BBC地道英语:Hold Your Horses 别太急/沉住气

William: Hello and welcome to Authentic Real English. My name is William Kremer.

Li: 大家好我是杨莉，William, 今天的新词语是什么?

William: Well, hold on a second Li, let me just play you -

Li: 不行不行，告诉我嘛 – 到底是那个短语?

William: Well, we'll come onto that in a minute but I've got some special FX for you...

Li: 什么特殊音效?! 特殊音乐? 你还不知道嘛，我们的听众对此并不感冒! 他们想学的是地道英语，而且你最好还是开门见山! 不要兜圈子，说吧，到底是哪个短语?

Why is he holding his horses?

William: Li, hold your horses!

Li: Hmmm?

William: Hold your horses. It means: be patient.

Li: Hold your horses, 字面意思是勒住马缰，引伸意思是，耐心点。So where does this phrase come from, William?

William: Well, apparently it comes from battles in times of war:

FX – Battle re-enactment noise

Man: Hold your horses men!

FX – gunfire, horses whinnying

Li: Wow, Will, your FX this week are really special!

William: Hmmm – I know! In that clip we heard a soldier telling his men to hold their horses before he started firing weapons.

Li: But nowadays, I am guessing, you don't need to be a soldier to use this phrase, right?

William: Right, exactly. It means don't rush, be patient. Let's hear a couple of examples:

Man: I've just gone online to order us some new computers. What's our charge code again?

Woman: Ah, well you're going to have to hold your horses! I haven't agreed a budget yet with the management team.

Man 2: I've just spoken to Mark –

Woman 2: Have you indeed? Well don't listen to a word that man says! He's never liked me...

Man 2: Hey, hey hey! Hold your horses. We didn't discuss you at all, as a matter of fact.

Li: 以上第一段对话中的男子急迫地要去订购一些电脑，但是，在公司还没批准之前，他必须要耐心等待；要 hold his horses.

William: Hmm. And the second example was slightly different. In that clip we heard a woman interrupt the man because she thought that she knew what he was going to say.

Li: 是的，讲话的男子告诉讲话的女子别急，hold her horse 等他把话说完。

William: Yes, but Li we never say "Hold your horse"; we always say "Hold your horses".

Li: Oh, OK, thank you. I'll bear it in mind. But, er, Will...?

William: Yeah?

Li: Can you hold this for me?

Horse whinnying