英语俚语天天说 第44期:年纪大,年头久 long in the tooth

 　　释义：

　　Long：长的，tooth：牙齿；字面来看呢，long in the tooth是牙齿长的意思；

　　In english：Old in age. Mostly used when referring to people or horses.英文里指的是年纪大，一般指的是人或者一匹马；

　　来源：

　　This phrase originates from horses, or more specifically, it comes from one’s ability to discern a horse's age simply by looking at their teeth. 这个俚语与马有关。有的人只是看下马的牙齿，就可以判断出马的年龄。The longer the teeth, the older the horse. 牙齿长，年纪大。Thus, this phrase is used to describe how someone or something is long in years.所以这个俚语就用来被描述一个年纪大的人或者事物。While the phrase apparently¹ began with horses, it eventually was applied² to describe the age in humans too, among other things.虽然这个词刚开始用来描述马，但是最终也用来指代人或者其他事物；

　　举例：

　　1.家里的电脑已经用了50年了，很老了：

　　The desktop³ was getting long in the tooth.

　　那个台式机是越来越老了。

　　2.试衣服时候试穿了一件显老的衣服：

　　Don't you think you're a little long in the tooth for it?

　　你不觉得你穿这件衣服年龄有点大了吗？

1 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

2 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

3 desktop   

n.桌面管理系统程序；台式

参考例句：

• My computer is a desktop computer of excellent quality.我的计算机是品质卓越的台式计算机。
• Do you know which one is better,a laptop or a desktop?你知道哪一种更好，笔记本还是台式机？