今天我们要讲的几个习惯用语里都是以night这个词为主的。Night就是夜晚。现在我们来讲第一个以night这个词为主的习惯用语。As different as night and day. As different as night and day是指两样完全不同的东西,就象黑暗的夜晚和明亮的白天一样的不同。下面我们来举一个例子。例句里说话的人在讲他的哥哥姐姐。
例句-1:It's hard to believe my brother and sister have the same mother and dad. They're as different as night and day. She has blonde hair and blue eyes. He has brown eyes and black hair. And me - I don't look much like either one of them.
例句-2:Sometimes it feels scary when I wake up in the dead of night and hear strange noises downstairs, creaks and groans. I'm pretty sure it's nothing but the old house getting older around me so I tell myself I don't really believe in ghosts.
和dead of night相似的一个习惯用语就是我们今天要讲的第三个习惯用语。那就是:dead of winter. 大家可能都知道winter这个词,winter就是冬天。那么,dead of winter是什么意思呢?
实际上,dead of winter和dead, 死这个词没有关系。Dead of winter的意思很简单,就是指寒冷的冬季里最冷的时候。
我们来举一个例子。这样更能体会dead of winter这个说法的意思。例句里说话的人有一个小小的院子。他在院子里种点蔬菜,供一家人吃。可是,华盛顿的冬天很冷,从十一月开始就开始会结冰,一直要持续到二月份。在这期间,这个人的院子就看起来死气沉沉。可是, 这个人找了一个消磨时间的方法。他说:
例句-3:In January, in the DEAD OF WINTER, when it often gets below freezing and maybe there's snow, I stay warm by looking at the pictures of vegetables in seed catalogs and thinking about spring when it will be warm enough to plant fresh food to eat.
现在我们来讲今天最后一个习惯用语, night owl. Owl就是猫头鹰。猫头鹰晚上很活跃,它还发出一种特殊的叫声。Night owl就是形容一个人象猫头鹰一样,晚上不想睡觉,很清醒,很活跃,也就是我们经常说的夜猫子。也许你认识某个人喜欢白天睡觉,到了晚上他就开始忙了,等大家睡了,他就开始工作了。下面说话的人似乎就是一个。
例句-4:Yes, I'm a regular night owl. So if you want to talk business with me, the best time to phone is from 10 at night until two in the morning. That's really the time when I'm wide awake and ready to work. Yes sir, I'm a real night owl.