美国习惯用语 | close to home

我刚刚从一个采访现场回来。我们的嘉宾介绍了她有关中东地区冲突的一本新书。拍摄完成后,我注意到,摄像师的情绪好象特别低落,我这才想起他是退伍军人,在战场上失去过很多战友,一定是刚从嘉宾谈到战场上的伤亡,勾起了他很多痛苦的回忆,这也让我想到了一个习惯用语。那就是: close to home。

close to home这个短语跟家其实没什么关系;它的意思是“触及痛处” 。上面的例子中,新书作者谈到中东冲突的惨状,触及了摄像师心里深层的记忆。

  • For him, they were close to home.
    对摄像师来说,这段采访触及了他的痛处。

下面这个例子中,我们的法律记者要带我们去看看一个叫M.A.D.D.,MADD的组织:

  • M.A.D.D. is an organization committed to stopping drunk driving and supporting victims of this terrible crime. It was started in 1980 by a mother who had strong feelings about such issues. Her daughter had been killed by a repeat drunk driver. As with many of MADD's members, this tragedy is very close to home.
    “反对醉驾母亲协会”这个组织致力于防止醉酒驾车,并帮助遭遇不幸的受害者。一位母亲1980年创建了这个组织。她女儿就是被一名多次醉酒驾车的人撞死的。对于这个组织的成员来说,他们每个人都对这类悲剧有着切身的感受。

MADD这个组织的全称是Mothers Against Drunk Driving, 所以缩写是MADD。对于这位母亲来说,the issue of drunk driving is close to home since her own daughter was killed by a drunk driver。她对醉酒驾车的害处深有感触,因为她女儿就是被一名醉酒驾车的人撞死的。正是由于这个协会的努力,美国对醉驾的容忍度变小了,惩罚也更为严厉。

你有没有过这种经历呢?有时候别人无意中说的一句话,做的一件事,谈论的某个话题都会触及你的痛处。下面例子里的这名父亲在跟儿子谈话时就遇到了这样的情形:

  • I wondered what my son was laughing about. He was watching a competition show on TV involving severely heavy people trying to lose weight. I explained to my son how I felt hurt. It was too close to home. I had been very overweight growing up. And I remembered all the ridicule I suffered years ago.
    我正纳闷我儿子在笑什么,原来他是在看一个电视真人秀节目,讲的是很多严重肥胖的人比赛减肥。我告诉儿子说,他触及了我的痛处,因为我小时候就特别胖,我清楚地记得原来怎样受到别人的嘲笑。

这确实挺难受的。不过这位爸爸正好利用这个机会教育自己的孩子怎么面对与自己不一样的人。在这里,我们还可以在这个短语前面加上动词hit。to hit close to home也是一样的意思。