迷你对话学地道口语第721期:站不住脚

 Subject:You don’t have a leg to stand on.

迷你对话A: From what I have said, we can draw a conclusion that the defendant¹ is innocent.

综上所述，我们可以得出结论——被告是无辜的。

B: You don’t have a leg to stand on. You have concealed² the defendant’s crime deliberately³.

你的说法是站不住脚的，你刻意隐瞒了被告人的罪行。

地道表达have a leg to stand on1. 解词释义Have a leg to stand on是美国俚语，字面意思是“有一条可以站得住的脚”，比喻为“（人）理屈词穷，行为无法解释”“（论点等）缺乏事实依据或毫无事实依据而不可成立”。

2. 拓展例句e.g. The truth of the matter was they didn't have a leg to stand on.

事实是，他们的说法儿根本站不住脚。

e.g. He hasn't a leg to stand on for his behavior.

他的行为是完全没有道理的。

e.g. Without written evidence, we don't have a leg to stand on.

没有书面证据, 我们就站不住脚!

e.g. It's only my word against his, I know. So I don't have a leg to stand on.

现在是我和他各说各的，这我知道。所以我的话无法证实。

Ps 1：draw a conclusion的意思是“下结论，做出结论”。例如：

We'd better lay our heads together before we draw a conclusion.

在下结论之前我们最好是一起讨论讨论。

We haven't got sufficient information to draw a conclusion.

我们还没有足够的信息可以下结论。

ps 2：From what sb. says的意思是“从某人所说的来看”。例如：

From what he said I surmised⁴ that she was not very well.

从他所说的,我猜想她的身体不太好。

He didn't go into details, but from what he said I gather that she was seriously injured.

他没有说明细节,但我从他的话里推测出她受了重伤。

Ps 3：defendant：被告 innocent：无辜的 conceal：隐瞒 deliberately：谨慎地，慎重地

1 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

2 concealed   

a.隐藏的，隐蔽的

参考例句：

• The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。
• I think he had a gun concealed about his person. 我认为他当时身上藏有一支枪。

3 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

4 surmised   

v.臆测，推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 )；揣测；猜想

参考例句：

• From the looks on their faces, I surmised that they had had an argument. 看他们的脸色，我猜想他们之间发生了争执。
• From his letter I surmised that he was unhappy. 我从他的信中推测他并不快乐。 来自《简明英汉词典》