美國(guó)人很喜歡吃土豆,特別是剛從烤箱里拿出來(lái)的一個(gè)個(gè)熱氣騰騰的土豆。下面我們要介紹的一個(gè)俗語(yǔ)是hot potato。大家都知道hot的意思是熱或燙,potato就是土豆。熱的土豆固然好吃,但是它會(huì)燙你的手,你會(huì)想法馬上甩掉的。 Hot potato作為俗語(yǔ),它的意思就是一個(gè)爭(zhēng)論很激烈的問(wèn)題,沒(méi)有一個(gè)人愿意為它承擔(dān)責(zé)任。例如:
The question of whether to raise taxes to cut the budget deficit is a real hot potato for a lot of politicians. 是否用增加稅收的方法來(lái)減少預(yù)算赤字的問(wèn)題對(duì)于許多政客來(lái)說(shuō)是一個(gè)棘手的問(wèn)題。
下面這個(gè)例子是一位律師在給另一位律師提供建議:
If I were you, I'd drop that client like a hot potato; he's always suing somebody for something, but he usually loses and he doesn't pay his lawyer's bills. 要是我是你的話(huà),我就把你那個(gè)顧客馬上甩掉。他老是為了什么事去告別人,可是他總是輸給別人,他還往往不付律師費(fèi)
The question of whether to raise taxes to cut the budget deficit is a real hot potato for a lot of politicians. 是否用增加稅收的方法來(lái)減少預(yù)算赤字的問(wèn)題對(duì)于許多政客來(lái)說(shuō)是一個(gè)棘手的問(wèn)題。
下面這個(gè)例子是一位律師在給另一位律師提供建議:
If I were you, I'd drop that client like a hot potato; he's always suing somebody for something, but he usually loses and he doesn't pay his lawyer's bills. 要是我是你的話(huà),我就把你那個(gè)顧客馬上甩掉。他老是為了什么事去告別人,可是他總是輸給別人,他還往往不付律師費(fèi)