与人体器官有关的英语成语
泰戈尔的名言-教师个人发展计划
☆刘永科2009年山东省高中教师远程研修文章☆
English Idioms
Related to
Some of the Human Organs
By Mr Liu Yongke
刘永科
1. Head
The head is thought to be the most important
part of the human body.
So a leader is often
compared to a head (首脑). Thus we have Head of
State or the head of a delegation.
The
head is where the brain is located. It is
naturally associated with
ideas and
intelligence. Very often, we need other people's
ideas and
opinions when we want to do
something well. This is because two
heads are
better than one (三个臭皮匠顶个诸葛亮).
2. Eye
The eyes are extremely precious to us. That is
why we say
eye (当心)!
Not only human beings
and animals have eyes, many things also
have
typhoon, and so on.
3. Ear
The ear is the organ of hearing. A piece of
light music is easy on the
ear. (悦耳动听). We are
usually all ears (专心聆听) for bit news.
When
they think somebody is overhearing, English people
use either
of the two proverbs: Walls have
ears (隔墙有耳) and Pitchers have ears
(壶罐有耳).
They also think that little pitchers have big
ears（小孩子耳
朵尖）. Nice boys and girls respect
other people. They will not secretly
listen to
others' private conversations.
4. Nose
The English phrase 面对面)
（对应） are exactly
the same. But English people, to express the same
idea, can say nose to nose instead. There is
no such substitute in
Chinese.
The
word appears in many idioms. Here are two which
are
quite similar to their Chinese
equivalents: lead somebody by the nose
(牵着某人的鼻子走) and turn up one's nose at somebody
or something
(对某人或某物嗤之一鼻）.
English people
can say as plain as the nose in one's face (一清二楚)
to
mean obviousMaybe to them, the nose is the
most
conspicuous part of the face.
5.
Lip
We have two lips: the upper lip and the
lower lip. If one's two lips are
closed, one
cannot speak. So it goes without saying that
your lips (不要开口)
His lips are sealed. Are
his lips really stuck together by wax or glue?
No, his lips are sealed when asked about
something that he must keep
secret. Sometimes
a top secret is betrayed because it has escaped
someone's lips (脱口而出). Then the incident may
become a piece of
news that is on everybody's
lips (众口相传).
6. Tongue
We all know we
cannot speak without the tongue. So the tongue is
closely related to speech. To hold one's
tongue (保持沉默) means
keep silent太多嘴) is
disliked by
all, for he is too talkative.
Mother tongue is not the tongue of a mother:
it is a person's native language.
你鼻子底下不是有张嘴吗)?
The Chinese say so to blame a
person who did not say what he should
have
said. But this is not the right way to express the
idea in English.
English people would say,
you?
7. Face
and English. You
lose your face (丢面子) if you fail again and again,
but
a decisive victory will save your face
(挽回面子) after all your failures.
When you feel
unhappy, you pull a long face (拉长脸). The idea is
conveyed in Chinese in the same way. But
向后转)
not refer to the face. It is a military
order to turn round and face in the
opposite direction. It is the exact
equivalent of
8. Shoulder
The
shoulders can bear heavy things. Your father has a
great
responsibility for the family on his
shoulder. When faced with difficulty,
the
family should stand shoulder to shoulder (肩并肩) to
overcome it.
You should not turn a cold
shoulder (不理睬) to your family members.
Nor
should you give your friends the cold shoulder
(冷落朋友). Both
expressions mean treating others
coldly.
9. Back
A good host is
hospitable to his guests. But, if a guest is
tiresome, the
host is glad to see his back
(他离开).
If your friend has done something
really well, you may give him a pat
on the
back (轻轻拍背部) to show your appreciation.
If you
turn your back on somebody (不理睬他人), you mean you
do not
like making friends with that person.
10. Heart
The heart is an extremely
important organ inside the chest. It usually
stands for something important or the centre
of something, for
example, the heart of the
matter (问题的核心) or the heart of mystery.
Many
other expressions make use of the word
called
a sweet heart (情人). The Purple Heart (紫心徽章) is a
medal
given as an honor to American soldiers
wounded in a battle.
If your friend is in
trouble, you may encourage him by saying
lose
heart (不要灰心).
11. Stomach
The stomach
is naturally related to one's appetite. If you
dislike heavy
food, you have no stomach for it
(反胃). The word is also related to
one's
interests or likings. If you find something boring
or vulgar, you
have no stomach for it, either.
Bad food turns your stomach. Similarly,
your
stomach turns at a bad joke.
Stomach can also
be a verb. Look at this example:
stomach (忍受)
such rude words?
replaced by
12. Arm
Every person has two arms:
the right arm and the left arm. The right
arm
is usually stronger, so we call a good helper the
right arm (得力
助手).
We all know an arm is
not very long. But when you keep someone at
arm's length (保持距离), the distance is long
enough. For that means
you do not like that
person and you try your best to avoid him or her.
We should indeed keep the bad friends at arm's
length.
13. Hand
Quite a number of
phrases formed from the word are very
similar
to their Chinese counterparts. Here are some
obvious
examples: a fresh hand (新手), short of
hands (人手短缺), hand in hand
(手拉手) and wash
one's hands of something (洗手不干了). But do not
always take this for granted. Study these
examples and you will
understand.
He lives
from hand to mouth (He has just enough money to
live on).
We gave them a big hand (We gave
them lots of applause).
14. Finger
How many fingers does each of your hands have?
Now let's name
them in English from the
smallest: the little finger, the ring finger, the
middle finger, the index finger and thumb.
Each finger has its own part to play. If your
fingers are all thumbs (笨
拙), that is too bad.
That means you are very clumsy.
15. Thumb
Chinese people turn up their thumbs to express
appreciation. English
people do so to express
not only appreciation but also approval.
Chinese people never turn their thumbs down to
mean anything. But
English people do. They do
so to show depreciation disapproval. Thus
in
English you can say, turn thumbs up (赞成) to Jack's
suggestion but they turn thumbs down (不赞成) to
it.
Similarly, you can warmly praise someone by
saying 真
棒)!差劲)!
16. Hair
Most
people will only think of the hair on our head
when the word
hair is mentioned. In
fact, some animals and plants also have hair.
A horrible scene may make a person's hair
stand on end (毛骨悚然).
But a courageous person
will not turn a hair (不畏惧) even though he
is
in face of danger.
Sometimes, a friend of
yours may be so angry that he may act
foolishly. Then you had better give him this
advice:
(别发脾气)