迷你对话学地道口语第892期:多此一举,徒劳无益

 A: Jane asked me how to solve that problem yesterday.

Jane昨天问我如何解决那个问题。

B: You gave her suggestion.

你给她建议了。

A: Yeah.

是的。

B: Don’t do such a thing again.

下次别干这种事情了。

A: What is wrong?

怎么啦？

B: You just carry coals to Newcastle. She already has her own idea. She just pretended¹ to ask you.

你是在做徒劳无益的事情。她已经有了自己的见解，她只不过是假装问问你罢了。

carry coals to Newcastle

1. 解词释义

carry coals to Newcastle字面上看是“运煤倒纽卡斯尔”，实际它指的是“徒劳无益；多此一举”。

纽卡斯尔(Newcastle)是英国的一个港市，位于英格兰北部泰因（Tyne）河口附近，素以产煤著称，早在1932年就获得了英国国王亨利三世授予的挖煤特许权，是世界上最早的煤炭输出港。因此，向纽卡斯尔运煤，无异于白费力气。由此产生的习语carry coals to Newcastle就用来比喻do something which is completely² unnecessary³ (做完全不必要做的事)。

2. 拓展范例

e.g. Tom is so infirm of purpose that you carry coals to Newcastle, asking him for advice.

汤姆这人优柔寡断，向他征求意见是徒劳无益的。

e.g. American managers tried to persuade their British employees⁴ to drop their tea-break habit but in the end they found that they had carried coals to Newcastle.

美国的经理们试图说服他们的英国雇员改掉吃茶点的习惯，但通常是徒劳无益。

e.g. You’re really carrying coals to Newcastle. She has many a diamond rings.

你真是多此一举。她有的是钻石戒指。

e.g. You tried to pull the wool over my eyes, which was that you carried coals to Newcastle. I knew exactly what was going on.

要想瞒我是多此一举的，我对所发生的事一清二楚。

1. 她自由见解。

She has her own idea.

2. 怎么啦？

What is wrong?

1 pretended   

adj.假装的；徒有外表的；传说的；号称的v.假装( pretend的过去式和过去分词 )；伪装；（尤指儿童）（在游戏中）装扮；自诩

参考例句：

• He pretended that resigning was part of his long-term career strategy. 他假装辞职是他长远事业规划的一部分。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He politely pretended not to have heard this remark. 他有礼貌地假装没有听到这句话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 completely   

adv.完全地，十分地，全然

参考例句：

• She never completely gave up hope.她从不完全放弃希望。
• I feel completely in the dark on this question.这件事使我感到茫然。

3 unnecessary   

adj.不必要的，无用的，无益的

参考例句：

• There's no sense in taking unnecessary risks.做不必要的冒险毫无意义。
• It's unnecessary to go into details.无须细说。

4 employees   

n.雇工，雇员( employee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She is always polite and considerate towards her employees. 她对待雇员总是客客气气，关心体谅。
• The company has a strict dress code—all male employees are expected to wear suits. 公司有严格的着装规定—所有男职员都要穿西服。