Bad workmen often blame their tools.
[譯]拙匠常怪工具差;不會撐船怪河彎。
Barking dogs seldom bite.
[注解]比喻有的人嘴巴狠可心腸軟。
[譯]吠犬不咬人。
Be slow to promise and quick to perform.
[譯]不輕諾,諾必果。
Be swift to hear, slow to speak.
[譯]聽宜敏捷,言宜緩行。
Believe nothing of what you hear, and only half of what you see.
[譯]耳聞的不能信,眼見的也不能全信。
Better by far you should forget and smile than that you should remember and be sad.
[注解]語出Christina Georgina Rossetti,英國女詩人羅塞蒂。
[譯]笑一笑而忘掉,比愁眉苦臉地記住要好得多。
Better late than never.
[注解]此諺語常用來作為半詼諧性的借口,指拖延許久才做總比根本不做好。
[譯]晚做總比不做好;亡羊補牢,未為晚也。
Better some of a pudding than none of a pie.
[注解]有點布丁總比沒有餡餅好,有點兒總比沒有強。
[譯]聊勝于無。
Better the foot slip than the tongue trip.
[注解]指行動上的小毛病常常不如說了錯話那樣嚴重。句中slip有雙關意義,the foot slip指“摔跤”,“跌倒”;the tongue trip則是“失言”,“說走了嘴”。
[譯]寧可滑跤,不可失言。
Between two stools one falls to the ground.
[注解]fall between two stools兩頭落空,比喻腳踏兩條船,遲早會落水,出自拉丁語。
[譯]腳踩兩條凳,早晚要落空。
Beware of a silent dog and still water.
[譯]警惕無聲的狗會咬人,平靜的水會覆舟。
Bite off more than one can chew.
[譯]貪多咽不下。
Bite the hand that feeds one.
[譯]恩將仇報。
Blood is thicker than water.
[注解]意指親人總比外人親,家族關系勝于其他關系,親屬紐帶具有強大的作用,親情是永恒的。
[譯]血濃于水。