“猫”之絮语知多少

　　Catsare the most popular pets among Americans. So it is not surprisingthat there are many expressions about cats. Some cats like to catchsmall bird like canaries. If someone looks very proud orsatisfied with himself, we say he looks like the cat that ate thecanary。

　　Sometime¹ a cat likes to play with a small animal it catches.So if you play cat and mouse with someone, you change betweendifferent kinds of behavior when dealing² with another person. Forexample, a child might offer something sweet to her little brotherand then take it away when he reaches for it。

　　A cat will often catch a small animal and present it to itsowner. The saying that looks like something the cat dragged indescribes something in bad condition。

　　Two old and funny expressions describe something that is the bestor finest. Americans might say that something is the cat’s meow andthe cat’s pajamas³。

　　Children might call a child who is easily frightened a fraidy cator a scaredy cat. A copycat is someone who acts just like someoneelse or copies another person’s work. A fat cat is a person with alot of money。

　　You may have known⁴ that cats spend most of their time sleeping.Sometimes people sleep for a short time during the day. This iscalled a cat nap⁵。

　　If you tell about something that was supposed to be a secret, wesay you let the cat out of the bag. If you are not able to speak oranswer a question someone might ask if the cat has got yourtongue。

　　Have you ever watched children in a classroom when their teacherleaves for a few minutes? When the cat’s away, the mice will playmeans people sometimes misbehave when there is nosupervision。

　　You may have heard this expression: curiosity⁷ killed the cat.This means⁶ being too concerned about things that are not yourbusiness might cause problems。

　　If your home is very small, you might say there is not enoughroom to swing a cat. But you probably should not try this athome!

　　If you ever had cats as pet you know it is difficult to train them or to get themto do something. Cats are not like sheep or cows that can be movedin a group. So we say a difficult or impossible job is like herdingcats。

　　We leave you with a song from the musical play, “Cats。”

　　中文形容一个人因为达到某种心愿而有点臭美、心满意足的样子，可以用“偷腥的猫”这个表达。英语也有类似的说法，即“like the catthat ate thecanary”。这个短语形象描绘了猫打开鸟笼子，掏出里面的金丝雀吃了之后满足的样子。这个短语调侃意味较浓，较常运用于口语之中。

　　不知大家是否见过猫玩弄老鼠的情形？通常来说，它不会马上把老鼠弄死，而是抓了又放，放了又抓，不断地玩弄它。因此，短语“playcat and mouse with someone”就表示捉弄某人、对某人欲擒故纵的意思。例如：I know what youare up to. Don’t play cat and mouse withme!(我知道你会这么做的，别再捉弄我了！)

　　猫通常会叼一些肮脏破烂的东西回来，因此当有人说你“look like something the cat draggedin”，即是指你外表凌乱，肮脏不堪。如：You can’t possibly go to school like that—youlook like something the cat draggedin!(你不能这个样子去上学——你看你全身邋里邋遢的。)

　　“the cat’s meow”和“the cat’spajamas”都表示不同凡响的、极好的人或物，两者都大有典故。一般来说，当猫很高兴或看到好东西的时候，它都会喵喵叫，因此“thecat’s meow”不难理解。而“the cat’spajamas”便不是直译过来的“猫的睡袍”的意思了。其实这个短语起源于20世纪20年代，那个时候pajamas(睡袍)是相当时尚的东西，因此，爱猫的英美人就用“the cat’s pajamas”来形容那些紧跟潮流、与众不同的事物。

　　很多短语都用猫来形容某一类人，比如：“a fraidy cat”和“a scaredy cat”表示胆小鬼、“acopycat”表示人云亦云的模仿者，这三个短语相当口语化，而且通常出自小朋友之口，有童趣戏谑的成分。而“a fatcat”则指大亨、阔佬。

　　我们常看到猫在白天里懒洋洋趴着睡觉，猫嗜睡是出了名的。因此，“a cat nap”就是指日间假寐、打

　　瞌睡。

　　口语版曾经介绍过“let the cat out of thebag”(泄露秘密)，不过，这个短语更倾向于指秘密是无意中被泄露的，而这个秘密往往是重要而关键的。请大家分辨好使用该短语的语境。

　　“The cat has got yourtongue。”直译成“猫咬了你的舌头”似乎有些莫名其妙，它其实表示“瞬间说不出话来，不知道说什么好”的意思。这个短语如今被广泛地使用，但关于它的出处却没有一个统一的说法。有一个说法是，在中东，作为一种惩罚的方式，人们会把说谎者的舌头割掉去喂猫；而另外一个比较靠谱的说法则是，中世纪时，巫师这一职业被视为邪恶的象征，通常会被处死。所以，如果一个巫师被人发现，他就会派他的猫出去咬断这个人的舌头，让他不能说话。

　　“When the cat’s away, the mice willplay。”这句英语谚语可以说是中文谚语“山中无老虎，猴子称霸王”的完美对照版。说到这里，大家应该马上能掌握它的意思了吧？

　　说起“好奇杀死猫”，许多读者应该马上就联想到刘嘉玲、胡军联袂出演的同名电影。其实这句话来源于1912年尤金·奥尼尔所写剧本中的一句台词：Curiosity killed the cat. Satisfaction brought him back。传说中有九条命的猫都会因为好奇心而死，更何况人呢？这句话实际上是告诫人们应该适可而止，不应该过分好奇。

　　“There is not enough room to swing acat。”的意思不难理解，连猫都难以行走，说明空间之狭小，根本没有转身的余地。

　　猫是以喜欢自由出名的，向来不喜欢被驯服，因此要驯服一只猫绝非易事。如果做什么事情“likeherding cats”，那说明这件事有极大难度，很难做到。比如说，南加州大学的校长就曾说过这句话：Managing peopleis like herding⁸ cats。(管理人简直难于登天。)

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