语言教学 | 鼠年说rat，这些有关“鼠”的英语俗语居然有这么多！
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征稿：二语写作
在西方国家，老鼠分为mouse和rat。
Mouse是指形态较小的老鼠或是田鼠；rat是指个头稍大的老鼠或者山鼠，鼠年用英语表达就是Year of the Rat。
下面我们来介绍一些和“老鼠”有关的英文表达~
Mouse除了表示老鼠外，
在英语中还有哪些意思呢？
英语里还可以用mouse表示“安静、害羞、胆小的人”。譬如有些女孩子常被描述成太mousy。Mousy除了可以表示“胆怯的、安静的”以外，还可以表示“毫无生气、难以形容的灰褐色。”
从二十世纪五十年代开始，在英语口语里，mouse指一个“没有多少女子气质的或不太谦逊的女孩”。
在美国英语里，mouse还可以指“拳击比赛中眼部被击伤后留下的青肿”。
近年来，随着互联网时代的到来，mouse又被赋予了新的含义——鼠标。
有关mouse的英语词组和俗语
如下：
poor as a church mouse
非常穷
rats desert a sink ship
抛弃、舍弃
play cat and mouse with sb.
欲擒故纵，（像猫抓耗子似地）欺负（折磨、虐待）某人
例句：
The policeman decided to play cat and mouse when he saw the woman steal the dress in the store.
When the cat's away the mice will play.
猫不在，老鼠成精。
用在工作场合，我们可以翻译成：上司不在，下属解放。
It is a poor mouse that has only one hole.
狡兔三窟
A speck of mouse dung will spoil a whole pot of porridge.
一粒老鼠屎，坏了一锅粥。
有关rat的英语词组和俗语
Rat除了表示“老鼠”外，还有“政党变节者”、“警察内奸”和“告密者”等意思。
To rat on意味着“告发、背叛”
Rat fink指的是“叛徒”。
接下来，我们介绍一些与rat有关的英语词组和俗语:
a pack rat：someone who collects things that they do not need.
囤积狂：好收集一大堆自己不需要的东西的人
例句：
For me there could be nothing worse than living with a pack rat.
对我来说人世间最痛苦的是莫过于同一个囤积狂共处一室。
a rat race
an unpleasant way in which people compete against each other at work in order to succeed.
（常作贬义）过于激烈的竞争；
例句
I'd love to get out of the rat race and buy a house in some remote part of the countryside.
我真想退出这激烈的龙争虎斗，到乡下偏僻的地方买栋房子住。
look like a drowned rat
to be very wet, especially because you have been in heavy rain.
落汤鸡：多是因为大雨而湿透
例句：
I had to cycle home in the rain and came in looking like a drowned rat.
我不得不淋雨回家，结果就成落汤鸡了。
rat-arsed：
very drunk
酩酊大醉
例句：
They came home completely rat-arsed.
他们回到家的时候已经完全烂醉如泥了。
smell a rat
to start to believe that something is wrong about a situation, especially that someone is being dishonest.
感觉不对劲儿：特指有人不诚实的情况下
例句
She smelled a rat when she phoned him at the office where he was supposed to be working late and he wasn't there.
他本该是在加班的，但她打电话过去的时候他却不在，她便觉得不对劲儿了。
If I don't send a picture, he will smell a rat...
如果我不寄出照片，他将有所察觉。
Though Lloyd George's behaviour seemed curious, Haig still did not smell a rat.
尽管劳埃德·乔治的行为古怪，黑格仍然没有任何怀疑。
a rat fink
an extremely unpleasant person, or someone who has given secret information about you to the police.
卑鄙小人；极端惹人厌的家伙
例句：
If I find the rat fink who informed on me, he won't live long enough to do it again.
要给我找出哪个卑鄙小人出卖我，他就活不长了。
rat on
If someone rats on you, they tell someone in authority about things that you have done, especially bad things.
告密;出卖
例句：
They were accused of encouraging children to rat on their parents.
他们被指控唆使儿童告发自己的父母。
其它的还有
a mall rat
爱逛购物中心的人,指那些老喜欢到购物中心去逛的年轻人（像老鼠那样在mall里钻来钻去）
rat-trap
捕鼠器
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