美国习惯用语 887 to a tee
昨天晚上,我去一个朋友家吃饭,饭后,朋友的太太给客人们表演了一场模仿秀。她不仅模仿了一些明星,居然还模仿了我! 而且模仿得太象了! 不仅举手投足,连声音都唯妙唯肖! 这种模仿功力让我想到了一个习惯用语,那就是: to a tee. To a tee就是“完美”“恰到好处”。
我朋友太太的模仿秀达到了to a tee的程度。我想,下次如果我有事不能来主持节目,完全可以让她来代班,观众朋友们八成听不出区别! 除了模仿秀,其它很多艺术工作也追求逼真、传神。让我们来听听下面这段话:
例句-1:My wife suggested that we have a nice portrait painted of our family. So we sat for the artist and a couple of weeks later he told us he'd finished. I had my doubts that the painting would come out really looking like us. But when he unveiled it, I was astonished! He captured our likenesses to a tee.
这段话意思是:我太太说,我们应该请人画个全家福,于是我们找了一位艺术家,让他给我们画。几个星期后,他告诉我们,作品已经完成了。我本来还心有疑虑,觉得他可能会画得不像,但是,当他把作品拿到我们眼前时,我完全惊呆了! 他完全抓住了我们的神态,画得太逼真了!
这个画家真有本事! 我对画画是一窍不通,不过,我先生说我在烹饪方面很有天赋。去年他生日的时候,我照着菜谱做了一次烤牛排,结果大获成功! 牛排的火候和味道都是to a tee - 恰到好处! 模样也和菜谱上的照片相差无几!
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做饭要掌握火候,做人也是一样。比如买衣服,就要买符合自己身材和气质的。我们来听听下面这段话:
例句-2:With my job interview coming up, I wanted to look my best. I decided it was worth spending extra money on a high-quality designer suit. After trying on several, I found one that fit me to a tee. It was as if a tailor had made it to my exact measurements.
这段话的意思说:我过几天要去一个工作面试,所以我想,我得以最佳形象去见未来的雇主。我决定多花点钱,买一套高品质的名牌西服。在试穿了好几套之后,我终于找到了一套特别合适的。这衣服太合身了,简直像是裁缝为我量身定作的。
我想,这个年青人的面试一定进行得不错,因为他听上去很自信。而且,一套得体的西服能够给他的外表加分,能给雇主一个好印象,正所谓clothes make the man - 人靠衣装嘛!
衣服不仅要大小合适,还要符合个人气质。