美国习惯用语:809 give as good as one gets

 

我星期五要跟一个老朋友出去吃饭。她现在是一家电视台的老总。第一次见她的人都会问，这么一个身材瘦小，讲话轻声细语的亚洲女子，怎么能在竞争如此激烈的领域里出人头地呢?

如果你了解她的性格，就不难理解了。今天我们要介绍给大家的习惯用语，形容她真是恰如其分：give as good as one gets.

Give as good as one gets这个习惯用语的意思是毫不示弱地加以反击。你现在明白了吧，我那个朋友绝对不会受人欺负，因此才能在娱乐圈子里闯荡出一番天地。She gives as good as she gets.

大家肯定都听说过希拉里.克林顿。她是美国前总统比尔.克林顿的夫人，后来当选纽约州参议员，再后来又成了美国民主党的总统参选人。我们一起来听听下面这个政治问题分析员是如何评价希拉里的。

例句-1：Polls show that most Americans believe Senator Hillary Clinton is tough enough to be President of the United States. That's because she has handled herself well against continuous political attacks by her opponents and is seen as a strong negotiator. She always give as good as one gets.

这位评论员说：民意调查显示，大多数美国人都相信，希拉里.克林顿参议员很强悍，可以胜任美国总统，因为面对政治对手接连不断的政治攻击，她都能妥善处理，而且被认为是一个很能干的谈判者。她面对挑战，丝毫也不示弱。

话虽如此，但是美国要加入女性元首的行列，恐怕时机尚未成熟。大家恐怕还记得，早在上个世纪八十年代，英国就出现了女首相撒切尔夫人，在男性占据统治地位的政界，她毫不示弱。She used to give as good as she got. 也因此获得了铁娘子的称号。

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要取得成功，往往需要不屈不挠的气概。让我们听听下面这个排球队的经历。

例句-2：In our first season, a lot of sports columnists¹ doubted that our volleyball team would be any match against our fierce competitors. But we showed them that we were ready to take on any challenge. Game after game, we proved that we could fight back. We gave as good as we got. And now we're the league champions.

这个人说：第一个赛季，很多体育专栏作家都怀疑我们不是其他人的对手。但是我们以实际行动告诉他们，我们做好了迎接任何挑战的准备。每场比赛都证明，我们会毫不示弱地加以还击。如今，我们终于赢得了联盟的冠军头衔。

我可知道被人小看的滋味。上大学的时候，我加入了刚成立的辩论队。大家都觉得我们的对手经验丰富，因此我们不堪一击。不过，虽然我们缺少经验，但是并不必缺少决心和毅力。没过多久，我们就开始反击了。You were giving as good as you were getting. 最后，我们竟然获得了第二名。

Give as good as one gets这个习惯用语的准确用法的历史并不久远，只有几十年。大家既然已经知道 Give as good as one gets的意思了，就可以尝试着把它用在日常对话中。

1 columnists   

n.专栏作家( columnist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This story will be more fodder for the gossip columnists. 这个传闻会是闲谈专栏作家的又一素材。
• The columnists coined the phrase \"to broderick\", meaning to rough up. 专栏作家们杜撰出一个新词“布罗德里克”意思是“动武”、“打架”。 来自辞典例句