“Frog's hair” 真是“青蛙的头发”吗？

换了季节，你是否考虑换一个“hair style”?，英文中，有几个和“hair”有关的有趣表达，今天就分享给大家~

hair raising

hair-raising means scary often in an exciting way.

从字面意思上看，hair-raising就是头发立起来。实际上，它形象的形容惊险的，惊心动魄的，吓得魂不附体的样子。而通常，这样的事物不是妖魔鬼怪，而是令人感到刺激的东西。没错，形容游乐场中的过山车最贴切。

同样的，Make your hair stand on end，让你的头发竖起来，也表示“sth. terrifies you”受到惊吓。

【例如】

That ride on the rollercoaster was a hair-raising experience!

那次坐过山车我吓得要命。

Her truck is a very large pickup which she drives at hair-raising speeds.

她开一辆大货，开起来时速度快得吓人。

fine as frog's hair

If something is as fine as frog's hair, it is very delicate and fine. The phrase is facetious as frogs do not possess hair.

如果说一件事物和青蛙的头发一样完美，那这个东西一定是“极好的”。

众所周知，青蛙并没有头发，形容一件事物和一样不存在的东西一样好，正是夸奖它好到了极致。突然想起一首诗：“此曲只应天上有，人间哪得几回闻。”

Davis's Diary of 1865 has this entry:

"I have a better flow of spirits this morning, and, in fact, feel as fine as frog's hair, as Potso used to say."

最早出现这个短语，要追溯到1865年。feel as fine as frog's hair是我们熟悉的修辞手法“明喻(Simile)”。总结起来， 'as x as y similes' 已经成为英文中非常常用的表达。而比作世界上并不存在的事物，夸张中带有幽默讽刺的成分，颇受欢迎。类似的短语还有‘as small as the hairs on a gnat's bollock’ 'as rare as rocking-horse shit' 等等。

by a hair's breadth

If a person escapes from some danger by a hair's breadth, they only just managed to avoid it. The breadth is the thickness of a hair, so they probably feel somewhat lucky because the margin between success and what could easily have been failure was so close.

如果说你离危险只有一根头发的距离，那就表示你刚刚好脱离危险。你所获得的胜利，离失败只有一根头发的距离。

所以by a hair's breadth表示差了一点儿，有惊无险，死里逃生的意思。

【例如】

We escaped by a hair 's breadth.

我们从九死一生中逃脱。

He escaped from death by a hair's breadth.

他死里逃生。

hair of the dog

If someone has a hair of the dog, they have an alcoholic drink as a way of getting rid of a hangover, the unpleasant effects of having drunk too much alcohol the night before. It is commonly used as a way of excusing having a drink early on in the day.

这个短语非常有趣。有些爱喝酒的人，喝醉了以后说，快速醒酒的办法就是继续喝酒。这和我们中国说的以毒攻毒有些类似。正是因为这样的醒酒办法太奇怪，所以造就了一个更奇怪的无厘头短语“hair of the dog” 狗的毛发，来表示“醒酒的方法”

【例如】

Of course, one of the oldest hangover cures is to simply drink more alcohol, a practice which has resulted in one of the stranger English idioms: “the hair of the dog that bit me.”

当然了，其中最古老的一种治疗宿醉的方法，就是喝更多酒，这种做法造成一个比较奇怪的英国俚语：“咬我的狗身上的毛”。

Forget hair of the dog, honey on toast or raw eggs - if you really want help overcoming ahangover - drink a cup of coffee with an aspirin.

忘记以毒攻毒、蜂蜜吐司、生鸡蛋这些偏方吧。如果你真想在酒醒后 不那么难受，试试喝杯咖啡，再吃片阿司匹林。