地道英语表达｜kick you when you are down

Maybe people are thinking this is literally means kicking somebody, but this is not physical kicking. Most of the time, it is a metaphorical比喻的use of the word to talk about damaging somebody or hurting somebody when they are already in a bad place or a bad state. 

So, let’s say that I borrow a friend’s car for the weekend. And after borrowing his car, I go to see him and he tells me that he lost his job. And I say, ‘I’m sorry, but I should tell you that I crash. your car.’. And my friend says ‘Oh, come on, don’t kick me when I am down’. So, ‘to kick someone when they are down’ means to add damage to hurt or to do something negative to a person when they are already suffering something else. 

And often, we say ‘Life is kicking me when I am down’. 

「to kick you when you are down」

雪上加霜

Let’s look at some examples to help you understand better. 

Example I

A: Hey man, remember the money I lend you last year, I’m gonna need to get that back. 嘿，记得我去年借你的钱吗，我需要把钱还给我。

B: Could you wait a bit?  你能等等吗？

A: Sorry dude, I am in a bind. I need it like now.  不好意思，我现在也不宽裕，现在真的很需要钱。

B: Oh gosh, life is really kicking me when I am down right now. I lost my job last week. My girlfriend dumped me. And now, this.  哎，生活真的是让我雪上加霜。我上周丢了工作，被女朋友甩了。现在，又是这事儿。

A: I’m sorry about that, but I really need that money. 我也很不好意思，但我真的需要钱。

B: Alright, alright. I’ll get it to you.  好吧，我会给你的。

In this example, we can see a guy is suffering from multiple bas situations. Because of this, he’s saying ‘Life is really kicking me when I am down’. So, he’s in bad place. And this can really make you feel discouraged. Even from going forward with life, it can be hard to dig yourself out of the hole like this. It’s sucks. 

Example II

A: We should talk to Greg about the report. He’s gonna need to redo it. We can’t submit it like this.我们应该和Greg谈一下这份报告。他得重新做。我们不能这样提交。

B: You know what, just let me do it. He’s been under a lot stress lately, and I don’t want to kick him when he is down.  这样吧，让我来做。最近他承受了很大的压力，我不想让他雪上加霜。

A: Are you sure?你确定吗？

B: Yeah, I’ll just fix it up a bit and then we can submit it.是的，我把报告修改一下，然后我们就可以提交了。

A: Ok, I’m sending it to you right now. 好吧，我现在发给你。

In this example, two coworkers are talking about a report that Greg did. Apparently, the report was not done very well, so one of the coworkers decided to take on the project himself because he knows Greg is under a lot stress and he doesn’t want to kick him when he is down. He’s suffering from something negative now, and giving him more work will be like a kick.