如果有天你去美国朋友家里做客,或者去参加一个美国朋友举行的宴会,当他们对你说“Knock yourself out”的时候,你可不要认变他们的意思是要你自己打自己一拳喔!knock yourself out是一个片语,意思是“随便点、不必客气”,包含的意思是“你可以尽情地玩, 作任何你想作的事情,,把这里当成自己的家一样, 不必客气”。To knock yourself out is to go for it or to do as much as you want without anyone‘s permission 如:
A: Could you give my your pencil for a while?
B: Knock yourself out. My pencil is just on the table.
(译文:
A:你能借你的铅笔给我用一下吗?
B:请随便,我的铅笔就在桌子上。)
这个片语除作“随便点,不必客气”的意思外,有时我们使用它时,通常是指遇到一件事情,别人坚持去做,而你觉得没有必要,所以就说上一句“knock yourself out”来表达你懒得去理睬的意思。如:
If you really want to ask him who has no any competence to help us solve our problems, the only word I can tell you is to knock yourself out.
(译文:如果你真想请毫无特长的他帮我们解决问题,我只能对你说声“随便”。)
大家知道mind在英文中有“智力、头脑”的意思,但是在out of one’s mind这个片语中,mind的意思是指“神智、理智”。所以从字面上看,out of one’s mind的意思是“某人的理智之外”,我们常翻译为“失去理智,发疯”。如:
Mary must be out of her mind to consent to steal her boss’s secretary files.
(译文:Mary答应去偷她老板的秘密文件,她一定是疯了。)
片语out of one’s mind 是一个口语用法,当我们使用这个片语来形容一个人时,往往指他们的行事不合常理、失去理智,让人无法接受而带有埋怨、怪罪的感情色彩。If someone is out of his or her mind, it means that he or she has lost their mind and do something that people can’t accept.
相同的用法有out of (someone‘s) head、out of (someone‘s) senses.
My boss must be out of his mind to fire Tom who is a genius at computer.
(译文:我的老板一定是失去了理智,他解雇了电脑天才Tom.)
结束语:有时,人们的行为看起来简直是失去了理智(out of one’s mind),可是我们又能做些什么呢?还是随他们去吧(knock yourself out)!
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