美国习惯用语 791 put one's finger on

我最近收到了一张贺年卡，上面写着祝我们全家节日快乐。奇怪的是，卡上没有落款。这个人的笔迹看着特别熟，可我就是想不起来是谁的。这种情况，用下面这个习惯用语形容再合适不过了：put one's finger on. 大家都知道，finger是手指头的意思。Put one's finger on就是确切指出的意思。说到刚才那张贺年卡，我死活搞不清楚是谁寄来的，真是急死人了。

下面这句话里的Paula，看来跟我有一样的苦恼。

例句-1：There was something familiar about the man who Paula walked by on her way to work. But she couldn't quite put her finger on how she knew him. Then it came to her; she had gone to grade school with him. What a coincidence that she ran into him after all these years!

这个人说：Paula上班途中擦肩而过的那个男子，身上有什么东西好像很熟悉，但是Paula又想不起来在什么地方见过他。后来Paula突然记起来，原来这个男的是她的小学同学。这么多年后在大街上遇到他，真是太巧了。

大家恐怕都有类似的经历吧，明明看着一个人眼熟，或是声音听起来很熟悉，可就是想不起来在哪见过。

我办公室里最近有个女同事，休假回来好像什么地方不一样了。大家都觉得奇怪，但是又都不知道她到底是什么地方变了。We just couldn't put our fingers on what has changed about her. 最后我们才发现，原来人家是结婚了。原来是人逢喜事精神爽啊！

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不久前，我先生接到一个高中好朋友的电话。那个人一上来就问，你猜我是谁？害得我先生想了老半天，才知道电话是谁打来的，It took him a while to put his finger on who he was talking to.

下面这个俱乐部的成员感觉如释重负。为什么呢，让我们听听看。

例句-2：Month after month, our club's bank account was growing smaller despite a number of sizeable deposits. Money was disappearing, but how? After an intensive investigation, the police were able to put their finger on it: our president had been stealing funds!

这个人说：尽管我们往俱乐部的帐户里存了好几笔数目不小的存款，但是帐户里的钱还是每个月不断减少。钱怎么会不翼而飞呢？警方经过严密调查后发现，原来是我们俱乐部的主席在监守自盗。

你能想象一个城市的财政一下子丢失几百万美元吗？美国首都华盛顿特区不久前就爆出了这样的头条新闻。一些政府雇员盗用了纳税人的两千多万美元。调查人员说，这是“华盛顿特区有史以来最大的一起骗局。”

说了这么多，我还是不能确定那张贺年卡是谁寄来的。I still cannot put my finger on who wrote me that card. Oh, well, 但愿下次美国习惯用语上课前，我能查出这个“匿名人”！