从苹果开始我们的“水果之旅”:美国人爱吃苹果派,不难看出他们对苹果是情有独钟。所以我们描述一个非常地道的美国人,就可以说He is as American as apple pie.而要描述一个地方非常整洁、井井有条,可以说Everything here is in apple-pie order。
通常,卖苹果的商贩会将苹果擦得锃亮以勾起人们的购买欲望,但是apple-polisher可不是“擦苹果的人”,而是“溜须拍马的人”,动词是apple-polish.我们常说的”掌上明珠“在英语中叫 “the apple of one’s eye”.比如说“梅是她父亲的掌上明珠”,就是May is the apple of her father’s eye.大写的(the)Big Apple,是美国的纽约市。
英语中与水果有关的词语还有:top/big banana是大老板。Who’s your top/big banana?谁是你们的老板?go bananas是指一个人“大发雷霆”。Tom was worried that his parents would go bananas when they found out that he had put a dent in their car.汤姆担心一旦他父亲发现他们的汽车被他撞出一块凹痕,就会大发雷霆。也可用来指一个人“发狂”。例如:He went bananas when he was informed of passing college entrance examination.当被告知通过高考时,他高兴得发狂。
lemon柠檬,指“劣质商品”。例如:His car was a lemon-it broke down in a month.他的车质量有问题,一个月内坏了两次。
sour grapes 酸葡萄,也就是我们常说的“吃不着葡萄就说葡萄酸”,例如:He said he didn’t want the job anyway, but that’s just sour grapes.他说他不想干这份工作,只不过是吃不着葡萄说葡萄酸而已。这里要注意,sour grapes 虽然是复数形式,与之搭配的动词则是单数形式。