当美国人说I had a bad hair day,可不一定在抱怨他的发型有多糟多乱。顶着一头乱发出门见人,的确让人心情不佳,甚至影响一整天的办事效率,于是口语中衍生出了这个和头发相关的俚语,来形容“诸事不顺的一天”。
1 a bad hair day
I had a bad hair day! First, my computer shut down this morning. And then,I forgot an important meeting with my clients. I came home with bad hair.(今天真是诸事不顺!一开始是一大早计算机就死机了,接下来我又忘了和客户有个重要的会议。最后心烦意乱地回到家里。)
原来,a bad hair day就是a day when everything seems to go wrong(这天什么事都不顺),也可以用It's not my day来表达同样沮丧的感受。当然,这个俚语也可以用来描述因为发型不佳而影响了一整天的心情。
2 hair vs hairs
hair这个单词是错误率很高的一个词,一般用作头发讲时,不加s,但如果表示动物的毛或人的汗毛,则用hairs。
例:
(○ )He has some gray hair.(他有几根白发。)
(○ )The cat had left white hairs all over my black sweater.(这只猫在我的黑毛衣上到处留下白毛。)
3 get in someone's hair
三千烦恼丝,和hair相关的词组也多半不是好的意思。get in someone's hair是指让人烦恼,即像东西跑进头发一样糟。
例:
The tough proposal got in my hair the whole week.(这个棘手的计划书烦了我一整个星期。)
4 split hairs
头发原本就细,再去剖分,有多烦琐可想而知,所以这个词组就有吹毛求疵、钻牛角尖、在细枝末节纠缠的意思。
例:
Many scholars nowadays just split hairs, they never address the basics.(如今许多学者只在小议题上打转,他们从来不谈根本。)