一. 如何表达“出乎意料”
我们来看看这段话(来自于福克斯新闻网):
The NBA is facing intense backlash after a bombshell report alleges its training academies are plagued with human rights abuses.
一份令人震惊的报告声称:NBA的训练学院在侵犯人权,这也让NBA面临着强烈的抵制。
backlash /ˈbæklæʃ/n. 强烈的反应,抵制。The NBA is facing intense backlash也就是说“NBA正在面对着强烈的抵制”
面对抵制是为什么呢?文中用after引出状语结构进行了说明:
after a bombshell report alleges its training academies are plagued with human rights abuses.
bombshell原指“炸弹”,在写作中引申出“a sudden piece of shocking or unexpected news”之意,也就是指“令人震惊,出乎意料的事”,它就如同投下炸弹一般让我们震惊,非常容易通过联想来理解。我们可以用sth. come as a bombshell 来表示“某事是令人出乎意料,震惊的”,例如:
- The sudden rise of unemployment rate comes as a bombshell.失业率的突然攀升让人始料未及。
我们也可以用bombshell n. 的形式直接表示“令人出乎意料的....”,例如:
- Several months later, another bombshell event occurred -- Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. attorney general Bobby Kennedy was assassinated following his victory in the 1968 California primary.(华尔街日报)几个月后,又发生了另一起令人震惊的事件-民主党总统候选人和前美国司法部长鲍比·肯尼迪(Bobby Kennedy)在1968年加州初选中获胜后被暗杀。
在写作中我们也可以用固定表达:drop a bombshell表示“带来意想不到的消息”,有点像是中文所说的“投下重磅炸弹,发出重磅消息”。不过要注意它指的是令人意想不到的坏消息。
- Macy’s dropped a bombshell this week when it said it would close 125 stores and lay off more than 2,000 corporate employees.(卫报)梅西百货本周发出一条突发信息:它将关闭125家门店,裁员超过2000人。
二. shy的妙用
shy这个词我们都知道,表示“害羞的,腼腆的”,也可以指动物“怕人的,易受惊的”。无论是腼腆还是害羞,其实都是害怕某种事物而产生的畏缩的心理,我们可以提炼出这个词的核心含义“畏缩,回避”。
所以,就有这样一个用法“be shy about / of (doing) sth”(躲避,害怕,不情愿做某事),相当于avoid of sth / doing sth,例如:
- But she was never shy about returning to the spotlight when she felt compelled to do so.(洛杉矶时报)但是当她觉得要被迫回到大众视野时,她从不退缩。
- To be fair, congressional Republicans haven’t been shy about revealing their thoughts.(卫报)说句公道话,国会的共和党人从不害怕透露自己的想法。
shy也可以作动词,经常以shy away from (doing) sth的形式出现,同样表示“畏惧,回避做某事”,例如:
- I am a Nigerian first and foremost, we don’t shy away from our roots.(卫报)首先,我是尼日利亚人,我们不会忘记自己的根。
- He doesn’t shy away from being critical when reviewing items from sponsored brands.(纽约时报)在评论赞助商品牌的商品时,他同样也是直截了当地批评。
无论是害羞,畏惧,其实都是一种自信心的缺乏,而“缺少,缺失”这层含义,也引申出“shy of”(不足,欠缺,未达到......)之意。(同义替换“short of”)
- Hart is 11 days shy of his 22nd birthday in becoming the youngest player to win a playoff game.(西雅图时报)哈特(Hart)成为赢得季后赛最年轻的球员,还有11天他就要过他22岁的生日了。
- At the Trump International Hotel in Washington, just blocks from the White House, revenues were $40.5 million, falling just shy of 1 percent from 2018.(卫报)在距离白宫仅几个街区外的华盛顿特朗普国际饭店收入为4050万美元,仅仅比2018年少了1%。
可以看出,shy无论作为形容词,名词时,都能从其核心含义引申出不同的意义,这也是英语单词的一大特点:由“核”扩展出“壳”,从核心含义来理解往往更能加深记忆,避免死记硬背,何尝不是一个更高效的方法。
总结:
bombshell
出乎意料的,令人震惊的事情
be shy of / about doing sth
shy away from (doing) sth
害怕,回避做某事
shy of 不足,缺少
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