【字面理解】茶杯里的風(fēng)暴
【英文解析】a small or unimportant problem which is treated as much more serious than it really is
【中文解析】杯水風(fēng)波;小題大做;大驚小怪
【典型例句】① The people next door are continually quarreling, but it is usually a storm in a teaaq).隔壁的人總是不斷爭(zhēng) 吵,但經(jīng)常都是小題大做。
② Don’t worry. It’s a storm in a teacup. Everyone will have forgotten about it by tomorrow.別擔(dān)心,這不過(guò)是茶杯 里掀風(fēng)浪,到明天大家就都把這事給忘了。
【注釋】出自法國(guó)哲學(xué)家和思想家孟德斯鳩(Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu)的名言。有一次,他 聽說(shuō)圣馬力諾(San Marino)發(fā)生了政治動(dòng)亂,就用 “茶杯里的風(fēng)暴”來(lái)評(píng)論這件事。因?yàn)槭ヱR力諾是歐洲最小的共和國(guó),只有一萬(wàn)人口,孟德斯鳩認(rèn)為那里 的動(dòng)亂對(duì)整個(gè)歐洲局勢(shì)無(wú)足輕重[u。變體:a tempest in a teapot or barrel; a teapot tempest; a storm in a cream-bowl; a storm in a wash-hand basin。