美國(guó)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)：930 back the wrong horse
我們家最近要裝修廚房，正為找裝修師傅而頭疼。有名的裝修隊(duì)要價(jià)高，不好約，新開張的裝修店倒是價(jià)格便宜，有時(shí)間，可又不知道質(zhì)量如何。裝修可是件大事，弄不好會(huì)帶來沒完沒了的麻煩。我和老公都很怕會(huì)： back the wrong horse。
Back the wrong horse字面的意思是“支持錯(cuò)的馬”，其實(shí)就是“押錯(cuò)寶，選錯(cuò)人”。在裝修時(shí)，we don't want to back the wrong horse， 我們不想選錯(cuò)裝修隊(duì)。
在面臨選擇的時(shí)候，得有眼光，看得準(zhǔn)，下面這段話中的這位教練就獨(dú)具慧眼，我們來聽一聽：
例句-1：Over his long career, Coach Carpenter recruited hundreds of football players for our university, who helped their team win their division trophy year after year. It's a mystery how he made his decisions. Yet the fact remains that he rarely backed the wrong horse.
這段話是說：在卡朋特教練多年的執(zhí)教生涯中，他為我們學(xué)校招錄了數(shù)百個(gè)橄欖球隊(duì)員，幫自己所在的球隊(duì)連年奪取地區(qū)賽冠軍。卡朋特教練到底是怎么選隊(duì)員的？誰(shuí)也說不清。但事實(shí)是，他幾乎從不會(huì)挑錯(cuò)人。
這教練可夠神的。不知道他獨(dú)特的眼光能不能用在選股票上。我有個(gè)朋友，號(hào)稱是股神，他推薦的股票十有八九都能賺錢。He rarely backs the wrong horse when it comes to investing in stocks. 他在炒股票時(shí)很少看走眼。
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我最近打算給女兒買臺(tái)電腦，可是應(yīng)該買蘋果機(jī)，還是買PC機(jī)，一直拿不定主意。下面這段話似乎給了我答案。咱們來聽一聽：
例句-2：Do you prefer a Mac or a PC? Computer users used to worry that either Apple or Microsoft would eventually dominate the marketplace. Because both systems now support many of each other's functions, it's unlikely that one will become obsolete. That means you shouldn't be concerned about backing the wrong horse.
這段話意思是：你想買蘋果電腦還是PC電腦？電腦用戶們以前擔(dān)心，電腦市場(chǎng)最終會(huì)被蘋果公司或者微軟公司一統(tǒng)天下。然而現(xiàn)在，由于兩個(gè)操作系統(tǒng)已經(jīng)能支持和兼容彼此的許多功能，所以任何一個(gè)都不太可能被完全淘汰。這意味著你不必?fù)?dān)心自己選錯(cuò)電腦。
Back the wrong horse這個(gè)說法也可以用bet on the wrong horse, 替代。To bet on就是下賭注的意思，所以to bet on the wrong horse也是下錯(cuò)賭注，押錯(cuò)寶的意思。
