英文俗語中竟然藏了這麼多「羊」

05-27

?萌萌噠羊在各種中文成語俗語中經常出現，你知道嗎，其實羊在英文中也佔據著很重要的地位。今天就跟隨世紀君一起深入探討一下西方文化中的羊，來了解一下lamb, sheep, goat到底有啥區別吧！

Lamb, sheep, goat你分得清嗎？

Lamb的意思是小羊羔（a young sheep）。 Sheep是農場里的羊（a farm animal which is covered with thick curly hair called wool）。而goat是山羊的意思（a goat is a farm animal or a wild animal that is about the size of a sheep. Goats have horns, and hairs on their chin which resemble a beard.）。學會了嗎？以後可要注意區分，別用錯啦！

羊in English

英文短語、俗語中關於各種羊的說法又有哪些呢？一起來看看吧！小羊羔在西方也是溫順可愛柔弱無邪萌萌噠！所以就有了以下的表達：

As gentle as a lamb – very gentle 溫順如羊，像小羊一樣溫和，是不是很形象呢！

For example: The girl is as gentle as a lamb when she is with her little sister.

As innocent as a lamb – having no guilt, naive 天真無邪

For example: The little girl is as innocent as a lamb and everybody loves her.

Like lambs to the slaughter – quietly and without complaining about the dangers that may lie ahead 面對屠殺，從容就義

For example: Our football team went like lambs to the slaughter to play against the best football team in the country.

小羊搖尾巴的速度也是醉醉的，所以我們有白駒過隙之瞬，西方有小羊搖尾之間：in two shakes of a lamb』s tail – very quickly

For example: I promised that I would meet my friend in two shakes of a lamb』s tail.

羊也分善惡

在各種中文小故事裡，羊都是善良柔弱的存在。英文中可不一樣吶！由於《聖經》的影響，sheep和goat在英語中的形象截然不同，前者比喻好人，後者比喻壞人。英語中有關goat的成語，大多貶義。如：to play the goat=play the fool（瞎胡鬧）；to get sb"s goat（觸動肝火）等等。

《聖經》說牧羊人要分辨綿羊和山羊，「把綿羊安置右邊，山羊左邊」。據說野山羊常混進羊群里，引誘綿羊，故牧羊人必須把它們區分開來，以免混淆。有一俚語便來源於此：separate the sheep from the goats「區別好壞，分清良莠」。

For example: We had to separate the sheep from the goats when we began to make selections for the school choir.

不過凡事總有例外，the black sheep of the family就不是誇獎，這個sheep指的是 the worst or the most unpopular or disliked member of a family，敗家子，害群之「羊」。

For example: My cousin is the black sheep of the family and nobody likes to talk about him.

原創文章，未經許可不得轉載。

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