【英语时差8,16】立刻；马上

 With its origins in baseball (and possibly cricket¹ as well), this idiom describes that moment when the ball is struck by the bat and immediately begins flying through the air. It happens quickly, and there is no hesitation² or delay³. In the same way, people may feel emotions about someone or something very quickly, with no hesitation or delay, and then they immediately decide what those emotions will mean for them and how they should deal with the matter.

In these situations, we say that they felt or knew something "right off the bat," meaning immediately. This idiom can also be used in situations where something happens quickly by chance, such as: "I never played the lottery⁴ before, but today I did so, and I won a prize right off the bat!"

 

1 cricket   

n.蟋蟀，板球运动；adj.公平的

参考例句：

• The England cricket team scored quite a useful total.英格兰板球队得分总数令人满意。
• We could hear the shrill of the midsummer cricket.我们可以听到仲夏时节蟋蟀的尖叫声。
• Your behaviour isn't cricket.你的行为不光彩。

2 hesitation   

n.犹豫，踌躇

参考例句：

• After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天，他终于直说了。
• There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。

3 delay   

v./ n.拖延，延误，延迟，延期；耽搁

参考例句：

• The strike caused a great delay in the delivery of the mail.这次罢工严重地延误了邮件的投递。
• I couldn't judge whether the delay was good or bad.我不能断定这样延迟是好还是坏。

4 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。