迷你对话学地道口语第890期:刺痛某人的心

 A: He looked very depressed¹. Do you know the reason?

他看上去很失落，你知道原因吗？

B: I don’t know very clearly. It seemed that he quarreled with Mary violently yesterday.

不是很清楚，貌似他昨天和玛丽大吵了一架。

A: Oh, but this morning, I saw Mary but she didn’t show any signs.

哦，可是今天早上，我看到玛丽，没有任何迹象呀。

B: Yeah, you know that was nobody but she said some cruel words, which cut him to the quick.

那是，你看，是她而不是别人恶语大伤了他的情感。

A: I see.

我明白了。

cut sb. to the quick

1. 解词释义

Cut sb. to the quick的意思为“触及某人的痛处”“刺痛某人的心”。其中的quick不论做名词还是做形容词，副词均出自同一个盎格鲁萨语单词：cwicu，意为“活着的”。《圣经》中的一短语：the quick and the dead就表示“生者与死者”。现在，quick作为形容词或副词时，意义发生了变化，而在做名词时多少保留了原有的成分，意指“有感觉的活肉”，常比喻为“痛处”。

2. 拓展范例

e.g. These angry symptoms were keenly observed by Maggie, and cut her to the quick.

这些激怒的征兆，麦琪都看得很清楚，而且还深深地刺痛了她的心。

e.g. He felt more like crying, for Wu Sun-fu's smile cut him to the quick.

他心里却只要哭，他觉得吴荪甫的微笑就像一把尖刀。

e.g. His pride was cut to the quick.

他的自尊心受到极大伤害。

e.g. He cut me to the quick with that unkind remark.

他那冷酷的话深深伤害了我。

1. quarrel with：与……吵架

e.g. He wants rest and recovery, not a new quarrel with the Russians.

他需要的是休息和恢复，不是又与俄国人争吵。

e.g. It's very sad when husbands and wives quarrel with each other.

夫妻间起口角是很不幸的事。

e.g. I have no quarrel with what you say.

我对你的话没有反对意见。

e.g. I had a quarrel with my flat-mate about who should do the housework.

我与和我同住一单元的人关於谁应做家务事吵了一架。

2. show a sign：显示出迹象

e.g. As her brother-in-law entered, she could hardly be said to show a sign of alarm.

当她妹夫进来时，几乎看不出她惊慌的表现。

e.g. people do not touch or show any sign of affection in public.

人们在公共场合不互相接触或者表达情感。

e.g. When you show sign of weakness, they will take advantage of that.

当你够强时，只要稍露软弱，他们便会趁机取利。

e.g. They heave great sighs, wail² about a crisis and no longer show any sign of joy.

他们唉声叹气，大叫危机，一点欢乐的影子也看不见了。

3. nobody but… ：没有别人就是……，只有……

e.g. He seems to trust nobody but you.

他好像除了你以外，谁也不相信。

e.g. Nobody but the king can see her.

除了国王以外，没有任何人能见到她。

e.g. Nobody but she knew it.

除她之外无人晓得。

It seems that…

e.g. It seemed that I can't throw off this cold.

看样子我逃不过这一场伤风。

e.g. It seemed that his life was draining away.

他的生命似乎在枯竭。

e.g. It seemed that all the declarations, true or boastful, of German might have by no means convinced the Japanese envoy³.

看来，关于德国威力的一切陈述，无论是事实还是夸张，都没有使这位日本特使信服。

e.g. It seemed that everyone had written off their marriage even before it had been given a proper chance.

他们的婚姻出了问题，还没等认真挽救，似乎大家都认为已成分钗破镜。

It seems that…

e.g. It seemed that I can't throw off this cold.

看样子我逃不过这一场伤风。

e.g. It seemed that his life was draining away.

他的生命似乎在枯竭。

e.g. It seemed that all the declarations, true or boastful, of German might have by no means convinced the Japanese envoy.

看来，关于德国威力的一切陈述，无论是事实还是夸张，都没有使这位日本特使信服。

e.g. It seemed that everyone had written off their marriage even before it had been given a proper chance.

他们的婚姻出了问题，还没等认真挽救，似乎大家都认为已成分钗破镜。

1 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

2 wail   

vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸

参考例句：

• Somewhere in the audience an old woman's voice began plaintive wail.观众席里，一位老太太伤心地哭起来。
• One of the small children began to wail with terror.小孩中的一个吓得大哭起来。

3 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。