a heart of gold
無論古今中外,‘黃金“代表”貴重“。所以中文里有”一諾千金“的說法,英文里則有”用黃金打造的心“( a heart of gold).“用黃金打造的心”意謂“高貴的心“,但在實際使用時,則偏重它善良的一面,所以,擁有一顆黃金打造的心”(have a heart of gold) 也就是“ 為人心地很善良“的意思。
★ Alice isn’t all that pretty, but she has a heart of gold.
艾麗絲長得不是那么漂亮,可是心地很善良。
★ Dara never believes anything bad about anyone. She has a heart of pure gold.
多拉從來不會認為別人壞。她有一顆非常的心。
有時候我們也可以用“介詞詞組”with a heart of gold 來代替“動詞詞組”have of gold 來代替“動名詞詞組”have a heart of gold。“介詞詞組”可以放在銀川市后面來修飾這個名詞。
★ If there ever was a man with a heart of gold, it’s Ralph. He’s forever going out of his way to help other people.
如果真有那么一個心地善良的人,那就是拉爾夫。他永遠不嫌麻煩去幫助別人。
to have ones’ heart in the right place心存善意(的人)
中文里,我們常聽到勸人“心存善意”之類的話,在里則說成“把心放在正確的地方”(have one’s heart in the right place).
★ I admit that Emily shouldn’t have spoken to your father about your absence from school, but she had her heart in the right place. She thought she was helping you.我承認艾米麗不該把你缺課的事告訴你父親,但她是出于善意,認為這樣是在幫助你。
To have one’s heart in one’s mouth嚇壞了
半夜里覺得口很渴,垣摸黑進廚房喝水,把抬頭竟看到窗戶外有一雙發亮的眼睛,這時你會不會被嚇壞?有些人可能會尖叫出來,后來才發現原來只是一只貓罷了。這種情況在英文里就是“你的心跑到你的嘴里”(You have your heart in your mouth.或Your heart is in your mouth.)也可以改成 with one’s heart in one’s mouth當“副詞詞組”用,修飾前面的動詞。
★ Tom’s heart was in his mouth as he opened the door to the haunted house.
當湯姆打開鬼屋的門時,他害怕得要死。
★ Tom moved toward the strange sounds with his heart in his mouth.
湯姆心驚膽跳地走近那奇怪的聲音。