but she lost by a hair. She and the other runner had the same time, but the judges thought the other girl was just a hair in front.
例句-3:My daughter and her boyfriend had a hair-raising time hiking in the mountains -- they met a black bear with her cub. But they stopped, stayed quiet and finally the bears went away slowly without bothering them.
例句-4:It was hair-raising! There was a terrible rushing sound, the windows blew in and I saw tree-limbs sailing by. I heard loud bangs and crashes -- I thought my house would blow away!