美国习惯用语 | squeak by

我不久前带侄子去考驾照,眼看着他倒车上了马路牙子,本以为这下没戏了,没想到考官居然给了他第二次机会,最后擦着边儿通过了路考。这也让我想起一个习惯用语可以跟大家分享。那就是:squeak by。

听过老鼠的尖叫声吗,这种叫声在英文就是squeak. to squeak by,意思是“勉强通过,侥幸成功”。刚才说,我侄子驾照路考的成绩刚好过线。我们就可以说:he squeaked by.

不过,我的邻居詹姆斯太太就没有这么幸运了。75岁的她为了延驾照,要接受视力测试,考官让她从后视镜里分辨苹果和桌子两个图像,她居然问考官,你说什么桌子?What table? 结果驾照没延成。

  • The official didn't let her squeak by.

下面例子里的学生拿到考卷后如释重负。我们一起来看看是怎么回事。

  • My university doesn't allow graduate students to get any C's. So I was really nervous about my final exam in chemistry. But when my grades were posted, I discovered that I had gotten an 80, which qualified as a B. Whew! If I hadn't squeaked by, my dad would have been furious.
    在我们学校,研究生是不允许得C的。我这次化学期终考完试后,心里特别紧张,最后成绩下来,我得了八十分,刚好够得上B,真是万幸,如果没能侥幸过关的话,我爸一定会气炸了。

还记得前年带孩子去游乐场玩,儿子因为个头不够高,很多姐姐能玩的东西他都不能去。一年下来,他长了足足两英寸,去年再去,刚好擦边够高,所有翻滚过山车都能坐了。

  • He was thrilled to have squeaked by.

如果让你在富有但却空虚,和贫穷但却充实这两种生活之间选择一个。你会选哪个?我们一起来看看下面的例子:

  • I admire my friend Alice. She could have easily chosen a high-paying career. Instead, she took a position with a non-profit organization dedicated to saving endangered tigers. I don't know how she manages to pay her bills on her meager salary. But somehow she squeaks by.
    我很佩服我朋友Alice. 她原本可以选择一份高薪的工作,但是她没有,反而加入了一个挽救濒危老虎的非盈利机构。我真不知道她挣的那点儿钱,怎么够付账,不过她好象也能凑合过。

我们刚结婚那会儿,两个人没多少钱,家里开支却很多。

  • It wasn't easy squeaking by.
    一分钱掰成两半花的日子确实不好过。

那会儿我们还年轻,在英语里,叫Salad Days,意思是“少不更事的青春年华”。

to squeak by这个习惯用语是二十世纪上半叶出现的,想想看,squeak指的是勉强发出来的声音,所以,用 squeak by来指勉强通过,侥幸获胜,也就不难理解了。