今天继续介绍“打牌"时的表情:打牌的时候脸上不露表情的人往往都很谨慎,把牌放在靠胸口的地方,免得给别人偷看。这在英文里就是 close to the vest。(keep) close to the vest用在一般情况下就是指一个人非常小心不让别人知道他在干什么。
我们先来听听一位记者的讲话:
"Two other governors have already announced that they will run for president in the next election but the governor of our state is still keeping his plans close to his vest -- nobody is sure what he will do."
这是说:“另外又有两位州长宣布他们决定参加下一届的总统竞选。可是我们的州长还是对他的计划保密,谁也不知道他究竟参不参加。”
下面一个例子是一个大公司的总裁在告诉一位同事一个机密的消息,但是要他不要说出去:
"John, keep this close to your vest but I want to tell you our company is going to merge with a big New York Corporation -- they'll announce it sometime next week."
他说:“约翰,我要告诉你,我们的公司要和纽约的一家大公司合并了,他们下星期内就要宣布。不过你知道就行了,不要往外说。”
lead on 使误信,诱使