英语俚语天天说 第30期:小菜一碟 a piece of cake

 　　释义：

　　An activity that requires little effort to finish; a job that's simple; easy.

　　一项需要很小精力去完成的活动，或者一份简单的工作；When a task is easier to complete than previously¹ expected, people willsometimes use this phrase to express those sentiments.当一项任务比预期的更加简单时候，人们就会用 a piece of cake去形容；The question is: Why? What makes cake "easy? Well, I doubt it's referring to the cooking process involved with baking a cake, because that requires a fair bit of work. 笨怀疑easy指的应该是烤面包的过程，但是这个过程也需要不小的精力。You have to crack eggs, mix stuff up in a bowl, set the temperature of the oven, and so on. 因为你需要去打鸡蛋，和面，设定温度等等。Alright, it's not that complicated, but it still requires effort.尽管不是很复杂，但依然很耗时，不是么。

　　Do you know what is easy though? Eating a baked cake! that's a pretty easy thing to do because it tastes good. 那什么才是简单的呢，当然是吃面包啦。Thus, this phrase may possibly get its "easy to accomplish" meaning from how simple it can be to eat a piece of this delicious desert. 所以这个俚语的来源很有可能指的就是品尝一块甜点是很简单的事情。However, that is simply a guess; the origins for this phrase are not certain.当然啦，这只是最合理的一个猜想，真正的来源还没有被证实。

　　举例：

　　1.英语很简单：English is just a piece of cake!英语不过是小菜一碟！

　　2.王小二遇到了一个很漂亮的女生，想约出去但是又不知道如何下手，于是非常苦恼。这个时候周围的小伙伴们说：

　　That's a piece of cake, just tell her you have been expecting to dine with her.

　　那不太容易了，直接告诉她你一直想和她一起吃饭。

　　3.期末考试就要到了，王二小从来没去上过课，但是超级自信的他说：

　　The approaching exam will be a piece of cake.

　　他们知道，即将到来的考试将会是小事一桩。

1 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。