hands down
在2004年雅典奧運(yùn)會(huì)上,劉翔以平世界紀(jì)錄的成績(jī)勇奪男子110米欄的金牌。海外的媒體對(duì)他的奪冠時(shí)不可心議的絕對(duì)優(yōu)勢(shì)印象深刻,紛紛驚呼:”Liu won the race hands down!”(劉輕松獲勝!“)
hands down是來(lái)源于19世紀(jì)中期賽馬運(yùn)動(dòng)的一個(gè)短語(yǔ)。當(dāng)一個(gè)騎師已經(jīng)確立了不可動(dòng)搖的優(yōu)勢(shì)。可以輕松獲勝時(shí),他會(huì)在快抵達(dá)終點(diǎn)松開(kāi)韁繩(此時(shí)他處于hands down的狀態(tài)),馬匹帶著他瀟灑地沖過(guò)終點(diǎn)。于是,hands down引申出了“”的意思,用來(lái)描述壓倒性的勝利*(不局限于體育完整)。舉例如下:
I thought it was going to be a close match, but our team beat them hands down! (我以為這會(huì)是場(chǎng)惡戰(zhàn),但是我們的隊(duì)伍輕松打敗了他們!)
Tyler: Who dou you think will be the new student council president?(Tyler:你覺(jué)得誰(shuí)會(huì)成為新一屆的學(xué)生會(huì)主席?)
Hewitt: Reese, of course! She’s always been a very popular and influential figure in our school. She’s going to win the elcction hands down! (Hewitt;當(dāng)然是Reese啦!她在學(xué)校里向來(lái)是很受歡迎、很有影響力的人物。這次競(jìng)選她肯定會(huì)輕松獲勝!)
Hands down還有一種很常用的意思, 就是“絕對(duì),毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)”。它對(duì)于大多數(shù)英語(yǔ)非母語(yǔ)者來(lái)說(shuō)和都十分陌生。遠(yuǎn)不如absolutely、definitely、unquestionably和without啊doubt耳熟能詳。這可能是因?yàn)閔ands down的字面意思和“絕對(duì)”相差太遠(yuǎn)的緣故。不過(guò)對(duì)英語(yǔ)為母語(yǔ)者來(lái)說(shuō),它的使用頻率絕對(duì)不低于這些‘有名“的說(shuō)法。舉例如下:
Goodle is the most popular search engine out there, hands down.( Google絕對(duì)是最受歡迎的搜索引擎。)
I’ll pick e-mail over online chatting, hands down. Chatting is just not my thing.(電子郵件和網(wǎng)上聊天比起來(lái),毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)我偏好前者。我對(duì)聊天就是沒(méi)興趣。)
During the summer of 2005, “Super Girs”was hands down the hottest topic in China.(2005年夏天,“超級(jí)女聲”絕對(duì)是全中國(guó)最熱門的話題。
以后大家在表達(dá)“毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)”的時(shí)候可以嘗試著用hands down來(lái)代替sbsolutely\\desinitely和no doubt,避免用詞千篇一律。