昨天,我在公共衛(wèi)生間洗手的時候,把結婚戒指摘下來放在了洗手臺上,可離開的時候忘記把戒指戴上了。等我覺得不對勁兒,想起戒指落在洗手間的時候,已經(jīng)是15分鐘以后了。我趕忙往洗手間狂奔,當時的心情,可以用下面這個習慣用語來形容:beside oneself.
Beside oneself 的意思是情緒失控,發(fā)狂。在我意識到自己把結婚戒指落在了公共廁所里時,I was beside myself! 我都快急瘋了! 好在等我沖到衛(wèi)生間時,戒指還好好地在洗手臺上,幸虧那天人少!
在下面這段話中,我們要聽到另外一種情緒失控,不過是很令人羨慕的情況。我們來聽一聽:
例句-1:Hearing that we had just won the lottery was so overwhelming. We were beside ourselves. Just think: we'd become millionaires. Now we could pay off our mortgage and put our kids to college. And there would still be enough money left to travel around the world."
這段話是說:聽說我們贏了彩票,這消息實在太讓人吃驚了。我們簡直高興得不知道怎么辦好。想想吧:我們是百萬富翁了。現(xiàn)在我們可以還清房屋貸款,供孩子上大學,剩下的錢還足夠我們周游世界。
我要是贏了彩票,就會找個投資顧問好好幫我管理這筆錢。很多中了大彩的人因為揮霍無度而千金散盡,最后甚至破產(chǎn)。那時,they're beside themselves with fear and worry. 他陷入極度的恐懼和擔憂中。
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在剛才的例句中,中了彩票的人are beside themselves with joy, 得意忘形,樂暈了。而在下面這個例句中的人也遇到了意想不到的事兒,但心情卻完全不同。我們來聽一聽:
例句-2:When Rosa returned to the parking lot, she discovered that her brand new car had a big dent. Someone had hit her vehicle and not left a note. Now she had to call her insurance company, and then arrange for repairs. Aaargh! The more she thought about it, the more furious she became. She was beside herself with anger.
這段話是說:羅斯回到停車場的時候發(fā)現(xiàn)她新買的車凹下去了一大塊。有人撞了她的車,也沒留張字條就溜走了?,F(xiàn)在,羅斯不得不給自己的保險公司打電話,然后還要安排修車的事兒。啊! 她越想越氣,簡直是氣得發(fā)狂。
說到撞車,我的鄰居曾經(jīng)在一個下大雨的深夜里撞了一個人,主要是因為雨太大,她沒看到那個行人。好在當時她車開得很慢,被撞的人沒什么大礙,不過, my neighbor was beside herself with grief for not seeing the man. 我的鄰居當時只恨自己為什么沒看到人。