汉译英难点详解500例（8）：评价、疑虑和问询

1．崭新的 brand new

他买了一台崭新的轿车 He bought a brand new car.

 

2.太便宜了 be dirt cheap

这块手表才花了30美元，真是太便宜了。 You bought this watch only for 30 dollars? It’s dirt cheap.

 

3.费事儿 take a lot of doing

做鱼特别费事儿，我可不愿意洗阿，淹阿，钝阿什么的。 It takes a lot of doing to cook a fish. I wouldn’t like to spend a lot of time washing, salting, stewing and whatnots for the cooking of it.

 

4.知道底细 have someone’s number

别跟我瞎吹了，我又不是不了解你的底细。 No big talk with me, I have your number.

5.精品 the choicest goods

 

这家商店卖的手表都是精品，而且种类还特别多。 This shop sells a wide range of watches, all of which are the choicest.

 

6. 了解一下情况 get the lay of the land

经理说他想让我们先去海南了解一下那里的情况，然后再决定投资的事。 The manager said that he would like us to go to Hai Nan and get the lay of the land there before deciding on the investment.

 

7.掌上明珠 the apple of someone’s eye 

玲玲是她爷爷的掌上明珠 Ling Ling is the apple of her grandpa’s eye.

 

8.让人恶心turn one’s stomach / make one sick

听她讲话，看她和男人讲话的那股劲头儿真让我恶心。 Listening to her and seeing the way of her talking with men really turns my stomach.

 

9. 惹麻烦了 be in a jam

小张这次可惹麻烦了，昨天他又让警察给逮着了。 Xiao Zhang’s in a jam now. He was copped out again by the police yesterday.

 

10．关系很好 be on good terms with

据说老张和那个部长的关系特别好 It’s said that Lao Zhang is on very good terms with the minister.

 

11.甜头儿 sugar plum

如果不尝到点甜头儿，她是不会干那种事的 She wouldn’t do that if she hadn’t got sort of sugar plum.

 

12.什么都敢赌  can bet one’s bottom dollar

她绝对不会和他结婚的，这个我什么都敢赌。 I can bet my bottom dollar that she won’t marry him for anything.

 

13.美中不足a fly in the ointment

我喜欢那套房子，但美中不足的是离上班的地方太远。 I like the house, but there’s a fly in the ointment: I have to commute so far to work.

 

14．蹩脚货/次品 a lemon

几天以后他才发现他买的车是个蹩脚货。 Not until several days later did he find the car he bought was a lemon.

 

15.小道消息 through the grapevine

不要听任何小道消息，现在传闲话的人越来越多了。 Don’t believe anything through the grapevine. There are more and more gossipers.

 

16.其丑无比 have a face that would stop a clock

我真不敢想象像李同这样英俊的小伙子竟然和奇丑无比的孙丽结了婚。 You can hardly imagine that a handsome man like Li Tong would get married with a girl like Sun Li who has a face that would stop the clock.

 

17.体型匀称  be well-proportioned

杰克体型匀称，个头适中，一双大眼睛炯炯有神，成了许多女孩追求的目标。 Lack, with a body well-proportioned, about the middling, a pair of intense big eyes, has become the target of many pretty girls.

 

18. 做得太过火了 overplay one’s hand

你一定时做得太过火了， 否则她不会对你如此不依不饶的。 You must have overplayed your hand or she wouldn’t have taken off her gloves to you like that!

 

19.正中下怀  play into someone’s hands

你同意到外地出差正中老板下怀，至于原因，还是留给你自己去思考吧 Your agreeing to take the business trip in another city well played into the hands of the boss. As for the reason, you put it in the pipe and smoke it.

 

20.轻松的工作 a cushy job

他想干个轻松的工作，可又怕挣钱太少了。 He hope to take a cushy job but at the same time, worries about pay he gets from such a job. 

 

21.多的不得了 a jillion

千万别让你的丈夫去那个城市出差，那里的妓女多得不得了 Never allow your husband to take a trip to that city. There are a jillion streetwalkers there.

 

22.争论的原因  a bone of contention

我想，分利不均才是他们争吵的真正原因。 I think the inequality in splitting the profits is their real bone of contention.

 

23.仍在……着 be still on

现在已经是深夜12点了，可是他办公室的灯还在亮着。 It’s already 12:00 o’clock midnight, yet, the light in his office is still on.

 

24.有点生疏   go a bit rusty

A:你能讲法语么？B：过去学过，可几年不用有点生疏了。 Can you speak French? I learned it, but I haven’t used it for a long time so it has got a bit rusty.

 

25.喝多了 have one too many

看他那个样子肯定是喝多了，你最好把他送回家 He must seem to have had one too many. You’d better walk him home.

 

26.事情的真相 what’s what

如果你弄清事情的真相，就马上打电话告诉我 Give me a buzz and tell me as soon as you’ve got the what’s what.

 

27.真惨 a bad scene

这次考试真惨。十道题我只答对了两道，其他的全错了。 This exam was really the bad scene! I miss all the ten questions but two.

 

28.不能再……了can’t be adjective+er

这个价格不能再低了 The price can’t be any lower.

 

29.彻头彻尾的 out and out

他是个彻头彻尾的口头革命派。 He’s an out and out armchair revolutionary.

 

30.打扮得特别漂亮be dressed to the nines

每次去参加舞会，她都打扮得特别漂亮。 Every time she went to a dance, she would always be dressed up to the nines.

 

31.空头支票 lip-service

他对我们的许诺不过是个空头支票而已。 What he promised us is but a lip-service.

 

32.害人反害己 harm set, harm get

他吃苦果既是我们常说的“害人反害己”的最好例证。 the bitter fruit he has got can be a very good example of what we call “Harm set, harm get.”

 

33.到底 on earth

你到底想怎么着？ What on earth do you want ?