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标题: 有趣的英语典故 [打印本页]

作者: sarahlee 时间: 2013-4-19 14:26
标题: 有趣的英语典故

1）Mind your P's and Q's: 谨慎

　　你知道Mind your P's and Q's的来历吗？它的意思是be careful, behave yourself，也就是"小心、谨慎"。从17世纪晚期开始，Mind your P's and Q's被广泛使用，关于它的故事有很多。

　　其中一种说法和酒店有关。当时，在英国的一些酒吧里有两种盛酒器具：品脱和夸脱。品脱大，夸脱小；为了在客人们结账的时候不出差错，酒店侍者必须在酒店的小黑板上记下客人们用的到底是哪种容器，P代表pints，Q代表qauts。因此，酒店老板也不断的提醒他们：注意你们的品脱和夸脱。

　　另一种说法从课堂上来。小学生在拼写p和q时总是容易将它们混淆。P反着写就成了q，而q反过来写又变成了p。这两个字母不但顺序相邻，而且拼写相似，难怪老师要说Mind your P's and Q's。

再来听听下面这个故事。这种说法中P指的是pea cloth，一种粗呢布料；Q代表queue，指的是"（朝臣或水手们的）辫子"。年轻的贵族们总被提醒不要将假发上的粉末弄到粗呢夹克上；另一种解释是：水手们刚上船时，有一个惯例，就是将他们的辫子放在焦油里蘸一蘸，不过要小心把油弄到粗呢夹克上。

It originated in British pubs as an abbreviation for "mind your pints and quarts." Supposedly this warned the barkeep to serve full measure, mark the customer's tab accurately, etc.

It meant "mind your pea (jacket) and queue." Queues (pigtails) were often powdered, and wifeypoo was telling hubby to keep the cruddy kid stuff off his collar. An even dumber variation of this involves "pieds," French for "feet," and says minding your p's and q's means combing your hair and polishing your shoes, or something like that.

P and q stands for "prime quality." According to the Oxford English Dictionary, to be P and Q was a regional expression meaning top quality.

听完了这些故事，你也明白mind your P's and Q's的意思了吧？造个句子：She told her son to mind his P's and Q's at the banquet。（她让儿子在宴会上要注意自己的言行。）

作者: 轻轻地我来了 时间: 2013-4-20 17:24
有意思，谢谢分享啊

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