英语中有很多跟身体器官有关的词,今天我们来讲三个常见跟肚子有关的词。
1. belly-up
字面意思是“肚子朝上”。这个词有好几个意思,我们今天只讲两个最简单的意思:破产和喝醉。
例句:
Oh, that idea went belly up when the CEO criticized it. 哦,那个提议被CEO批评了,失败了。
英语释义是:When a business goes belly-up, it's bankrupt. When you're belly-up, you're out of business.
例如:The company is belly-up. 那家公司破产了。(这时候belly-up跟bankrupt是同义词)
养过鱼的人不难猜出这个意思的来源,就是取了鱼死时肚子翻过来朝上的现象。这个意思很形象。
If you've ever had a goldfish, you probably noticed how it looked when it died: belly-up. The same term can be used for financial failures, like a store that goes out of business due to poor sales or a company that makes bad investments and has to fold. People use the term for other sorts of failures too: a sports team that misses the playoffs has gone belly-up. A failed dream has gone belly-up. Anything belly-up is finished.
Belly-up的第二个常用意思是“喝醉了”。
例句:
Do you remember last night at the bar at all? You were really belly up! 你还记得昨晚在酒吧的事吗?你是真的喝多了!
这时候belly-up跟drunk是同义词。
2. beer belly 啤酒肚
这个不用解释,跟中文完全对应。
3. bellyache 抱怨
这个也很常见,belly加上ache(疼)可以表示真的肚子疼(通常说stomachache),更常见的是表示complain 抱怨。
例句:
Stop bellyaching and just get on with the job. 别抱怨了,开始干活吧。
*注意bellyache这个词一般是belly和ache连在一起作为一个单词的,分开的写法很少见。
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