今天我们要给大家介绍的两个习惯用语都是以站立的"站"这个字为主的。我相信大家都知道"站"在英文里是哪个字 Stand. Stand这个字有许多意思,美国人也用的很多。在我查的一本字典里,stand这个字有六十九种不同的含义。所以,很显然,今天我们讲的只能局限于stand这个字的几种用法。我们今天要讲的第一个习惯用语就是: to stand up someone. 大家可能都会说stand up. 这不就是"站起来'的意思吗?是的,一点也没错。但是,to stand up后面再加一个"某人",那它的意思就完全不同了。To stand up someone就是一个人没有能按时去赴重要的约会,特别是和女朋友或男朋友的约会。这里要请大家注意的是,to stand up someone也可以把最后两个字颠倒一下,成为: to stand someone up. 这种to stand someone up的情况甚至在举行婚礼的时候都可能发生。下面就是一个例子。这是新郎在说话。
例句-1: Mary was two hours late for our wedding and I was afraid she had stood me up. But she finally got there, her head all bandaged -- she'd been in an auto accident on her way to church!
例句-2: I really love Joan. We've been dating for over two years now. But I simply can't stand the way she always stands me up. Last month, I waited in front of the theater for an hour without seeing her shadow. I've finally decided to break up with her.
我们再来讲一个以stand这个字为主的习惯用语, a stand-in. 要注意的是在stand和in之间必须有一个连接号。A stand-in很明显是一个名词。这个说法是出自好莱坞。大家都知道,电影里的惊险动作往往是由别人来代替电影明星演的。这种代替明星的人就是stand-in。每当明星不能参加排练的时候,那个代替他排练的人也是 a stand-in。可是,a stand-in这种说法现在已经不仅仅局限于代替演员的人,它已经扩大到日常生活中去,可以应用在各个方面。凡是一个人临时去代替别人做什么事,那个人就可以被称为a stand-in。下面就是一个例子。
例句-3: The mayor was sick in bed with a sudden attack of the flu so one of the city council members had to be a stand-in for the mayor and go out to meet the governor at the airport.
例句-4: You want me to be a stand-in for you again tonight at the dinner party? Let me tell you, I'm getting tired of being your stand-in all the time. If you don't want to perform your duties, why don't you let me take over your position.