【字面理解】戴著馬具死去
【英文解析】to die while one is still working
【中文解析】殉職;工作時(shí)死去
【典型例句】① He refused to retire, saying that he would rather die in the harness.他不肯退休,說(shuō)寧愿工作到死為止。
② I’m as fit as a fiddle,and will never retire. Actors die in harness.我仍很健康,決不退休。演員要死在工作崗 位上。
【注釋】harness在古時(shí)可用來(lái)指“鎧甲”,如在莎士比亞 的戲劇《麥克白》中,麥克白在兵敗時(shí)曾說(shuō): At least we’ll die with harness on our back.(就是死我們 也要捐軀沙場(chǎng)。)另外,harness亦指“馬具”,馬匹過(guò) 度勞累,拖車的時(shí)候就可能突然倒下死去。所以人們 常常用die in the harness來(lái)比喻“掏職或在工作中死 亡”。變體:die with harness on one’s back。同義習(xí)語(yǔ): die in one’s boots; die with one’s boots oiu