词汇掌故:了解你的敌人

Know Your Enemy 词汇掌故:了解你的敌人

Hello and welcome to the Voice of American Learning English program Words and Their Stories.

Do you have an enemy? Hopefully, you don’t. An enemy is someone who hates you and you hate them back. An enemy threatens you, attacks you or tries to harm you.

In some languages, there are different words for a personal enemy versus² an enemy of war, political enemy or enemy of the state.

In English, however, they are all called the same - enemies.

We do have other words to describe an enemy. Adversary³, foe⁴ and opponent are the most common.

However, if you do have enemies, I have some advice for you.

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” Many believe the Chinese military genius, Sun Tzu, wrote something like this in his book The Art of War. Others say Machiavelli wrote this sentence in The Prince.

We may not know for sure who said it first. But many know who said this line in the movie The Godfather II. Gangster⁵ boss Michael Corleone advises a member of his crime “family” on how to deal with an enemy who is causing trouble.

“My father taught me many things here. He taught me in this room. He taught me, ‘Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.’”

Here is another piece of advice, “An enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Let’s say you have two enemies who also hate each other. If you are smart, you may be able to use their hatred⁶ of each other to get what you want.

Let’s say you don’t have a formal enemy. But what if you have a friend who treats you badly? People around you might say, “With a friend like that who needs enemies?” This expression means that if a friend treats you badly, they behave as an enemy. It also means you should get another friend.

We are supposed to hate our enemies. But when something is so bad, so terrible, we often say, “I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.” For example, “I was so sick last weekend! I wouldn’t wish that flu on my worst enemy.”

Public Enemy No. 1 is a status given to the worst criminals in the United States. During the Great Depression, John Dillinger was named Public Enemy No. 1. He was a killer⁷, bank robber and the most feared gangster in the U.S. A gangster works in a group of people, like a network, or system.

Throughout the years several artists have borrowed this expression.

In 2009, Johnny Depp plays the famous gangster John Dillinger in the film titled Public Enemies.

An earlier film made in 1931 titled The Public Enemy is also a gangster film starring James Cagney.

Public Enemy is also a famous hip⁸ hop¹ group that came out of Long Island, New York in the 1980s.

If you have many enemies, you may have to rank them in order of importance. Your archenemy is your main enemy. For example, “The two politicians were archenemies.”

A great word that means the same as your archenemy is nemesis⁹. A nemesis is an opponent that is very difficult to defeat. Your nemesis is always looking to destroy you.

Sometimes you don’t need an enemy. Some people fail on their own. These types of people sometimes do not realize they are making things hard for themselves – that they are their own worst enemy.

So, if you know someone like this, you can say to them, “Life is hard enough. Don’t be your own worst enemy.”

Do you know some expressions or quotes about enemies in your language, translate them into English … in the Comments Section.

“Do you know the enemy?

Do you know your enemy?

Well, gotta know the enemy”

1 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

2 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

3 adversary   

adj.敌手，对手

参考例句：

• He saw her as his main adversary within the company.他将她视为公司中主要的对手。
• They will do anything to undermine their adversary's reputation.他们会不择手段地去损害对手的名誉。

4 foe   

n.敌人，仇敌

参考例句：

• He knew that Karl could be an implacable foe.他明白卡尔可能会成为他的死敌。
• A friend is a friend;a foe is a foe;one must be clearly distinguished from the other.敌是敌，友是友，必须分清界限。

5 gangster   

n.匪徒，歹徒，暴徒

参考例句：

• The gangster's friends bought off the police witness.那匪徒的朋友买通了警察方面的证人。
• He is obviously a gangster,but he pretends to be a saint.分明是强盗，却要装圣贤。

6 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

7 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

8 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

9 nemesis   

n.给以报应者，复仇者，难以对付的敌手

参考例句：

• Uncritical trust is my nemesis.盲目的相信一切害了我自己。
• Inward suffering is the worst of Nemesis.内心的痛苦是最厉害的惩罚。