语言小贴士:大发雷霆

1. To blow your top means:
a) to suddenly become excited
b) to slowly become excited
c) to suddenly become angry
d) to slowly become angry

2. What does Nina think of when she/he hears the expression blow your top?

3. Which other English expression means 'it makes me very angry'?
Today on Language Snacks we take a look at the expression blow your top. Let’s listen to the dialogue.

A: Oh no! Quick, get a cloth!
B: What's the matter?
A: I've spilt my coffee all over Mark's papers!
B: Here you are. Oh dear, I'm afraid these papers are in a bad way. Will Mark be angry?
A: He's going to blow his top! He told me not to touch anything on his desk!

If you blow your top, you lose your temper¹, or suddenly become very angry. When I hear this expression, I think of a volcano² erupting, suddenly shooting fire and smoke up into the air. However, I think the more common image is of boiling water blowing the top off a cooking pan³. In both cases, the idea of heat and boiling is connected with the feeling of anger.

This connection is also true in other English expressions. For example, if something 'makes your blood boil', it makes you very angry. You could say, it makes you blow your top! Interestingly, a friend of mine from Turkey recently told me that the expression has a different meaning in Turkish, where if something 'makes your blood boil', it makes you excited.

1. c

2. a volcano

3. 'it makes my blood boil!'

1 temper   

n.恶劣的心情，心绪焦躁；性情，脾气

参考例句：

• The man lost his temper and struck out wildly.那人因发怒而大打出手。
• One day the man flew at me in a temper.一天,那个人冲着我大发脾气。

2 volcano   

n.火山

参考例句：

• The volcano unexpectedly blew up early in the morning.火山一早突然爆发了。
• It is most risky to go and examine an active volcano.去探察活火山是非常危险的。

3 pan   

n.平底锅；v.严厉批评

参考例句：

• The water had all boiled away and the pan was burned.水煮干了，锅也烧坏了。
• The eggs were frying in the pan.鸡蛋正在锅里煎。