这也让我想起一个习惯用语,叫:to have the upper hand. 大家都知道,upper是上面的;hand是手。To have the upper hand意思就是占优势,占上风。
就好比我们两代人的足球赛,以前是父母人高马大,we have the upper hand. 如今孩子们个头追上我们了,速度又比我们快,因此they have the upper hand. 他们开始占上风了。
To have the upper hand, 除了可以用来说人外,还可以用来指情绪。比如说,his feelings got the upper hand. 意思是他的情绪失去了控制。在今天的房地产市场中,买方还是卖方占据优势呢?我们一起听。
例句-1:Now that the housing market has slowed down, the buyers have the upper hand. With fewer buyers in the market, the sellers are being forced to cut their prices.
昨天看比赛,到中场的时候,我支持的队似乎还在占据优势,at half time, our team seemed to have the upper hand. 可谁知道,our arch-rival gained the upper hand in the second half and beat us on our home turf. 我们的死对头下半场开始占上风,最后我们在自己的地盘上输掉了比赛。
To have the upper hand 这个习惯用语源于一种古老的比赛。大家从下到上,一个接一个地轮流把手放在一根木棍上,谁的手落在最上面,谁就是比赛的赢家,或者说the winner was the player with the upper hand. 在下面这个例子中,一群雇员要告自己的公司。让我们一起听听律师是怎么说的。
例句-2:The corporation really has the upper hand here. The employees can't dispute the corporation's settlement because they can't afford to stay out of work. The corporation therefore can offer them a ridiculously small amount.