Lesson 237 - in the doghouse / between a rock and a hard place
每个人在生活中都不断地需要做出选择和决定。在一生中也都会有些不顺当的时刻。在这次节目里,我们要给大家讲的两个习惯用语就是指面临困难。在日常生活中,有的时候我们会觉得自己好像站在十字路口,不知道往哪儿走才好。要是我们做出错误的决定,那我们就会处于不利的境地。这就是我们要讲的第一个习惯用语。 In the doghouse. Doghouse是一个字,可是实际上是两个字组成的,一个是dog,就是狗。另一个是house,意思是房子。Doghouse这个字的原意就是:狗睡觉的房子,也就是狗窝。In the doghouse作为俗语,它的意思就是你使某人很生气,以致你不得不在屋子外面跟自己家里的狗睡在一起,意思就是倒了霉。下面是一个学生在说他自己的经历。
例句1: I've been in the doghouse with my mom and dad ever since they saw my grades from last semester. I admit that I failed math and barely passed English, but these are tough courses!
例句2: My wife and I each has a son from our first marriages. Somehow, her son always likes to disturb my son when he's doing his homework. The other day I tried to discipline him and that got me in the doghouse with my wife.
下面我们再来给大家讲一个表示处境困难的习惯用语。 Between a rock and a hard place. Between就是在两者之间,rock是石头,hard就是硬的,place是指地方。要是一条船遇到风浪,她的一边是一块大岩石,另一边是峭壁。这条船想要从这两者之间很窄的水面安全地脱险,这又有多么不容易。在这种情况下,你必须做出正确的决定,但是有的时候又似乎没有什么好办法。就像下面这个饭店的老板一样。
例句3: We've lost so much that we're between a rock and a hard place. I can't decide whether to try to borrow money and pay higher interest than we can afford or else sell out and probably lose half of our investment.
例句4: Lisa finds herself between a rock and a hard place. If she decides to stay with her husband, she'll be beaten from time to time or even killed one day. If she is determined to divorce him, he probably will kill her before she hires a lawyer.