这8个短语很日常，起源却出人意料

 　　这几个短语对于聪明的你来说肯定是小菜一碟，但他们是怎么来的呢？

　　有点懵了吧！来普特英语小编告诉你。

　　1. Pass the buck¹

　　推卸责任

　　We all know that buck is informal American English for a dollar. Indeed, it can also be used for an Australian dollar, a New Zealand dollar, a South African rand, and an Indian rupee – but none of those senses are related to pass the buck, meaning ‘shift the responsibility to someone else’.

　　我们都知道buck表示美元，是一个不正式的美式英语词。它还能用来指澳元、新西兰元、南非币和印度卢比——但是没有一个意思和推卸责任的短语有关。

　　This particular buck is ‘an article placed as a reminder² in front of a player whose turn it is to deal at poker³’ – which means passing it make much more sense. This item also gives us the phrase the buck stops here; both figurative phrases have moved far beyond their poker origins.

　　这里的buck特指用来提醒打扑克牌的一件东西，这样传递它就讲得通了，而且还有一个短语是责任止于此。这些比喻性的短语比它们源自扑克牌的用法更常用。

　　2. Turn over a new leaf

　　洗心革面

　　You might have wondered what raking the lawn had to do with the decision to ‘start to act or behave in a better or more responsible way’. Well, it has nothing to do with foliage⁴, in case you were wondering, but relates to another common use of leaf: one of the pages in a book. A similar derivation gives us to take a leaf out of someone’s book, meaning ‘imitate or emulate⁵ someone in a particular way’.

　　你或许会好奇用耙子耙草坪跟洗心革面有什么关系。事实上，它和枝叶没有关系，而是和leaf另一个常用的意思有关：书页。一个相似的衍伸词组是take a leaf out of someone’s book，表示“模仿某人或把某人当做偶像”。

　　3. Push the envelope

　　挑战极限

　　This envelope isn’t the sort you’d put letters in. As we discovered in a post about the linguistic⁶ influence of aviation, push the envelope was originally aviation slang relating to graphs of aerodynamic performance and exceeding the set of limiting combinations of speed and altitude.

　　这里的envelope并不是平时放信件的那种，这个短语最初是航空俚语，和空气动力性能有关，超出了速度和海拔的限定，所以有挑战极限的意思。

　　4. Ring the changes

　　换汤不换药

　　An editor might ring the changes in red, but this phrase – meaning ‘vary the ways of expressing or doing something’ – has nothing to do with pen and paper. Instead, it came originally with allusion⁷ to bell-ringing and the different orders in which a peal⁸ of bells may be rung.

　　它最初和响铃的典故有关，有不同的订单，接着会有一串响铃的声音。

　　5. Leave someone in the lurch⁹

　　不顾他人的安危

　　Lurch means ‘an abrupt¹⁰ uncontrolled movement, especially an unsteady tilt¹¹ or roll’. It turns out that they’re unrelated; the word  lurch in this phrase derives¹² from the French lourche, which is the name of a game resembling backgammon. In French, you might find it in demeurer lourche, ‘be discomfited’.

　　Lurch表示突然失控的移动，尤其是不稳定的倾斜或滚动。但和这个短语没有关系，短语里的lurch起源于法语词lourche，是个类似十五子棋的游戏名称。

　　6. Lick into shape

　　塑造，整顿

　　In Medieval Europe, it was believed that bears’ young were born shapeless, and licking into shape refers to the alleged¹³ practice of bears licking their offspring into ursine¹⁴ form.

　　在中世纪的欧洲，人们以为年幼的熊出生时是不成形的，licking into shape据称指的是熊会舔它们的后代，让它们变成像熊的样子。

　　7. Flash in the pan

　　昙花一现的人或物

　　The flash arises from an explosion of gunpowder¹⁵ within the pan, which was a part of the lock that held the priming in old types of gun.

　　这里的flash源自火药的爆炸，是旧式手枪点火锁的一部分。

　　8. Pull out all the stops

　　全力以赴

　　These stops are organ pipes of a particular tone and range of pitch and the handles which control them; by pulling all the stops out, you would create a louder, more elaborate sound.

　　这里的stops是指特殊音调的风琴管、音域和控键，把这些都拔掉后，你能制造更大更精美的声音。

1 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

2 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

3 poker   

n.扑克；vt.烙制

参考例句：

• He was cleared out in the poker game.他打扑克牌，把钱都输光了。
• I'm old enough to play poker and do something with it.我打扑克是老手了，可以玩些花样。

4 foliage   

n.叶子，树叶，簇叶

参考例句：

• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage.小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。
• Dark foliage clothes the hills.浓密的树叶覆盖着群山。

5 emulate   

v.努力赶上或超越，与…竞争；效仿

参考例句：

• You must work hard to emulate your sister.你必须努力工作，赶上你姐姐。
• You must look at the film and try to emulate his behavior.你们必须观看这部电影，并尽力模仿他的动作。

6 linguistic   

adj.语言的，语言学的

参考例句：

• She is pursuing her linguistic researches.她在从事语言学的研究。
• The ability to write is a supreme test of linguistic competence.写作能力是对语言能力的最高形式的测试。

7 allusion   

n.暗示，间接提示

参考例句：

• He made an allusion to a secret plan in his speech.在讲话中他暗示有一项秘密计划。
• She made no allusion to the incident.她没有提及那个事件。

8 peal   

n.钟声；v.鸣响

参考例句：

• The bells of the cathedral rang out their loud peal.大教堂响起了响亮的钟声。
• A sudden peal of thunder leaves no time to cover the ears.迅雷不及掩耳。

9 lurch   

n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行

参考例句：

• It has been suggested that the ground movements were a form of lurch movements.地震的地面运动曾被认为是一种突然倾斜的运动形式。
• He walked with a lurch.他步履蹒跚。

10 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。

11 tilt   

v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜

参考例句：

• She wore her hat at a tilt over her left eye.她歪戴着帽子遮住左眼。
• The table is at a slight tilt.这张桌子没放平，有点儿歪.

12 derives   

v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• English derives in the main from the common Germanic stock. 英语主要源于日耳曼语系。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derives his income from freelance work. 他以自由职业获取收入。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

14 ursine   

adj.似熊的，熊的

参考例句：

• A few weeks later a better use of beer was discovered by an innocent ursine in the Pacific Northwest.几周后，美国西北太平洋岸有只无邪的熊，发现了善用啤酒的好方法。
• Accordingly,hare bravery already became ursine bravery substitute.因此，兔胆已成为熊胆替代品。

15 gunpowder   

n.火药

参考例句：

• Gunpowder was introduced into Europe during the first half of the 14th century.在14世纪上半叶，火药传入欧洲。
• This statement has a strong smell of gunpowder.这是一篇充满火药味的声明。