托福词汇之“trump card”王牌卡
Hilary Clinton has some of the key attributes of a good secretary of state— stature and toughness — but that she’s untested as a negotiator, and herstatus as an erstwhile Obama rival might undermine an envoy’s traditional trumpcard.
希拉里?克林顿具备一位优秀国务卿的某些关键特质---才干和韧性,但是她是否能成功进行协商谈判还不得而知,而且她作为奥巴马前竞争对手的特殊身份也可能会使该职位历来的重王牌地位受到动摇。
在上面的报道中,trump card就是指“王牌,绝招”。Trumpcard原意是“牌局中最大的王牌”。王牌在手,即胜券在握。王牌往往会留到最后关头才打出,所以一般人们用这个短语来形容决定性的可以扭转局势的手法。如:Thecoach saved his star player for a trump card.(教练保留他的明星选手,作为他的王牌)。
我们常用play one’s trump card来表示“使出绝招”。如:Finally she played her trump card andthreatened to resign.(最后她使出了绝招,扬言要辞职)。
而have all the trumps in one's hand (hold some trumps)则表示“胸有成竹,有必胜把握”,但如果你put someone to his trumps那可就要“把某人逼入绝境,迫使他使出最后的招数”了。