这个周末是我和男朋友在一起一周年的纪念日。我们计划去远郊的一个酿酒场品酒,然后再去吃一顿法国大餐。我男朋友还说要带我去坐热气球! 听起来真棒!不过我有些担心这个周末的天气,天气预报说周末要刮大风,还可能会下雨! 这也就让我想到这个习惯用语。那就是: cross one's fingers.
大家都知道,cross是交叉的意思,fingers是手指;cross one's fingers, 字面意思是手指交叉,实际上就是希望得到好运气的意思。美国人经常把食指和中指交叉,意思就是祝你好运! I cross my fingers, hoping the weather would be good this weekend. 我交叉手指,希望这个周末会有好天气。
下面例子里的这个排球运动员也相信这个动作能给他们带来好运。我们来听听看:
例句-1:Our volleyball team has beaten every team in the division so far. I know it's because we have better players and we've practiced harder. Still, we're up against our greatest challenger next week and many of us are crossing our fingers. We're hoping that we'll be successful and win the trophy.
这段话是说:我们排球队到现在为止一直保持全胜。我们一直很努力地训练。不过下个星期,我们将面临最这个赛季最强劲的挑战,很多队员都交叉手指期盼好运。我们希望我们能够获胜,赢得奖杯。
有时候一点小小的迷信无伤大雅,对吧? 想想我从小一直弹钢琴,每次演奏之前,我都会交叉手指,期盼好运。I cross my fingers every time before performing in the concerts. 也许是我迷信,不过每次我这么做,表演都很成功! 所以,这也就成了我的好运标志。 好了,enough about me.
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自从2008年以来,美国的经济情况一直不好,就业市场也一直很低迷。很多人失去工作,而在找新工作的过程中也遇到很多阻碍。下面的例子就谈到了类似的情况。让我们来听听看:
例句-2:My daughter has been looking for a job for almost two years. After sending in lots of resumes and going on a number of interviews, she's become really frustrated. The position she just applied for looks like a good match for her skills and experience. She's got her fingers crossed. This may be the chance she's been waiting for.
这段话是说:我女儿找工作已经找了两年了。在无数简历和若干次面试之后,她特别沮丧。现在她刚刚申请的职位特别适合她的技能和经验。她交叉手指,祈求好运。这可能就是她一直在等待的机会。
我们也祝她好运! 不知道大家有没有注意到,这个短语也可以使用被动语态。所以对于我的情况,我也可以说, I have my fingers crossed that my hot air balloon adventure will take place. 我特别希望热气球之行能够成行。The team members have their fingers crossed that they'll win the next game. 球员祈求好运,希望能够赢得下一场比赛。