美国习惯用语 | back the wrong horse

我们家最近要装修厨房,正为找装修师傅而头疼。有名的装修队要价高,不好约,新开张的装修店倒是价格便宜,有时间,可又不知道质量如何。装修可是件大事,弄不好会带来没完没了的麻烦。我和老公都很怕会: back the wrong horse。

back the wrong horse字面的意思是“支持错的马”,其实就是“押错宝,选错人”。在装修时:

  • we don't want to back the wrong horse.
    我们不想选错装修队。

在面临选择的时候,得有眼光,看得准,下面这段话中的这位教练就独具慧眼:

  • Over his long career, Coach Carpenter recruited hundreds of football players for our university, who helped their team win their division trophy year after year. It's a mystery how he made his decisions. Yet the fact remains that he rarely backed the wrong horse.
    在卡朋特教练多年的执教生涯中,他为我们学校招录了数百个橄榄球队员,帮自己所在的球队连年夺取地区赛冠军。卡朋特教练到底是怎么选队员的?谁也说不清。但事实是,他几乎从不会挑错人。

这教练可够神的。不知道他独特的眼光能不能用在选股票上。我有个朋友,号称是股神,他推荐的股票十有八九都能赚钱。

  • He rarely backs the wrong horse when it comes to investing in stocks.
    他在炒股票时很少看走眼。

我最近打算给女儿买台电脑,可是应该买苹果机,还是买PC机,一直拿不定主意。下面这段话似乎给了我答案。

  • Do you prefer a Mac or a PC? Computer users used to worry that either Apple or Microsoft would eventually dominate the marketplace. Because both systems now support many of each other's functions, it's unlikely that one will become obsolete. That means you shouldn't be concerned about backing the wrong horse.
    你想买苹果电脑还是PC电脑?电脑用户们以前担心,电脑市场最终会被苹果公司或者微软公司一统天下。然而现在,由于两个操作系统已经能支持和兼容彼此的许多功能,所以任何一个都不太可能被完全淘汰。这意味着你不必担心自己选错电脑。

back the wrong horse这个说法也可以用bet on the wrong horse替代。to bet on就是“下赌注”的意思,所以to bet on the wrong horse也是“下错赌注,押错宝”的意思。