美国习惯用语 | bounce back

昨天我朋友跟我说,她打算去佛罗里达墨西哥湾的海边渡假!大家都还记得2010年墨西哥湾的原油泄漏事件,结果让原本是旅游圣地的佛罗里达游客量锐减。不过我朋友告诉我,现在那里的旅游业已经复苏。这让我想到了一个习惯用语,那就是:bounce back。

bounce这个词本身是“弹回”的意思,而bounce back作为一个词组意思是“恢复原状,复苏”。我们可以说:

  • This region starts to bounce back after the oil disaster.
    这个地区在漏油灾难之后渐渐恢复过来。

bounce back 也可以用来形容人:

  • Grandma's fall on the ice last winter resulted in a badly broken leg. She spent months in a cast. Then she underwent weeks of physical therapy. Now her doctors say she can resume normal activities. Nobody could be happier than Grandma that she's finally bounced back.
    我奶奶去年冬天在冰上把腿摔骨折了。她带了几个月的石膏,之后又做了好几个星期的理疗。现在医生说她能恢复正常活动了。奶奶终于恢复健康了,她比所有人都要高兴。

是啊。老人身体恢复健康不容易。去年我爷爷得了感冒,足足过了两个月才痊愈。

  • My grandpa finally bounced back after two months of coughing.
    我爷爷的咳嗽足足两个月才好。

其实,bounce back除了指身体恢复健康以外,也可以指情绪上,情感上的恢复。在下面这个例子里,我们来听听Carlos跟女朋友分手后做了什么:

  • Some guys have a hard time getting over a break-up with a girlfriend. That's not the case with Carlos. He doesn't get depressed or become withdrawn. In fact, no sooner does he end one relationship than he begins another. He bounces back quickly.
    一些人在与女朋友分手之后一蹶不振。但卡洛斯可不是这样。他绝不会抑郁或者就此变得沉没寡言。实际上,每当他结束一段恋情之后马上就会开始新得恋情。他很快就能恢复过来。

这也太快了吧!或许是卡洛斯提出分手的。

He doesn't need a lot of time to bounce back after the breakup.
他分手之后很快就能恢复过来。

我们看到,bounce back可以用来形容很多种情况,比如说财政困难之后的经济恢复、身体复原、或者情感上的恢复。