Mary工作的公司里最近有人退休,空出了一個職位。Mary的朋友提醒她趕快申請:
例句-1:Hey Mary, are you applying for Bill's job? I remember you telling me last week how he had the best job in the company. Well, now that he's retired, his job is up for grabs. You should go for it!
嗨,瑪麗,你是不是在申請比爾那個職位呀?記得你上個星期對我說,在整個公司里就屬他的工作最好。現(xiàn)在比爾退休了,大家都可以競爭他的職位。你應當爭取呀!
Up for grabs原本形容的是打球時的場景。當球在空中的時候,雙方球員都有機會去搶球, 所以我們說,it's up for grabs。
Up for grabs這個習慣用語雖然同打球有關,但不只是用在體育上。凡是可以去爭取,去競爭的,不管是職位空缺,還是有公寓出租,我們都可以說:they are up for grabs。我們再來看一個體育方面的例子:
例句-2:Last year there were only two teams that could win the championship, but this year it's really up for grabs. Besides San Antonio and Detroit, there's Miami, Phoenix, Indiana, and even Yao Ming's Houston Rockets. It's going to be a great season.
去年只有兩個隊可能奪得冠軍,可今年許多隊都有可能。除了圣安東尼奧和底特律的球隊以外,還有邁阿密、鳳凰城、印第安納的球隊,甚至還有姚明所在的休士頓火箭隊。這個賽季會很精彩。