與穿着相關的地道表達

你有沒有留意過和穿着相關的英語表達？讓我們看看是否可以即席（off the cuff）說出一些，即席的意思是不預先做任何準備，cuff原意是“袖口”。

人們穿着短褲以遮掩身體下部。我們有時形容緊張不安的人說“褲襠裏有螞蟻（ants in their pants）”。例如：

I have ants in my pants for the coming exam on Tuesday.

想到週二就要考試，我真是坐立不安。

有的時候你在做某件事的時候沒有明確的指導，也缺乏足夠的知識，只能靠直覺，這時就可以說fly by the seat ofone's pants，例如：

When Jones started up business in the town, he didn't know anybody, so he had to fly by the seat of his pants.

當瓊斯在這個鎮子開始做生意時，他一個人都不認識，所以只好全靠自己摸索。

有時，人們可能會被caught with their pants down，按字面解釋就是一個人在褲子掉下來的時候被人抓到，那樣的情景，該是多麼的尷尬啊。作爲習語，它的意思就是“當一個人正在做壞事、做可恥的事情的時候被人發現了”。例如：

A famous singer was caught with his pants down when he was having sex with a prostitute in the back of his car last night.

昨天晚上，一個著名歌手跟妓女在汽車後座發生性關係時被人當場抓住。

此外，每一個家庭都有當家人。有時妻子會吩咐丈夫怎麼做，我們就說，她在這個家裏當家做主（wears the pants in the family）。例如：

It's obvious that it is your wife who wears the pants in your family.

看得出來，你們家你老婆當家。

褲子通常都有裝東西的口袋，形容一個人花錢如流水可以說“就像口袋上燒了個洞（burn a hole in your pocket）”。在漢語中，我們也常用諸如“有點錢就燒得難受”、“燒包”來形容這樣的人，看來英語跟中文是有很多異曲同工之處的。例如：

I am sure he'll spend his wages in a few days because the money is burning a hole in his pocket.

我肯定不出幾天他就會將工資全部花光，因爲他是個有錢留不住的人。

如果你一發工資就花掉了一大部分，那接下來的日子你就不得不勒緊腰帶（tighten your belt）過日子了。我總是羨慕那些節省、不大手大腳的人，我真的take my hat off to them（佩服他們）。然而，當涉及到自己的錢，我總是立馬（at the drop of a hat）花個精光。

靴子是一種沉重結實的鞋。自負的人（People who are too big for their boots）把自己想得比實際重要。例如：

Since he was made team captain, he's been ordering us all around and generally getting much too big for his boots.

自從他當了隊長，就對我們指手畫腳，完全是自命不凡，不知道輕重。

其實真正重要的人是難以替代的，你很難fill their shoes（取代他們）。

我叔叔就是這樣一個人，他經營一家大公司。他總是衣着考究，西裝革履。不瞭解他的人認爲他太古板嚴厲。他們認爲他愛擺架子（a real stuffed shirt）。但我知道他十分直爽坦率（wears his heart on his sleeve），他會直接表明他的感受。而且，他知道如何keep his shirt on（保持冷靜），從不生氣或興奮過頭。

My boss is a stuffed shirt: all he talks about is how important his ancestors are, how he was number one in his class at his university, and the wonderful things he thinks he's done for our company.

我的老闆老是愛擺架子，吹噓自己。他一開口就是說他的祖先的地位有多麼重要，他在大學唸書時又如何成爲他們班裏的第一名，還自稱對我們公司作出了多大的貢獻等等。

此外，我叔叔在生意場上從未失手過（lost his shirt），他說這是因爲他總是rolls up his sleeves（捲起袖子做好大幹一場的準備）。他常常對問題有特殊的方案或解決方法，在需要時用得上。他像個魔術師。我們說他有制勝法寶（a card up his sleeve）。

關於上面短語的用法，再來看幾個例子吧！

Did you hear what happened to Joe? He's lost his shirt, the poor guy -- invested all his money in a fancy restaurant and it just went out of business.

你有沒有聽到關於喬的事？這回，他可真是丟掉了一切，真可憐。他把所有的錢都投資在一家豪華的餐館裏。而這家餐館不久前倒閉了。

Well, I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work on these reports.

嗯，我已經準備好開始寫這些報告了。

Although the situation seemed unfavourable to him, he looked perfectly self-assured. He must have a card up his sleeve.

雖然形勢看來對他不利，但他看上去胸有成竹。他手中一定有王牌。