Lesson 95 - ON A CLOUD / UNDER A CLOUD(在线收听

on a cloud

under a cloud

你们肯定都知道英文里的前置词有时会使人很混乱,它们在句子里虽然不显眼,但是作用却很关键,用错了一个前置词意思可能完全不同。我们先来讲on a cloud这个词。

On a cloud是很高兴的意思,高兴得走路轻飘飘的好像腾云驾雾一样。下面这个大学生就是一个例子:

例句-1: I've been on a cloud all day long - I heard this morning that I got an A on my final biochemistry exam.

这个学生说:我今天一天都很高兴,因为我早上听说,我生物化学期末考试得了一个A。

令人高兴的事是层出不穷的,下面这位太太也是很高兴,至少她的先生是这么说的:

例句-2: My wife has been on a cloud since I told her the other day I would spend my year-end bonus at the office to take us to Hawaii to celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary. And to tell you the truth, I'm really looking forward to it myself.

这位丈夫说:我那天告诉我的妻子,我要把办公室发给我的年终奖金用来和她一起去夏威夷旅行,以庆祝我们结婚二十周年。自从那天起,我太太一直很高兴。说实话,我自己也非常想去。

夏威夷虽然是美国领土的一部份,但是由于它位于太平洋中间,离开美国本土很远,所以去那里旅行不如去别的地方那么容易。当然,夏威夷那岛国风光非常吸引人,因此能去夏威夷一游实在是令人向往的。

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我们刚才讲的是on a cloud。下面我们把前置词on换成under,也就是under a cloud。任何人under a cloud是绝对不会高兴的,因为他不是丢尽了面子,就是被怀疑做了什么坏事。下面是一个人在讲另外一个被逮捕的人,这人被指控和贩毒有关:

例句-3: The judge had to let him go because there wasn't enough evidence against him. But he's going around under a cloud because most people think he's guilty.

这个人说:法官由于没有足够的证据来定罪,所以只好放了他。但是,他到哪儿都受怀疑,因为大多数人都认为他是有罪的。

下面这个例子是一个人在饭馆里对别人说的话:

例句-4: See that man sitting at the table by himself? He's supposed to be a very smart lawyer, but he's been under a cloud ever since he was mixed up in a scandal involving a company that was run by a mobster.

这人说:看见那个桌子边独自坐着的人吗?他本来是一个很能干的律师,但是他跟一个公司的丑闻有牵连,而那个公司是由流氓集团经营的。从那时起他一直被人怀疑。

  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/usayongyu/21114.html