特雷莎梅首相前往萨尔斯堡参加脱欧的细节谈判,欧盟领导人和欧洲主要国家的领导人与她没有好话说,特别是贸易和北爱尔兰问题上提出了任何英国首相都不敢做出的事。她恼羞成怒地回到唐宁街10号,对自己在欧盟的遭受羞辱进行了一番痛斥,并称绝对不会在这两大红线上让步。
我一直以来都要求同学们多了解、多掌握常见习语,这样才能深入理解所读内容的生动、通俗和直观的含义。有意思的是,今天每日邮报头条文章的标题用的一个习语cave in,在文章内部就用了通常正式的短语back down来替换,既让读者理解轻松,同时也表现出了用词的多样变化性,这对英语写作也是很有启示作用的。
请看文章大标题:
Furious Theresa May berates EU leaders for lacking "respect" after her Brexit humiliation at Salzburg - warning it is a "mistake" to think she will cave in on red lines over trade and Northern Ireland
在萨尔斯堡受到脱欧羞辱后,愤怒的特雷莎梅痛斥欧盟领导缺乏“尊重”,并警告说认为她会在贸易和北爱尔兰问题的红线上作了让步将会是 “大错特错”
再看正文中的一个句子的用词:
But she warned that the leaders were "making a mistake" if they thought she would back down on her red lines, and said failure to compromise would poison relations completely. 但她警告说,如果欧盟领导人认为她会在红线问题上让步,他们就会犯错,并称不能达成妥协就会全面毒害(欧盟与英国)的关系。
有必要指出的是,cave in原本义是指屋顶或天花板之类“垮塌,陷落”,后喻指受到他人的压力后“屈从,退让”,相等于give in,back down on。
1.After a ruinous strike, the union caved in... 遭受到毁灭性的打击后,该联盟做出了让步。
2.I felt lonely and unattractive, and of course my anger turned inward too and I began to cave in to the overwhelming temptation of self-pity. 我感到孤独和冷落,当然我的怒气也向内转,我开始屈从于自怨自艾的强大力量。
3.I finally caved in and had a slice of cake. 我最后还是认了怂,得到了一小块蛋糕。
4.After 72 days of Nato bombing, Milosevic caved in and signed the terms of a settlement allowing an international force with Nato at its core into Kosovo. 经过北约72天的轰炸,米罗舍维奇只好投降,签署了同意让北约为核心的国际军事力量进入科索沃的停火条款。