Ask & Learn聞問切英語(yǔ)口語(yǔ):生活艱難
讀者 Winnie 寄來句子:生活艱難 the regular, law-abiding, non-tycoon, squeezed on all sides, not-immune-from-the-law Hong Kong people that just try to get by day to day. Winnie 再問:squeezed on all sides 和 to get by 是什么意思?
Squeeze 是大力緊握,就好像把檸檬握在掌心用力地,西餐中有一種用來擠檸檬汁的餐具就叫l(wèi)emon squeezer.
引伸出來,squeeze 就有壓榨、壓迫、剝削的意思。句子中指香港市民 squeezed on all sides,就是要承受來自四方八面的壓力,苦不堪言。
To get by 解作勉強(qiáng)應(yīng)付,還過得去。 這個(gè)詞可以用在個(gè)別的困難,例如考試:
Jimmy does not expect good grades this time. He just wants to get by. Jimmy 這次考試并不要求高分,只要及格就行了。
另一方面,to get by 也可以用在解決生計(jì)的困難:
Earning only minimum wage, Tom can hardly get by.Tom 的收入只是最低工資,只能勉強(qiáng)混過去。
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