動物名稱名詞常轉(zhuǎn)類為動詞,其含義之一是“捕捉”(hunt and catch)。 如:
They fished all day in the river.
The dogs went ratting.
然而,動物世界,形象紛繁,其性情又千差萬別。動物名稱的名詞用作動詞,或取“形似”,或取“神似”,或“形神皆似”,含義豐采多姿,形象逼真,幽默多趣?,F(xiàn)擇其要者介紹于下:
1. dog:跟蹤,尾隨
Whenever I go,my little brother dogs my footsteps.
無論我上哪兒,我的小弟弟總是尾隨著我。
2.monkey:耍弄,亂搞
Don’t monkey with my television.
別亂動我的電視機。
3.snake:蜿蜒而行;拖拉(地上某物)
Since the train was snaking along at a brisk clip,the diner
swayed from side to side.
列車開始彎彎曲曲地急速前行之后,餐車便開始左右搖晃起來。
4.wolf:狼吞虎咽
The starving man wolfed down the food。
餓漢狼吞虎咽地吃完了食物。
5.fish:取出(某物);捕撈
He fished out a coin for the boy.
他取出了一塊硬幣給這男孩。
6. crane:伸長脖子看
Jack craned to see the coins in the well.
杰克伸長了脖子看水井中的硬幣。
7. ape:模仿,仿效
Do not ape your betters.
不要效顰。
8.badger(獾):糾纏,纏住
If you badger him long enough,I’m sure he’ll agree.
如果你老是纏住他,他就會同意了。
9.pig:(在骯臟處)擠、睡在一塊兒
The hotels were all full so we had to pig it in an old hut for the night.
旅館都客滿了,我們只得在舊棚子里對付它一夜。
10.chicken:退縮,害怕
All the boys ran to put out the fire,but Mike chickened out.
男孩都跑去救火,邁克卻退縮了。
11.parrot:鸚鵡學(xué)舌般地復(fù)述
On the whole,the students seemed serious and hard-working,but they
confined themselves to parroting textbooks。
總的來說,學(xué)生看來認真又用功,但是他們只是死背教科書。
12.beetle:(像甲蟲一樣)匆忙行走
After work we all beetled off for a drink.
下班之后,我們都匆匆忙忙去喝點什么。
13.bug:暗設(shè)竊聽器;煩惱,折磨
The spy bugged enemy headquarters. .
間諜在敵軍司令部暗設(shè)了竊聽器。
14.worm:(蟲一般)慢慢爬行;慢慢鉆營
The soldier wormed his way toward the enemy’s lines.
士兵慢慢向敵人的防線爬去。
15.fox:行騙
To his mind everybody was dodging and foxing.
在他看來,人人都在搞鬼和行騙。