看到go south,字面意思就是“去南方”
聯(lián)想起無(wú)數(shù)人糾結(jié)是要北上還是南下工作,難道外國(guó)人也有類似的隱喻?
其實(shí)這個(gè)短語(yǔ)的解釋還不止一個(gè),我們來(lái)一一認(rèn)識(shí)一下
go south 是什么意思?
1. To escape; to vanish or disappear. (Not necessarily in a southerly direction.)
去逃跑;逃走不見(jiàn)或消失(并不一定是往南逃)
例:
Everyone in the gang went south when they learned that the police had discovered their hideout.
那幫人聽(tīng)說(shuō)警察發(fā)現(xiàn)了他們的藏身之處,便紛紛逃走不見(jiàn)了。
The dog has gone south into the night.
狗已消失在夜色中了。
2 .To fall or drop; to depreciate; to lose quality or value. (Especially related to finances or stock exchanges.)
下降或落下;貶值;失去質(zhì)量或價(jià)值(尤指與金融或股票交易有關(guān)的。)
這個(gè)意思可能和地圖上的“上北下南”有關(guān),南方就是下方,往南走就是下降的趨勢(shì)。
例:
The company's stock profile continued going south for the third day in a row today.
該公司的股票今天連續(xù)第三天下跌。
It seems like all our moral standards have just gone south.
看來(lái)我們的道德標(biāo)準(zhǔn)都下降了。
3 .To cease working or functioning; to quit, fail, or fall apart.
停止工作或運(yùn)作;退出,失敗或分崩離析。
例:
Talks between the labor union and the construction firm went south yesterday, so it looks like workers will be on strike again soon.
工會(huì)和建筑公司昨天談崩了,所以看起來(lái)工人很快就會(huì)再次罷工。
My computer is only a month old, and it's already gone south.
我的電腦才用了一個(gè)月,就已經(jīng)壞了。
總的來(lái)說(shuō),go south都有一個(gè)趨勢(shì)上的不好,由此我們也可以猜出go north作為它的反方向也就表示了一個(gè)好的趨勢(shì)。
例:
I hope the talk will go north this time.
我希望這次的會(huì)談取得成功。