迷你对话学地道口语第503期:甘愿冒险;挺身而出

　　Subject：There has to be someone to bell the cat.
迷你对话
A: My professor is so odd and he has done wrong on me! I don’t know what to do.
我的教授是个奇怪的人，而且还冤枉了我。我不知道该真么办了。
B: Hum. There had to be someone to bell the cat. And tell him how are you like.
嗯，必须有人冒险告诉他你是个什么样的人。
地道表达
bell the cat
1. 解词释义
To bell the cat源自于一个故事：有一窝老鼠，因为怕猫，所以不敢出去找食物。其中有个老鼠想了一个办法——在猫的脖子上套一个铃铛，这样就知道猫的行踪，从而躲避开而偷取食物吃。这个办法得到大家的一直同意，但是问题是谁去给猫套铃铛呢？也就是我们说的：Who will bell the cat? 大家推来推求，谁也不敢去，后来to bell the cat这个短语就被人比喻为“冒险去做某事”。因此，对话中“There has to be someone to bell the cat. ”的意思是“必须有个人去冒险。”
2. 拓展例句
e.g. Everybody present made suggestions but no one actually offered to bell the cat.
每一个在场的人都提了建议，就是没有一个人敢于挺身而出。
e.g. Mr. Miao never gives a thought to personal gain or loss and is always willing to bell the cat.
苗先生从不计较个人得失,而总是乐意为大家去冒风险。
e.g. It is difficult to get a man to bell the cat.
在危险中勇于挺身而出的人是不可多得的。
e.g. All the worker agree that they want a pay increase, but nobody offers to bell the cat and talk to their employer.
所有的工人都认为要加薪,但却没人自告奋勇去跟老板谈。
Ps：do wrong是“做错事”的意思，在某件事情上做错用介词in。即为：do wrong in something。例如：
He did wrong in not speaking. 他不该不说话。
If he did wrong it was only through ignorance¹. 要是他做错了, 那也只是出于无知。
do wrong on sb的意思是“冤枉某人，对不起某人，错怪某人”。例如：
My mother did wrong on me. 我母亲冤枉了我。
Ps：表示“某人个人的性格，品德等如何”用下面这个句子：How are somebody like?

1 ignorance   

n.无知，愚昧，不了解，（of，about）不知道

参考例句：

• The relation of disease to poverty and ignorance is easy to see.疾病与贫穷、无知之间的关系是显而易见的。
• Maybe it is all due to my own ignorance.也许是我少见多怪。