美國(guó)習(xí)慣用語：991 on the firing line

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最近，我們的一個(gè)制片人制作的短片引起了軒然大波。短片談的是環(huán)境保護(hù)問題，而其中一位科學(xué)家認(rèn)為全球變暖只是一個(gè)噱頭。這種說法馬上引起了其他很多科學(xué)家和公眾的不滿，很多人表示了對(duì)這個(gè)觀點(diǎn)的反對(duì)，制片人也被批評(píng)報(bào)道偏頗，不夠嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)。她的處境讓我想到一句習(xí)慣用語。那就是: on the firing line。

Firing line, 是射擊線，開火線的意思，那么on the firing line, 在火線上，引伸出來意思就是處于容易被攻擊的位置上。

就像上面提到的例子：the producer of the show ended up on the firing line for presenting only one side of the argument. 制片人因?yàn)橹唤榻B了對(duì)全球氣候變暖的一種看法而受到批評(píng)。

在下面的例子里，一系列的問題食品帶來了公眾恐慌。我們來聽一聽：

例句-1：Last month, there was an terrible outbreak of people getting sick from contaminated spinach. Some Americans even died. Not long before, a similar incident happened with peanut butter. That's why the public became very angry at government officials. They'll probably remain on the firing line until citizens can be assured of the safety of our food.

這段話是說: 上個(gè)月，出現(xiàn)了一輪公眾因食用受污染的菠菜而患病的事件。這些蔬菜甚至導(dǎo)致有些人死亡。不久前，市面上還出現(xiàn)過有問題的花生醬。這激起了公眾對(duì)政府官員的憤怒情緒。在市民們重新對(duì)食品安全感到放心之前，這些政府官員可能會(huì)一直是大家批評(píng)的對(duì)象。

食品安全可不是小問題，政府確實(shí)應(yīng)該對(duì)這種問題負(fù)責(zé)! 想起我租的公寓，租賃辦公室一直在提高租金。在租戶會(huì)議上，they were clearly on the firing line; they were grilled about why the renters had to pay more. 他們顯然變成了租戶的眾矢之的，人們紛紛質(zhì)問為什么要沒完沒了地上漲租金。

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一般在中國(guó)家庭里，財(cái)政大權(quán)都掌握在妻子手里。其實(shí)很多美國(guó)家庭也一樣。下面例子里的這個(gè)人就要講講他妻子是怎么控制家庭預(yù)算，降低生活開支的。咱們一起來聽一聽:

例句-2：My wife controls the budget in the house. She says we have to cut down on spending. That means buying new clothing, going out to restaurants and taking a summer vacation are all on the firing line now. She's against any purchases until there's enough money to pay for them.

這段話是說：我妻子掌握家里的財(cái)政大權(quán)。她說我們得減少開支。這就意味著買衣服，下餐館，和夏天出去渡假全都可能被取消。她覺得在有足夠的錢以前，不應(yīng)該再有任何不必要的消費(fèi)。

大家注意，on the firing line可以用來形容人的情況，也可以用來形容事，形容事的時(shí)候意思就是可能被取消。比如說，because of the huge tax bill, my plan to purchase the New iPad is on the firing line. 因?yàn)榈媒缓枚喽?，買最新版 iPad 的計(jì)劃很可能泡湯。