Necessity is the mother of invention.
[注解]原句是“Art imitates Nature, and necessity is the mother of invention”。艺术模仿自然,需要为发明之母。
[译]需要是发明的动力。
Necessity knows no law.
[注解]这是做事不择手段的辩解语。necessity指迫不得已的需要。
[译]需要面前无法律。
Need makes the old wife trot.
[译]事急老妪跑。
Never buy a pig in a poke.
[译]东西没看清,不要急着买。
Never cackle till your egg is laid.
[注解]cackle鸡下蛋后的咯咯叫声。
[译]事未完成,莫先声张。
Never cross a bridge till you come to it.
[注解]古时的桥不像现代的桥这么结实,过河有危险,故产生此谚语。喻指Don't worry about future problems before you need to,不要杞人忧天,船到桥头自然直。美国诗人朗费罗曾说过这是一句古老而又极具智慧的谚语。
[译]还没到桥头,别为过桥愁;困难没出现,切莫先担忧。
Never do things by halves.
[注解]do things by halves事情做到半途而废,做事不彻底,做事草率不周。
[译]凡事不可半途而废;做事应有始有终。
Never hit a man when he's down.
[译]不要落井下石。
Never offer to teach fish to swim.
[译]切莫班门弄斧。
No answer is also answer.
[译]不回答也是一种回答。
Nobody's enemy but his own.
[译]自寻苦恼。