美国习惯用语:779 Can't make heads or tails of

 　　你有没有觉得一头雾水的时候？今天我们要讲的美国习惯用语就可以用来形容这种感受：Can't make heads or tails of.  Head是头的意思，tail是尾巴的意思，can't make heads or tails of头尾都分不清，引伸讲就是完全搞不明白。

　　现在很多年轻人都喜欢听rap说唱音乐。但是这种喋喋不休的歌曲却让很多父母感到不解。让我们听听为什么。

　　例句-1：When I was younger, I used to listen to a lot of disco. These days my kids listen to rap. I like its rhythm, but don't understand what the lyrics¹ are about at all. Frankly², I can't make heads or tails of them.

　　这个父亲说：我年轻的时候，听的都是迪斯科disco。现在我的孩子喜欢听rap说唱音乐。我很喜欢说唱音乐的节奏，但是却不知道歌里唱的是什么。说老实话，我完全听不懂歌词。

　　我也有同感。I can't make heads or tails of the lyrics neither. 昨天下班路上，有个拉美裔的男子向我问路，他一口的西班牙语，我完全听不懂，you couldn't make heads or tails of what he was saying.

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　　我刚来美国的时候，对美式橄榄球一窍不通，你想啊，一堆人扎在一起，你拉我扯的，有什么好看？ 我真是没办法 make heads of tails of it. 但是，后来懂了比赛规则，就开始越看越上瘾。

　　还有就是菜谱，尤其是欧洲菜，I can't make heads of tails of these recipes. 好的，让我们看看下面这两个一起开公司的小伙子最近遇到了什么难题。

　　例句-2：My business partner and I thought we'd save some money on furniture for our home office. So we bought a desk, a set of drawers, and some shelving that required assembly. The directions explaining how to put the pieces together looked easy to follow, but we couldn't make heads or tails of them. We finally had to call a store assistant for help.

　　他说：我跟合伙人原以为能省点儿钱，所以买了一个桌子，几个抽屉，外加一些架子，准备自己装起来。组装说明看上去好像也是一目了然，但是我们却完全没办法按照说明把它们装起来。最后只好打电话向商店里的人求助。

　　我的动手能力也特别差，组装指南对我开说就象是天书。其实，学习英语习惯用语也是一样，第一次看到或是听到别人用，也许can't make heads or tails of them，但是明白意思之后，就会逐渐运用自如。

1 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

2 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。