【字面理解】清洗奧吉厄斯的牛棚
【英文解析】to clear away corruption; to perform a large and unpleasant task that has long called for attention
【中文解析】清除污垢;徹底清除積弊
【典型例句】① Every government ought to attend to cleansing its own Augean stables.各國(guó)政府都應(yīng)當(dāng)注意清除自身 的腐敗現(xiàn)象。
② How to clean the Augean stables of this city remains a critical problem.如何掃除這個(gè)城市的積弊仍然是個(gè)緊 要問(wèn)題。
③ Although they know it is not easy to reform the Augean stables of the society, they are still trying to do it.雖然知道要改革社會(huì)的陳規(guī)陋習(xí)不是那么容易,他們?nèi)匀慌?力去做。
【注釋】源自古希臘神話中關(guān)于海克力斯(Hercules)的 英雄傳說(shuō)。古希臘厄利斯(Elis)的國(guó)王奧吉厄斯 (Augeas)養(yǎng)有3000頭牛,牛棚30年未曾清掃,因此 糞穢堆積如山,惡臭熏天。希臘英雄??肆λ狗蠲?一日之內(nèi)將它清掃干凈。后來(lái),the Augean stable即指 very dirty place。stable除了泛指地點(diǎn)外,還可代表不良 的制度、下流的習(xí)俗及惡劣的作風(fēng)等。人們常用(the) Augeanstable(s)喻指“長(zhǎng)期形成的積弊;骯臟的地方”。