英語口語練習小對話 第890期:刺痛某人的心

A: He looked very depressed. Do you know the reason?

他看上去很失落，你知道原因嗎？

B: I don’t know very clearly. It seemed that he quarreled with Mary violently yesterday.

不是很清楚，貌似他昨天和瑪麗大吵了一架。

A: Oh, but this morning, I saw Mary but she didn’t show any signs.

哦，可是今天早上，我看到瑪麗，沒有任何跡象呀。

B: Yeah, you know that was nobody but she said some cruel words, which cut him to the quick.

那是，你看，是她而不是別人惡語大傷了他的情感。

A: I see.

我明白了。

cut sb. to the quick

1. 解詞釋義

Cut sb. to the quick的意思爲“觸及某人的痛處”“刺痛某人的心”。其中的quick不論做名詞還是做形容詞，副詞均出自同一個盎格魯薩語單詞：cwicu，意爲“活着的”。《聖經》中的一短語：the quick and the dead就表示“生者與死者”。現在，quick作爲形容詞或副詞時，意義發生了變化，而在做名詞時多少保留了原有的成分，意指“有感覺的活肉”，常比喻爲“痛處”。

2. 拓展範例

e.g. These angry symptoms were keenly observed by Maggie, and cut her to the quick.

這些激怒的徵兆，麥琪都看得很清楚，而且還深深地刺痛了她的心。

e.g. He felt more like crying, for Wu Sun-fu's smile cut him to the quick.

他心裏卻只要哭，他覺得吳蓀甫的微笑就像一把尖刀。

e.g. His pride was cut to the quick.

他的自尊心受到極大傷害。

e.g. He cut me to the quick with that unkind remark.

他那冷酷的話深深傷害了我。

1. quarrel with：與……吵架

e.g. He wants rest and recovery, not a new quarrel with the Russians.

他需要的是休息和恢復，不是又與俄國人爭吵。

e.g. It's very sad when husbands and wives quarrel with each other.

夫妻間起口角是很不幸的事。

e.g. I have no quarrel with what you say.

我對你的話沒有反對意見。

e.g. I had a quarrel with my flat-mate about who should do the housework.

我與和我同住一單元的人關於誰應做家務事吵了一架。

2. show a sign：顯示出跡象

e.g. As her brother-in-law entered, she could hardly be said to show a sign of alarm.

當她妹夫進來時，幾乎看不出她驚慌的表現。

e.g. people do not touch or show any sign of affection in public.

人們在公共場合不互相接觸或者表達情感。

e.g. When you show sign of weakness, they will take advantage of that.

當你夠強時，只要稍露軟弱，他們便會趁機取利。

e.g. They heave great sighs, wail about a crisis and no longer show any sign of joy.

他們唉聲嘆氣，大叫危機，一點歡樂的影子也看不見了。

3. nobody but… ：沒有別人就是……，只有……

e.g. He seems to trust nobody but you.

他好像除了你以外，誰也不相信。

e.g. Nobody but the king can see her.

除了國王以外，沒有任何人能見到她。

e.g. Nobody but she knew it.

除她之外無人曉得。

It seems that…

e.g. It seemed that I can't throw off this cold.

看樣子我逃不過這一場傷風。

e.g. It seemed that his life was draining away.

他的生命似乎在枯竭。

e.g. It seemed that all the declarations, true or boastful, of German might have by no means convinced the Japanese envoy.

看來，關於德國威力的一切陳述，無論是事實還是誇張，都沒有使這位日本特使信服。

e.g. It seemed that everyone had written off their marriage even before it had been given a proper chance.

他們的婚姻出了問題，還沒等認真挽救，似乎大家都認爲已成分釵破鏡。

Yeah, you know that was nobody but she said some cruel words, which cut him the quick.

要點解析：整個句子是一個賓語從句，主句是you know，賓語從句that was nobody but she said some cruel words, which cut him the quick。

賓語從句是一個表語從句，主語是that was，從句是nobody but she said some cruel words, which cut him the quick。這裏的that是指代“他失落，鬱悶，傷心的情況”。

表語從句中含有一個非限定性定語從句：which cut him the quick。它起到補充說明的作用。在這裏補充說明“她說了這些殘酷的話語”給他帶來的後果。