PETS二级考试语法复习精讲（103）
发布时间：2010/12/3 20:47:21 来源：城市学习网 编辑：admin
The champion won hands down.
Annie: That tennis final was a bitdisappointing.
Velma: Was it? Why?
Annie: Well, everyone was expecting amuch closer contest.
Velma: What happened?
Annie: The champion won handsdown in straight sets.
Velma: Her opponent must have had a bad day.
Annie: Or perhaps she was just too tired from the previous rounds.
安妮：那场网球决赛有点令人失望。
维尔玛：是吗？为什么？
安妮：嗯，大家都以为比赛会是一场龙争虎斗。
维尔玛：结果怎样？
安妮：那冠军球手不费吹灰之力，盘盘取胜。
维尔玛：她的对手那天一定倒霉透了。
安妮：也许她只是因为经过多轮比赛，太过疲倦了。
安妮谈到网球决赛结果：The champion won hands down in straight sets。Set 有‘一套’的意思，例如a setof tools是‘一套工具’，网球赛以至少六局为一盘(a set of six or more games)，所以‘一盘’叫aset，而一场比赛则以三至五盘成绩分胜负。The tennis player won the set five tothree即‘那网球手以五比三赢了这一盘’。至于straight一字，本义是‘直的’，常引申解作‘连续的’，作形容词(adjective)或副词(adverb)都可以，例如：Ithas been raining for three straight hours/for three hours straight（雨不断下了三小时）。Thechampion won hands down in straight sets就是说她‘盘盘取胜’。Handsdown（双手放下）本是赛马术语，指骑师眼看自己遥遥领先，终点已近，不再动手鞭策马匹。因此，handsdown现在常用来说‘轻轻松松’，往往和win字连用，例如：(1) The home team won hands down as the otherteams were not particularly good（由于其它球队表现不济，主队轻易取胜）。(2) The boxer boasted thathe could beat his opponent hands down （那拳师夸口说可以轻易打败对手）。安妮说，最初大家都以为比赛会十分激烈：Everyone was expecting a much closercontest。Close作形容词，一般解作‘接近’；用来说竞赛，常指彼此相差不远或势均力敌。 [NextPage] His company has got the green light.
Carl: My father is celebrating today.
Anton: Why's that? Has he won the lottery?
Carl: As good as.His company has got the green light from the city planning department to go ahead with his latest construction project.
Anton: What is it?
Carl: Four thirty-story apartment blocks and a shopping mall.
Anton: Wow! He'll be sitting on a goldmine when it's finished.
卡尔：家父今天大肆庆祝。
安东：为什么？他中了乐透吗？
卡尔：差不多。他的公司获城市规划处批准，展开他最新的建筑计划。
安东：计划兴建什么？
卡尔：四幢三十层的公寓大楼，以及一个购物中心。
安东：啊，建成之后，令尊就像开了个金矿。
卡尔说他父亲的公司获当局批准展开一个建筑计划：His company has got the green light to go ahead with his construction project。Green light是准许过马路的‘绿灯’，常引申解作‘许可’，例如：We cannot proceed unless the government gives us the green light（除非政府许可，否则我们不能展开工作）。但green light的反义词red light（红灯）却极少用来比喻‘禁止’，其寓意一般是‘危险’，常见于成语to see the red light（发觉危险在前），例如：When he learned how many fatal diseases were related to tobacco, he saw the red light and stopped smoking（他知道有那么多致命疾病和烟草有关之后，产生危机意识，不再吸烟了）。
第一段例句中proceed一字，和卡尔说的go ahead同义，指‘着手（做某事）’，但go ahead语气比较随便，例如：Despite my objection, he went ahead（或proceeded）with his impractical plan（他不理会我的反对，着手推行他那不切实际的计划）。Go-ahead也可作名词，指‘许可’，和green light意思差不多，卡尔那句话即可改写如下：His company got the go-ahead from the city planning department to carry out his construction project。Goldmine或gold mine是‘金矿’，常用来比喻大财富的来源，成语to be sitting on a goldmine即‘拥有可赚大钱或很值钱的东西’，有时是说拥有而不自知，例如：He has been in possession of that painting for many years, hardly knowing that he is sitting on a goldmine（他拥有这幅画多年，也不知道是价值连城的宝贝）。
