【字面理解】骰子已經(jīng)擲下。
【英文解析】It is used today to mean that events have passed a point of no return, and something inevitable will happen.
【中文解析】覆水難收;木已成舟。
【典型例句】① At all events, what use was there in delaying? The die is cast and now or tomorrow the issue must be the same.不管怎樣,拖下去有什么好處呢?反正木已 成舟,今天或明天沒什么區(qū)別。
② I have set my life upon the cast, and I will stand the hazard of the die.—Charles III我已經(jīng)用我這條命打過賭,我寧可孤注一擲,決個勝負(fù)。——莎士比亞《查理三世》
【注釋】俚語。die在這里是dice (骰子)的單數(shù)形式。公 元前49年,龐培(Pompeius)忿恿元老院解除愷撒 (Caesar)的兵權(quán),命令他立即從山南高盧(Cisalpine Gaul)返回羅馬。愷撒接到命令后,知道這是龐培的 陰謀,于是在意大利邊境的魯比肯河(Rubicon)河畔 躊蹲不前,但最終扔出一句話“War is inevitable. The die is cast!”遂帶兵渡過魯比肯河,打回羅馬。變體: The die is thrown