人们常说远亲不如近邻,可邻里间闹矛盾的事儿也不少。这不,我隔壁的邻居Jean就对对门的邻居Alice不满,说Alice总是不参加公共区域的大扫除。Jean还说,为了给Alice一个教训,她决定不参加Alice组织的rummage sale, 清仓义卖会。这两个人你来我往的,让我想到了一个习惯用语,那就是:tit for tat.
Tit for tat, 就是“以牙还牙”;以同样的方式报复。我的邻居Jean对Alice就是tit for tat:你不参加集体扫除?那好,我也不会在你组织的活动中出力。这可以说是“以其人之道还治其人之身”。
在生活中,这种针尖对麦芒的事儿经常发生。我们来听听一个父亲是怎么描述他的两个女儿的:
例句-1:My daughters have really been acting childishly lately. It started when Ginny borrowed Esther's game without asking. As a result, Esther wouldn't let Ginny play with her doll. That made Ginny so mad she took back the book she'd lent Esther. How much longer is this tit for tat going to last?"
例句-2:The police investigator determined that the sudden increase of crimes was no coincidence. A gang of drug dealers wanted to punish a rival gang for shooting their leader. That led to a tit for tat series of murders, kidnappings and arsons that has paralyzed the city.