如第一次看到 kick the bucket 跟死有关一样,若非亲眼所见,我怎么也不会相信习语 buy the farm 居然跟死有关系,据说是军人突然去世之后就自动收到一部分地,就是坟墓,它可以意为“阵亡,死了”,是一种非正式的用法,寓意:
to die
去死
to pass away
逝去
depart from the world
离开这个世界
lose life all of a sudden
突然失去生命
meet the death
迎接死亡
to get perish
毁灭
ending up in the grave
死在坟墓里
例如:
Mister Jack was really ill from the past two months and yesterday he bought the farm.
杰克先生过去两个月病得很厉害,昨天他死了。
Don't worry! John will survive this heart attack, he won't buy the farm.
别担心!约翰心脏病发作后会活下来的,他不会死的。
Michal lived for a few days after her collapse and then she bought the farm.
米甲在她崩溃后住了几天,然后她死了。
I really want to visit New Zealand once, before I buy the farm.
我真的很想在我死之前去新西兰一次。
If you crash at 60 mph, the odds are you'll buy the farm.
如果你以每小时60英里的速度撞车,你很可能会死的。
因此,若在具体的语境,没有准确翻译出 buy the farm 的含义,将是一个多么尴尬,多么滑稽的处境啊。可以把 buy the farm 和 kick the bucket 合起来一起记忆。
其实任何短语的本意若在句中不合理或是很奇怪,就要考虑是一种习惯用语,这样可以避免纠结,以免浪费时间。那么至于,要翻译成什么寓意,就要靠平时的积累。
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