最近我们办公室来了一个实习生。她在广播方面没什么实践经验,可是特别聪明好学,又很勤奋。我觉得她很有发展潜力。我和我的同事们都认为,有一个习惯用语用在她身上正合适。那就是: diamond in the rough.
Diamond是钻石的意思,而rough, 意思是粗糙的,未经雕琢的。连起来,diamond in the rough, 字面意思是粗糙的钻石,实际上就是我们在中文里所说的“未经雕琢的璞玉”。
上面例子里谈到的那个实习生就是这样。She may not be an established broadcaster, but she shows potential. She's a diamond in the rough. 她现在还不是一名播音员,但是她很有潜力。她是一块未经雕琢的璞玉。
下面的例子里,一个刚买房的人对他的房子有什么跟别人不一样的见解呢? 我们来听听看:
例句 -1:My friends don't have a very high opinion of the house I bought. True, it's small and outdated. But the way I see it, its my diamond in the rough. Once I build an addition on to it, install new windows, doors and give it a fresh coat of faint, it'll be quite inviting.
我相信他很善于投资房地产,因为他能够意识到什么房子有翻修的价值。我的一个好朋友也是这样,她从来没有投资过房地产,不过她投资对了人。在她和她男朋友恋爱的时候,大家都不看好,可是她认为她男朋友是个潜力股。事实证明,her husband then started a great business. He was a diamond in the rough after all.
Diamond in the rough, 未经雕琢的璞玉。对于教练或者教师来说,发现这种潜力股的能力很重要。下面的这名网球教练就试图说服大家他发现了一个很有潜力的新球员。我们来听听看:
Samantha's coach has tried to convince anyone who will listen that he's discovered the next great tennis star. But nobody believes that she's a diamond in the rough. No matter how much she trains, they think it's doubtful that she'll ever become an exceptional player.