美国习惯用语 | do the trick

养狗的人都知道,一般小狗都会整天特别兴奋,跳上跳下的,有时候真让人没办法。那天我朋友来我家,看到我的小狗乖乖的趴在地上,不乱叫也不乱跑,特别羡慕,问我是怎么把狗训练的这么好的。我告诉她,其实我的诀窍就是每天早晨带小狗出去跑步,回来之后,它基本上就没有多余的精力上窜下跳了。用一句习惯用语来说,这就是:do the trick。

trick的意思是“诀窍”。do the trick其实就是“取得想要的成果,获得成功的窍门”。上面的例子里就是这样,如果你的小狗过于好动,只要每天早晨带它去跑跑步就好了。

  • Taking your dog for a run in the morning will do the trick.

大家都很讨厌冗长的会议,下面的例子里,这名咨询顾问给了我们什么忠告呢?我们来看看:

  • How often have you found yourself suffering in another lengthy meeting? Maybe you've asked the boss to shorten the agenda or encouraged colleagues to talk briefly. But nothing has worked. Next time, invite participants to stand instead of sit. I guarantee you, it does the trick. Nobody will want to stay on their feet for long, so your meeting will be short.
    你是不是经常被困在冗长的会议中呢?也许你曾经要求老板缩短会议,或者鼓励同事简短发言,但是似乎什么都不奏效。告诉你一个小窍门。下回,让大家站着,而不是坐着开会。我保证你能达到目的。没有人愿意老站着,所以会议也不会长。

这主意真不错!每星期一早晨的员工例行会议特别让人头疼。经过一个周末后,很多人都有Monday Blue(星期一沮丧症),所以很多公司都会在周一早晨提供donut(甜面包圈)。

  • For many workers, sweet donuts do the trick; they keep them awake and focused.
    对于很多员工来说,甜面包圈就能把他们吸引过来,让他们保持清醒和精力集中。

我相信对于所有人来说,纪念日都是很重要的。下面例子里的这个丈夫老是忘了自己的结婚纪念日,他做了什么来补救呢?我们来听听看:

  • I know I should remember my anniversary and other dates, but sometimes I forget. When I first got married, I'd send flowers as an apology. They always did the trick. These days, however, they don't make my wife happy. Instead, she expects expensive jewelry.
    我也知道我老是忘记结婚纪念日和其他重要的节日。刚结婚的时候,我会给妻子买花表示抱歉,每次她都会原谅我。但是现在,鲜花已经不能博取妻子的欢心了。她想要昂贵的珠宝。

我真不知道是该说这名丈夫健忘,还是这位妻子贪心呢?其实,我觉得她应该把这些重要的节日都输入到她丈夫的智能手机里,这样手机就能自动提醒他啦!

  • If she programs the important dates into her husband's smart phone, he will get instant reminders. I think it will do the trick.

这应该就能解决忘记重要日子的问题了。