英語口語:為什麼white elephant(白象)變成“昂貴的累贅”的意思?
我們學習一門外語的最終目的,不是用中文懂得這門外語什麼意思,而是要具備用這門外語理解這門外語的意思。
包括學習英語也是如此。學習英語的整個過程都是為了藉助英語素材訓練獲得這個能力,而不僅僅是為了用中文懂得某個英語什麼意思。
英語習語(Our old car is really a white elephant)中的a white elephant在具體上下文的確實表達“大白象”的意思,但是又是如何演變出“昂貴的累贅”(something useless and expensive)的含義呢?
A white elephant:本義:a white Indian elephant.It has an enormous(big) appetite(an enormous appetite means it eats a lot,or eats too much).So it costs a lot of money to keep it/raise it.
以後見到、想到a white elephant,你要能張口說出下面的英語,而不是開口就是“白象”white elephant
1.The story goes like this:When a king wished to ruin an offending (下文用disagreeable一詞,其實意思一樣,只是你要看的出來)courtier, he would give him a white elephant, which the courtier then had to maintain at great expense because the elephant ate a lot.
2. A tale says that the King of Siam would award a disagreeable(上文用offending一詞,其實,二者意思一樣) courtier a white elephant, it would ruin the courtier to keep the white elephant,it is a possession that is more trouble than it is worth.
你真沒必要靠記住中文才能記住a white elephant什麼意思。給你的朋友用英語說說white elephant的英語口語故事吧。
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