美国习惯用语-第869:get wise to

 　　我有个朋友在政府部门工作。他这工作以前可是个“肥缺”，经常用公款吃喝旅游。可好景不长，这种挥霍公款的行为被发现了，他被调查机构请去喝茶了。这让我想到了一个习惯用语，那就是: get wise to.

　　Wise, 形容词，是“明智”的意思。Get wise to somebody or something 是“知道，了解到”的意思。The investigators¹ began to get wise to the reckless spending of taxpayer² money, 调查人员开始察觉到挥霍纳税人钱财的行为。

　　在下面的例子中，也有一个人像我的朋友一样，没法继续过舒服日子了。

　　例句-1：Our department is so big. That's why no one noticed that Fred was often out of the office on Mondays. But then the boss started holding staff meetings at the beginning of the week. Soon, she got wide to Fred and his frequent absences. Since she became aware of the situation, Fred hasn't missed a day of work!!

　　这段话是说: 我们部门太大了，所以没人注意到弗莱德经常星期一时不在办公室。不过后来，老板开始星期一召开员工会议。很快，她就发现了弗莱德经常不在的情况。从那以后，弗莱德再也没逃过一天工!

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　　不来上班？旷工？他胆子还真大。不过说起来，办公室里经常有些人偷偷上网买东西，或者网上聊天，then they act shocked when their supervisors³ have gotten wise to them. 当他们的领导发现他们的这些小动作时，他们往往会吓一跳。

　　我一个好朋友交了个新男友，这人看上去随和幽默，绝对是个好男人。可有一次，我朋友无意间发现这男人手机中有不少暧昧短信，when he knew that she was getting wise to his deception⁴, he stopped calling her. 这个男人知道我朋友已经察觉到他不忠的行为后，就不在联络她了。所以说，看人不能光看外表。

　　当然，买东西的时候，也不能光听商家的花言巧语。让我们来听听下面这个句子:

　　例句-2：My wife is a smart consumer. She's often alert to products that advertise being healthy when they actually contain too much sugar, fat or chemicals. She also notices when products claim to offer more, but actually contain less. When she gets wise those manufacturers, she blogs about them. She simply doesn't want anyone else to be fooled.

　　这段话的意思是说：我太太是个聪明的消费者。她经常会留意那些把自己标榜得很健康，但其实含有大量糖、脂肪或化学成分的商品，以及那些声称很实惠其实很不划算的东西。一旦识破这些商家的把戏，她就会去网上写博客揭露它们。她不想让其他消费者上当。

　　我们要感谢这种热心人! 我们小区里也有这样的人，他们会定期给所有居民写信，告诉大家社区的最新动态，以及地方政府都做了些什么事情。Thanks to these people, I've gotten wise to all kinds of recent decisions by my town council. 托他们的福，我对镇政府近期做出的决定都有所了解。

1 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

3 supervisors   

n.监督者，管理者( supervisor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think the best technical people make the best supervisors. 我认为最好的技术人员可以成为最好的管理人员。 来自辞典例句
• Even the foremen or first-level supervisors have a staffing responsibility. 甚至领班或第一线的监督人员也有任用的责任。 来自辞典例句

4 deception   

n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计

参考例句：

• He admitted conspiring to obtain property by deception.他承认曾与人合谋骗取财产。
• He was jailed for two years for fraud and deception.他因为诈骗和欺诈入狱服刑两年。