英語文化陷阱系列 (17)

　　17. Whipping boy

　　大家可能對 “scapegoat”的意思非常熟悉，但是對 “whipping boy ”可能并不熟悉，實際上二者的意思非常接近。

　　Whipping boy 的比喻義就是“充當(dāng)替罪羊的人或物，代人受過”。這個短語在實際中用途頗多。如：“ one 'right' way to teach reading……To support phonics instruction and make the advocates of 'whole language' the whipping boy does a disservice to our schools and teachers” (摘自1997年《時代周刊》);

　　又如：“Building 31 also is not immune from the siege mentality that generally can mark Microsoft. 'We're very much a whipping boy in the academic community'”