|
美国习惯用语-第89讲:to go to the dogs 美国人总是说：狗是人的最好的朋友。许多美国人对家里的狗就像对待家里的人一样好。有钱人还往往会出几千美元去买一只稀有品种的狗，我们今天要讲的一个俗语就和这种现象有密切关系的：to put on the dog。 To put on the dog就是摆排场给别人看。大概一百多年以前，一些有钱的人往往化很多钱去买一只稀有品种的小狗来显示自己很有钱。一些阔太太们经常在接待客人的时候把一只小狗抱在腿上来眩耀自己的阔气。当时耶鲁大学的学生就创造了to put on the dog这一说法来嘲笑那些暴发户。我们来举一个例子吧： 例句-1: "Joe Doak is sure putting on the dog since his rich aunt died and left him 10 million dollars. He\'s bought the biggest house in town and a Mercedes 600, and talks about buying some riding horses." 这句话的意思是：“乔多克自从他阿姨去世，留给他一千万美元遗产以后，他可真是摆阔气。他买了城里最大的一栋房子，还有一辆奔驰600型号的汽车。他还在说要买几匹马供他骑马玩呢。” 看来有钱的人也不都是那样挥霍的。下面就是一个例子： 例句-2: "I had this friend in the army who was the son of one of the richest men in the country. But what I like about him was that he never put on the dog to show off his money." | 
