第一、迷你对话
A: Don’t you agree that all the thieves should be punished by cutting off their fingers?
你不认为小偷该砍掉他的手指以示惩罚吗？
B: I’m afraid many people would turn thumbs down on it.
恐怕很多人会不赞成。
A: Don’t you think in that case, there wouldn’t be so much stealing?
你不认为如果那样的话，偷窃现象就会减少吗？
B: Definitely. But I think it is too fierce.
绝对正确，但是我觉得那台残忍了。
第二、 对话精讲
1. 地道表达
【地道短语】turn thumbs down on
【解词释义】该习语源于古罗马的竞技决斗活动。竞技场上，获胜的角斗士只能得到一支棕桐作为奖赏，而败阵的角斗士命运则取决于观众的手势。观众的拇指向上（turn thumb up）就可以绕他的命，反之，如果大多数观众的拇指向下（turn thumb down），就以为着要杀死斗败者。该习语由此而产生，引申为“反对，决绝，不予饶恕，置于死地”等意思，现在多用来表示“不赞成，反对”。
【支持范例】Most people in this country turn thumbs down on gambling.
这个国家的大多数人都反对赌博。
John continues to turn thumbs down on drugs of any kind.
约翰一如既往地讨厌任何形式的吸毒。
2. 词海拾贝
cut off ：切掉，砍掉
例句1：He cut off the dragon's head with one stroke of his sword.
他一刀就砍断了龙头。
例句2：He had a finger cut off by a machine while working.
他在工作时被机器切掉了一个手指。
in that case：假如这样
例句1：You don' t like your job ? In that case why don' t you leave ?
你不喜欢这份工作？那你怎么不辞掉呢?
例句2：He is said to be not at home. In that case, we shall not go there.
听说他不在家, 那么我们不去了。 |