黑颜色和白颜色往往是对立的。黑代表黑夜和邪恶,而白象征着日光、善良或美德。在美国好莱坞早期那些无声电影里,导演往往给英雄人物戴上白帽子,而给坏蛋戴黑帽子。这样,连十岁的孩子一看就马上知道谁是好人,谁是坏人。白帽和黑帽就这样逐渐成了一个习惯的说法,也就是 white hats and black hats。White hats and black hats 就代表好人和坏人。黑和白这两个字 black and white 经常在美国的成语和俗语中出现。可是,它们并不一定像好人、坏人那样黑白分明。有时候,黑还具有肯定和积极的意思。例如,对一个做生意的人来说 in the black 就意味着赚钱,而不是亏本。今天,我们要讲两个和 black and white 这两个字有关的成语。首先我们来讲一个和black有关的常用语 a black sheep。Black 当然是指黑颜色,而 sheep 是一头羊的意思。一头黑颜色的羊 a black sheep 指的是一个给他周围的人带来耻辱的人。请听下面这个例子:
例句-1: "Uncle Joe is the black sheep in the family. Instead of getting a job, all he does is drink too much, gamble away any money he gets and chase after women."
例句-2: "We all thought my youngest brother was the black sheep in our family. In fact he was in so much trouble he ran away to Australia. But he started a new life there, married a wonderful girl, and now he's a millionaire."
下面我们要讲的一个习惯用语是和 white 这个字有关系的,这就是 A white lie。Lie 就是谎话的意思。那末,难道骗人还分黑白吗?是的。A white lie 的意思就是那种为了避免使对方感到难受而说的谎话。比如说,一个女孩子新交的男朋友很难看,但是为了不要使她感到难受,你说了个谎,说你认为他很英俊。回到家,你就对丈夫说:
例句-3: "I told a white lie when I told Jennie her boyfriend was goodlooking. The truth is he's just about the ugliest man I've ever seen."
她说:"我骗珍妮说,她的男朋友很英俊。其实,他大概是我看到的所有男人当中最难看的了。"
我们再来举一个例子:
例句-4: "My mother and dad taught me never to tell a lie. So I feel guilty every time I tell even a little white lie, although I do it just to make somebody feel better."