詞組講解
1. beat a dead horse ** 做徒勞無益的事;白費力氣
解 習(xí)語;詞義溯源:打“死馬”,引申為做徒勞之事
例 Look, you're beating a dead horse. This issue was settled in last night's meeting.
2. beat a path to one's door ** 拜訪者絡(luò)繹不絕,門庭若市
解 習(xí)語;詞義溯源:某人的家門前已經(jīng)被踏出了一條[路(path)]
例 Tom thinks he is so famous now that agents will be beating a path to his door to get a contract with him.
3. beat a retreat ** 逃避,退卻
解 習(xí)語;詞義溯源:發(fā)出[撤退信號(retreat)]
例 Several students scaled the embassy's gate, but beat a retreat when armed riot police came after them.
4. beat around 〔about〕 the bush ** 顧左右而言他,旁敲側(cè)擊,繞圈子
解 習(xí)語;詞義溯源:擊打[樹叢(bush)][邊緣(around)]
例 Politicians are notorious for beating around the bush when they want to avoid answering a question.
5. beat one's brains out * 猛烈毆打,打死
解 俚語;詞義溯源:連某人的腦子都要打[出來(out)]了;常用于武力威脅時,不能輕易使用
例 Greg's father warned him that if he ever caught him using drugs he would beat his brains out.
6. beat one's gums * 長時間地嘮叨,說沒有重點的話
解 俚語;詞義溯源:反復(fù)碰撞[牙齦(gums)]
例 While the speaker was beating his gums, half of the audience got up and left.
7. beat 〔bang〕 one's head against a brick wall ** (為完成一件完全沒有希望的事情)浪費時間,徒勞無益
解 〈口〉習(xí)語;詞義溯源:用頭撞擊[墻壁(brick wall)]
例 Go ahead and try if you want to, but I think you're just beating your head against a brick wall.
8. beat 〔knock〕 sb. down to size / beat sb. down ** (通過打等)讓某人變謙遜,滅某人的氣焰
解 習(xí)語;詞義溯源:打某人,讓其氣勢[下降(down)]到一定[程度(size)];參照cut sb. down to size
例 I wish someone would beat that arrogant guy down to size someday.
9. beat sb. to the punch 〔draw〕 ** 搶先行動,搶先下手
解 習(xí)語;詞義溯源:搶先某人[出拳、打擊(punch)]或[獲得有利地位(draw)]
例 His company beat the competitor to the punch by introducing the new technology in their mobile phones six months ahead.
10. beat sb. up / beat up sb. *** 痛打, 毆打
解 短語動詞;詞義溯源:[重重地(up)]打某人
例 First Walter beat Ed Smith up for saying something bad, then Ed's older brother beat up Walter.
11. beat sth. into one's head ** 灌輸,重復(fù)某事使某人記住
解 習(xí)語;詞義溯源:將某事捶打[入(into)]某人的腦中
例 What do I have to do to make you understand? Do I have to beat it into your head?
12. beat the band ** 快速地,迅猛地
解 習(xí)語;詞義溯源:打一幫人,引申為迅猛的
例 My secretary typed the letter to beat the band, finishing it in less than five minutes.
13. beat the gun ** (在結(jié)束前)設(shè)法完成
解 習(xí)語;詞義溯源:搶先于[槍聲(gun)];原來是體育用語,表示在比賽結(jié)束幾秒前得分
例 The deadline for filing the report is 2:00 o'clock tomorrow. If we work on it all night tonight, we might just beat the gun.
14. beat the living daylights out of sb. ** 毒打,狠打
解 〈口〉習(xí)語;詞義溯源:把某人的[生命力(daylights)]打出體內(nèi)
例 Mother used to beat the living daylights out of us if she caught us fighting each other.
15. beat the pants off sb. ** 猛烈地毆打某人
解 〈口〉習(xí)語;詞義溯源:把某人打到其[褲子(pants)]都已經(jīng)[掉落(off)]的程度
例 Heavyweight champion Stuart Vogel is going to beat the pants off Boris Ivan.
16. beat the rap * 逃避懲罰,逍遙法外
解 俚語;詞義溯源:避免、擺脫[犯罪嫌疑、刑事責(zé)任(rap)]
例 High-priced lawyers helped Mr. Simpson beat the rap, and so another celebrity murderer had escaped punishment for his crime.
參考譯文
1. 你看,你這是在白費力氣。這個問題在昨晚的會議上就解決了。
2. 湯姆覺得自己現(xiàn)在這么出名,經(jīng)紀(jì)人肯定會爭先恐后地到他家來跟他簽合同。
3. 一些學(xué)生爬上了大使館的大門,但是在武裝防暴警察追過來之后就撤退了。
4. 眾所周知,政客們在想要回避某一問題的時候都喜歡繞圈子。
5. 格雷格的父親警告他,如果抓到他吸毒,就要打死他。
6. 演講者說的都是空洞無物的話,所以一半聽眾都起身離開了。
7. 如果你愿意的話就去試試吧,但是我認(rèn)為你只是白費力氣。
8. 我希望有一天有人能夠滅了那個傲慢的家伙的氣焰。
9. 他的公司先下手為強(qiáng),比競爭對手提前六個月推出手機(jī)新技術(shù)。
10. 先是沃爾特因為埃德·史密斯說了一些不好聽的話而暴打了他一頓,然后埃德的哥哥又把沃爾特揍了一頓。
11. 我怎么才能讓你明白呢?是不是得把它塞到你腦袋里?
12. 我的秘書打字非??欤坏轿宸昼娋桶研糯蛲炅?。
13. 提交報告的最后期限是明天凌晨2:00。如果我們今天晚上熬夜做的話,到時應(yīng)該可以正好完成。
14. 如果媽媽發(fā)現(xiàn)我們在打架的話,她會狠狠地揍我們。
15. 舉重冠軍斯圖爾特·沃格爾要把鮑里斯· 伊萬打個落花流水。
16. 辛普森先生花重金聘請律師幫自己逃脫了刑事責(zé)任,于是,又一個名人殺人犯逃脫了法律制裁。