与马有关的英语谚语

这一期VOA的词语故事中讲的是和“马”有关的俗语。

报道的开篇说，以前交通不发达的时候，人们主要使用马作为交通工具，于是在英语语言中也有许多和“马”有关的表达。

如果有人特别装逼，装得自己比别人都厉害的样子，你可以说“get off your high horse”，意思就是“别装了”。

Hold your horses意思是“耐心点”、“别着急”。

Horse around意思是“闲逛”、“鬼混”。

One-horse town字面意思是“只有一匹马的镇子”，引申的含义是“很小的镇子”。

如果我在看电视的时候，电话响了，我坚决不接，我可以说：Wild horse could not drag me away. 意思是：啥东西都不能动摇我。

Straight from the horse's mouth的意思是：直接得来的消息，来自权威可靠的消息。

谚语“You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.” 意思是：你可以给人建议，但是不能强迫某人做一件事儿。

Beat a dead horse的意思是白费口舌、炒冷饭，即争论已经有定论的问题。

A dark-horse candidate有点类似中文中的黑马，即“之前民众不熟知的候选人”。

Do not change horses in midstream.字面的意思是：行到河中不换马。引申的意思是：紧要关头不宜作大变动。

Hold Your Horses

Now, the VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories.

Today, we tell about "horse" expressions.

In the past,many people depended on horses for transportation, farming and other kinds of work. A lot of people still like to ride horses. And horse racing is also popular. So it is not surprising that Americans still use expressions about the animals.

Long ago, people who were rich or important rode horses that were very tall. Today, if a girl acts like she is better than everyone else,you might say she should "get off her high horse."

Yesterday, my children wanted me to take them to the playground. But I had to finish my work, so I told them to "hold your horses" -- wait until I finish what I am doing.

My two boys like to compete against each other and play in a violent way. I always tell them to stop "horsing around" or someone could get hurt.

We live in a small town. It does not have any exciting activities to offer visitors. My children call it a "one-horse town."

Last night, I got a telephone call while I was watching my favorite television show. I decided not to answer it because "wild horses could not drag me away" from the television -- there was nothing that could stop me from doing what I wanted to do.

Sometimes you get information "straight from the horse's mouth." It comes directly from the person who knows most about the subject and is the best source. Let us say your teacher tells you there is going to be a test tomorrow. You could say you got the information "straight from the horse's mouth."

However, you would not want to call your teacher a horse! You may have heard this expression: "You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink." That means you can give someone advice but you cannot force him to do something he does not want to do.

Sometimes a person fights a battle that has been decided or keeps arguing a question that has been settled. We say this is like "beating a dead horse."

In politics, a "dark-horse candidate" is someone who is not well known to the public. Sometimes, a dark horse unexpectedly wins an election.

Another piece of advice is "do not change horses in midstream." You would not want to get off one horse and on to another in the middle of a river. Or make major changes in an activity that has already begun. In the past, this expression was used as an argument to re-elect a president, especially during a time when the country was at war.

This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust.

I'm Faith Lapidus. You can find more Words and Their Stories at our website,