【明報專訊】古語有云「民以食為天」，上月「語文KOL」談到熱氣和鑊氣觀念的中西之別，今次介紹8個跟食物有關的英文成語，由蘋果到馬鈴薯，希望大家閱讀本文時，看個痛快，吃個痛快。

A: Apple of somebody's eye

(the person someone loves most and is very proud of )

意思：(某人的)心肝寶貝。這成語也見於《聖經》，如《申命記》第32章提到： He kept him as the apple of his eye，譯文是：「(耶和華)求你保護我，如同保護你眼中的瞳人。」

例：Song Hye-Kyo is the apple of Song Joong-ki's eye.

宋慧喬是宋仲基的心肝寶貝。

B: Big cheese

(a very important person in an organisation with a lot of influence)

意思：很重要、很有影響力的人

例：He is the big cheese of the company.

他是我們公司的頭號人物。

C: (as) Cool as a cucumber

(very calm and relaxed, especially when this is surprising)

意思：鎮靜、冷靜、泰然自若

例：I was so nervous during the exam. My classmates were as cool as cucumbers.

考試時我緊張死了，同學卻保持沉?。

D: Don't cry over spilled (spilt) milk

(get upset over or express regret about something that has already happened or cannot be changed)

意思：別後悔已做過的事、覆水難收、恨錯難返

例：You two broke up. Don't cry over spilled milk anymore.

你們已經分手了，不要追悔。

E: Egg somebody on

(to encourage someone to do something that might not be wise or a good idea)

意思：慫恿某人作某事

例：Don't egg your sister on! She gets herself into enough trouble.

別慫恿你姊姊了！她的麻煩已經夠多。

F: Full of beans

(to have a lot of energy and in high spirits)

意思：精力充沛、活力十足、精神飽滿

例：Kids are always full of beans as soon as they wake up.

孩子一睡醒，就立即精力充沛。

G: Gravy train

(a situation in which somebody can earn a lot of money for very little effort or without doing much work)

意思：Gravy是肉汁；Gravy train指輕鬆賺大錢的方法， 一般屬貶義，如不誠實的發橫財捷徑

例：How can my boss get on the gravy train, but ask me to take a wage freeze?

怎麼上司獲得這個肥缺，卻叫我凍薪？

H: Hot potato

(a problem or situation that is awkward to deal with and causes a lot of disagreement and controversy)

意思：棘手的事情、麻煩事、燙手山芋

例：The housing issue is a hot potato in Hong Kong.

香港房屋問題是一個燙手山芋。

■知多?

我們不時在 Instagram 看見foodie 的主題標籤 (#hashtag)，foodie是英文俚語 (slang)，可解作美食家。英語中我們稱美食家或對飲食有研究的人為 gourmet。根據《牛津字典》，gourmet 的解釋是a connoisseur of good food; a person with a discerning palate。

至於中文，近來「吃貨」一詞在媒體和網絡文章被廣泛使用，可指愛吃和品評食物的美食愛好者，但原帶貶義，指光吃不幹活的人。這個詞彙有多個不同的解釋，使用時必須小心。以前我們稱貪吃或講究美食的人為「老饕」 或「老饞」。據《康熙字典》「老饕」 一詞出自蘇軾《老饕賦》：「蓋聚物之夭美，以養吾之老饕。」

圖：資料圖片

文：詠絮才

作者簡介﹕香港大學哲學博士 ，曾於不同大學及大專院校任教英語、翻譯和語言學科，研究興趣包括應用語言學、翻譯研究與英語教學等。

[語文同樂 第288期]