中文中有一句俗話叫“福無(wú)雙至,禍不單行”,那么如何用英文來(lái)表達(dá)這個(gè)含義呢?
It never rains but it pours.
pour的本意是“傾,倒”,在這里是“傾盆大雨”的意思,就好像水從天上嘩嘩地倒下來(lái)一樣。
平時(shí)很少下雨,一下就是傾盆大雨,要是被你趕上了豈不是很倒霉呢?形容這樣悲慘的情況,就可以用It never rains but it pours.
來(lái)看兩個(gè)例句:
We had nothing to do for weeks, then suddenly we have all this work to do: it never rains but it pours!
我們已經(jīng)無(wú)所事事了幾個(gè)星期,突然間有這么多工作要做,真是禍不單行啊!
I missed my train this morning, lost my wallet and spilt coffee all over myself. It never rains but it pours.
今天早上我錯(cuò)過了火車、丟了錢包、還把咖啡灑了一身。真是禍不單行啊!
有趣的是,世界上還真的有常年遭受傾盆大雨之患的地方,例如喀麥隆的Debundscha:
The village of Debundscha in the Republic of Cameroon is thought to be one of the wettest places on earth. Its location at the foot of Mount Cameroon, facing the South Atlantic Ocean, gives it a long rainy season and a very wet climate with about 10,300 millimetres of rainfall every year.
喀麥隆共和國(guó)的Debundscha是世界上最潮濕的地方之一。它坐落于喀麥隆山山腳,面朝南大西洋,也因此擁有了漫長(zhǎng)的雨季和極度潮濕的氣候,年降水量約為10300毫米。(10300毫米是什么概念呢?中國(guó)的淮河流域年降水量約為800毫米,廣東、臺(tái)灣等地的年降水量也不過2000毫米。)
關(guān)于pour一詞,還有另外一個(gè)諺語(yǔ):pour cold water on
這個(gè)短語(yǔ)的字面意思就是把冷水潑到……上,而它的實(shí)際意義也正如中文俗語(yǔ)“潑冷水”,即批評(píng)某人的想法或計(jì)劃不切實(shí)際。
例句:I wanted to walk up the mountain but Jane threw cold water on the idea. She insisted on taking the cable car.
我想徒步登山,但簡(jiǎn)給我潑了冷水。她堅(jiān)持坐纜車上山。