習(xí)語搜索： Sweeten the pot
The cards are stacked against you

邊逛邊講： 美國人最普遍的紙牌游戲就是撲克,撲克牌游戲就像牛仔褲一樣具有美國特色。那末，撲克牌游戲是怎么玩的呢？很簡單，每次

游戲開始，在發(fā)牌前，每個(gè)參加玩撲克的人都在牌桌中間放同等數(shù)目的錢。發(fā)牌以后，每個(gè)人再下賭注。發(fā)牌前每個(gè)人拿出來的錢和發(fā)牌后

下的賭注都?xì)w游戲的獲勝者。由于撲克牌游戲在美國人當(dāng)中十分普遍，因此有許多牌桌上的語言逐漸就成了日常用語。例如：Sweeten the

pot。Sweeten the pot在牌桌上的意思是把賭注的總數(shù)加得高一些，這樣可以對(duì)玩游戲的人更有吸引力。可是，這個(gè)詞匯已經(jīng)變成一個(gè)日常

用語了。它的意思是：為了使一個(gè)提議更有吸引力而在原有的條件基礎(chǔ)上再增加一些對(duì)對(duì)方有利的條件。我們來舉個(gè)例子看看：

例句-1: "Miss Smith didn't want the job until the company sweentened the pot by offering her a higher salary and the use of a company car."

這句話的意思是："施密斯小姐本來不想要那份工作的。后來，那家公司提高了給她的工資，還給她一輛公司的汽車用。這樣，她才接受了那個(gè)工作。"

下面一個(gè)例子是關(guān)于房地產(chǎn)生意的：

例句-2: "They've built so many new office buildings here that they have trouble renting out all the space. So some landlords sweeten the pot; they offer a company six months free rent if it signs a three-year lease."

這句話翻譯到中文的意思就是："他們?cè)谶@兒蓋了那末多的辦公樓,現(xiàn)在都租不出去。所以，有的房產(chǎn)主就設(shè)法增加一些吸引人的條件。他們對(duì)一個(gè)公司說，要是這個(gè)公司和他們簽訂一個(gè)三年的租房合同，他們就可以免交半年房租。"

另外一個(gè)來自玩撲克牌游戲的詞匯是：The cards are stacked against you。The cards are stacked against you。這句話是說，你處于很不利的情況下，成功的機(jī)會(huì)很少。下面的例子是說一個(gè)人受了騙:

例句-3: "Last night I got into a poker game with these men I met in the hotel bar. And I lost a thousand dollars before I realized the cards were stacked against me. All I could do was pick up the money I had left and walk away."

這人說："昨晚上，我和幾個(gè)在旅館酒吧間里碰到的人一起玩撲克游戲。直到我輸了一千多美元后，我才忽然省悟到我想要贏他們恐怕是不可能的。我只好拿起剩下的錢就走了。"

下面我們要舉的一個(gè)例子是說，有的時(shí)候形勢(shì)就是對(duì)你不利，但是毫無辦法。

例句-4: "I really wanted to try out for the basketball team when I was in college. But the cards were stacked against me: I'm only five feet six inches tall and everybody else was six-two or even taller."

這個(gè)人說："當(dāng)我上大學(xué)的時(shí)候，我真想?yún)⒓踊@球隊(duì)。可是，那不可能，因?yàn)槲疑砀咧挥幸幻琢啵渌硕贾辽儆幸幻装恕?quot;

OK， stop here，have a good rest.