To put on the dog就是“擺排場(chǎng)給別人看”。大概一百多年以前,一些有錢(qián)的人往往花很多錢(qián)去買(mǎi)一只稀有品種的小狗來(lái)顯示自己很有錢(qián)。一些闊太太們經(jīng)常在接待客人的時(shí)候把一只小狗抱在腿上來(lái)炫耀自己的闊氣。當(dāng)時(shí)耶魯大學(xué)的學(xué)生就創(chuàng)造了to put on the dog這一說(shuō)法來(lái)嘲笑那些暴發(fā)戶(hù)。我們來(lái)舉一個(gè)例子:
Joe Doak is sure putting on the dog since his rich aunt died and left him 10 million dollars. He's bought the biggest house in town and a Mercedes 600, and talks about buying some riding horses.
喬多克自從他姨媽去世、留給他一千萬(wàn)美元遺產(chǎn)以后,他可真是擺闊氣。他買(mǎi)了城里最大的一棟房子,還有一輛奔馳600型號(hào)的汽車(chē)。他還說(shuō)要買(mǎi)幾匹馬玩呢。
但是有錢(qián)的人也不都是那樣揮霍的。下面就是一個(gè)例子:
I had this friend in the army who was the son of one of the richest men in the country. But what I like about him was that he never put on the dog to show off his money.
我在部隊(duì)服役的時(shí)候有個(gè)朋友,他爸爸是美國(guó)最有錢(qián)的人之一。我很喜歡這個(gè)朋友,因?yàn)樗麖膩?lái)也不炫耀自己多么有錢(qián)。