中国人最容易误解的英语2100句（第五课）讲义

85.I have many calls on my time.

误解：我这个时候有很多电话。

解析：call在这里作名词表“必要、理由”，call on与call for这此处同意，如：I have no call to worry.我没有必要担心。

其它句子：My computer is always on/at call for you.我的电脑随时供你使用。

          Please stay within call，I may still need you.请别走远，我可能还需要你。

86.He made such a capital blunder that he got a capital punishment.

误解：他犯了这么大的错误，以至于他要受到资金上的罚款。

解析：a capital blunder指“大失策，大错误”，而capital punishment是“死刑”的意思。所以原句的意思为：他犯了大错被判了死刑。

其它句子：Language is a capital instrument in communication.

              语言是交际的重要工具。

87.You may quit your job now for all I care.

   误解：你现在辞职，我会很在乎的。

   解析：for all I care是一常见口语，指的是“我不在乎”，所以原句的意思是“即使你现在把工作辞了，我也不在乎。”

   其它句子：I couldn’t care less.我一点也不在乎，完全不在意。

88. People here have a catholic interest in architectural art.

   误解：这里的人都有对天主教式的建筑艺术感兴趣。

   解析：catholic指“普遍性的，广泛的（兴趣，爱好）”的意思，首字母小写。Are you Catholic or Protestant？你是天主教徒还是新教徒呢？

89. Environment protectors have made common cause with local people to stop the motorway from being built.

误解：环境保护者和当地的居民找到了阻止公路修建的原因。

解析：If one group of people makes common cause with another group, they work together in order to achieve something that both groups want. “Make common cause with”指“（为了共同的目的）与…联合起来，与…合作”，所以原句的意思是：环境保护者跟当地人们一道阻止公路的修建。

其它句子：We must make common cause against barbarism.

我们必须联合起来反对野蛮行径。

Authorities and educators should make common cause. The governor could enlist teachers and others as allies in high school reform.

90. Cindy realized all her dreams and enjoyed cakes and ale.

误解：辛蒂实现她所有的梦想，也享用了蛋糕和啤酒。

解析：Cakes and ale are synonymous with the good life, like beer and skittles.

     The word cake is often used as  a metaphor for 'a good thing' - as in 'take the cake' for example. The first use of cakes and ale with that allusion is Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, 1601. (SIR TOBY BELCH: Out o' tune, sir: ye lie. Art any more than a steward? Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale? ) In addition, there is a novel titled Cakes and Ale.

（原句的意思是：辛蒂实现了所有梦想，尽享了人生乐趣。）

91. They gathered once a week in camera.

误解：他们每星期带着照相机聚会一次。

解析：The Latin term "In camera" means, in a UK legal context: "in private”, “ In secret”, ” privately.” So the Chinese meaning of the sentence is “他们每周秘密聚会一次。”

92. "Christ's love is not at the beck and call of our fluctuating affections."

解析：这句话摘自Mc.Laren的 Sermons,对这句话理解错误的形式多样，主要是因为没有弄懂beck and call的含义; Paraphrase: To be at someone's beck and call is to be entirely subservient to them; to be responsive to their slightest request.所以原句的意思是：上帝的爱不是根据我们的情绪波动而给的。相关句子参考：1. "He [football manager Dick Advocaat] told me what he was particularly looking forward to when he comes to Scotland and that's having the entire Scottish press at his beckon call and I promised he won't be disappointed." (Daily Mirror, by Phil Differ and Jonathan Watson) 2. "America always has had at its beckon call men who would give their all for their country that people might enjoy peace and freedom.” (The Modesto News-Herald)

93.He had to go cap in hand to his parents again to ask for some money.

误解：他不得不拿着帽子再去向他父母要钱。

解析：原句的意思应为：“他不得不硬着头皮再去向他父母要钱。”cap in hand后hat in hand表示的是：（感到羞愧的，不好意思的，或毕恭毕敬的）向某人寻求帮助或要钱。（to ask someone for money or help in a way which makes you feel ashamed）

其它句子：

（1）Look, I didn't say who was to blame for this mess - but if the cap fits, wear it. [ *If the cap fits (wear it). (British, American & Australian, American) something that you say to tell someone that if they are guilty of something bad, they should accept criticism.]     

（2）He spilled red wine on the carpet, insulted my mother, and, to cap it all, he broke my favorite vase.[ If you have been describing bad things which happened and then say that to cap it all something else happened, you mean that the final thing was even worse.]

94. Everybody knows that Jack is a knowing card.

误解：每个人都知道，Jack是一张无所不知的牌。

解析：原句的意思为：每个人都知道Jack是个精灵鬼。

其它句子：

（1） “Do you think there'll be an election next year?” “I think it's on the cards. There are some big changes in the cards for next year.” be on the cards意思是：be likely to happen。

（2）Mei Yanfang was a drawing card of her time. a drawing card 指的是：a famous person who attracts a lot of people to a public event or a wonderful program that draws a lot of audience.

（3）I still had a card up my sleeve in the form of a letter from his father. “To have a card up one’s sleeve” means “to have an advantage that other people do not know about”.

95.Care killed a cat.

误解：过分的小心杀了一只猫。

解析：Care killed a cat.是一句英语谚语，意思是：忧虑伤身。另有Curiosity killed the cat.好奇伤人。

96.They rolled out the red carpet for the singer.

误解：他们为那歌手铺开了红地毯。

解析：roll out the red carpet for是“热烈欢迎”意思。

 

97.They stepped off the carpet a month earlier.

   误解：他们提前一个月离开了地毯。

   解析：step off the carpet是“结婚”的意思，原句的意思是：他们一个月前结婚了。（on the carpet：正在进行中。）

98. When Tailor made the same mistake for a third time, his father hit the ceiling.

   误解：当泰勒同一个错误犯第三次时，他父亲敲打起天花板。

   解析：应理解为“当泰勒泰勒第三次犯同一个错误时，他父亲气得大发雷霆。hit the ceiling “发怒，生气”的意思。

99.The boy got intellectually challenged.

误解：这个男孩面临知识挑战。

解析：原句为美语中一委婉说法，意思是“这个男孩智能低下。”类似的说法有：vertically challenged个子矮；aesthetically challenged不漂亮，等。

100.They live cats and dogs.

    误解：他们过着猫狗一样的生活。

    解析：cats and dogs在英语中已演变为一程度副词，原句的意思是：他们彼此水火难容。

其它句子：

It rains cats and dogs.下着倾盆大雨。

Let the cat out of the bag.（无意中）泄露。

The shepherdess was like a cat on a hot tin roof when she couldn’t find the little lamb.当牧羊女找不到那只小羊羔的时候，急得坐立不安。（或on hot bricks）

see which way the cat jumps= wait for the cat to jump（观望形式，再做决策）

101. They are playing catch-as-catch-can in the yard.

误解：他们在院子里玩“能抓什么就抓什么”。

解析：catch-as-catch-can作名词表“（摔跤的）自由式，自由式角力”

102.The students ceased to discuss after the teacher’s explanation.

误解：听了老师的解释之后，学生停下手里的事情，开始讨论。

解析：产生误解的原因是，受stop to do的影响，stop to do表停下手里的事情去做其它的事情，而cease to do sth.= cease doing sth.原句的意思为：听了老师的解释之后，学生们停止讨论。(go on to do sth.也是指停止正在做的事情去做另外的事情。)

103. Mr Smith took the chair at the meeting.

      误解：斯密斯先生在会上找了个座位坐下来/斯密斯先生主持会议

104. I don’t know the chapter and verse of the quotation.

      误解：我不知道引言的章节和韵文。/我不知道引文的出处

105. The teacher charged her with calling the roll in class.

      误解：老师指责他当众点别人的名/老师让他点学生的名单

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