时差N小时:改過自新 洗心革面

In latitudes that have four seasons, springtimemeans the rebirth of nature. Flowers bloom and treesgrow new leaves. So it is easy to imagine this idiom,which indicates renewal, as having a springtimeassociation. After all, isn't "trying to improve one'sbehavior or attitude" (which is the meaning of thisidiom) similar to a tree growing new leaves?

高纬度地区有四季，春季意味着万物的复苏。花朵绽放，树也长出新叶。因此很容易就想起那个用来形容新生、与春天有一定的联系的成语。毕竟“试图改进某人的行为或者态度”(指成语的意思)与树木长出新叶相似。

It turns out that is only part of the story. The reference to "turning over a new leaf" actuallyrefers to a blank page in a book, such as a diary in which you write the story of your life. Longago, book pages were called "leaves" because pages are flat and broad like the leaves of trees. A"new leaf" would be an empty page, not written on yet. "Turning it over" means that a freshstart is possible. An empty page indicates unlimited possibilities.

事实证明这只是其中的一层意思。“turning over a new leaf”中的“leaf”实际上是指一本书的空白页，比如说记录生活点滴的日记本。很久以前，人们称书页为“leaves”，因为书页就像树叶一样平展。“new leaf”则指新的一页，还没有被写的一页。"Turning it over"指全新的开始。空白页则表示有无限的可能性。