美国习惯用语 | cast in stone

大家都喜欢在夏天休个长假享受生活。我朋友Jenny最近就去了巴黎,完全沉醉在历史古迹,美食和精彩的夜生活之中。她可启发了我!我也开始研究自己该去哪里度假了,可是目前我还没完全决定该去哪里。这也让我想到一个习惯用语。那就是:cast in stone。

cast本身有“铸造”的意思,而stone则是“石头”。cast in stone的字面意思就是“都铸造在石头里了”,也就是“最后决定,板上定钉”的意思。虽然我在看关于去巴黎旅游的书,可是还没决定最后是不是去那里。

  • My decision to go to Paris isn't cast in Stone.

下面的例子里,这位家长遇到了什么难题?

  • It seems like yesterday that my daughter was in kindergarten and now she's graduating from 6th grade. Her class is having a graduation party on June 10th. While I really want to attend, I'll be on a business trip. And I understand the date of the ceremony can't be changed. It's cast in stone.
    女儿上幼儿园仿佛还是昨天的事,可是现在她已经要六年级毕业了!她们班6月10号开毕业派对庆祝。虽然我很想参加,但是我那时侯正好得去出差。而且我知道,日期已经不能再改,是板上定钉的事了。

如果家长不能出席,孩子一定会很失望!对了,你还记得上次我说我们家的路口应该安装停车路标的事吗?我本以为这已经是板上定钉的事情了,可是现在由于资金问题还得需要近一步考虑。

  • The board needs to reconsider whether to install a stop sign or not due to budgetary concerns. So it's not cast in stone yet.
    出于预算考虑,小区委员会需要重新审核是否要安装一个停车的路标,这件事还没有最后决定。

每次我去饭馆吃饭,对到底要点什么酒都很犹豫不决。老听别人说点酒是一门很讲究的学问,到底是不是这样呢?

  • There's a lot of confusion about wine. Should you only drink white wine with chicken and fish and red wine with red meat? When it comes to deciding what goes together best, experts now say that there are no rules cast in stone. You should let your taste guide you; drink whatever pleases you.
    如何点酒确实是门学问。是不是鸡肉和鱼肉只能搭配白酒,而红肉只能搭配红酒呢?专家认为,当谈到如何搭配最好的时候,并没有什么板上定钉的规则。你应该跟着你的感觉走,只要你喜欢就好。

我每次去吃西餐,就经常不知道自己该点什么酒!听了这段话才知道,原来:

  • There are no rules cast in stone on how to order wines.
    点酒并没有什么固定的规则。

大家注意,这里的cast也可以用其他动词代替,比如set;或是carved; set in stone, carved in stone, 都是同样的意思,板上定钉。