人体部位和英语习语

1. Head

The head is thought to be the most important part of the human body. So a leader is often compared to a head(首脑). Thus we have Head of State or the head of a delegation.

The head is where the brain is located. It is naturally associated with ideas and intelligence. Very often, we need other peoples ideas andopinions when we want to do something well. This is because two heads are better than one.

头被认为是人体最重要的部位，因此领导者常常称为“首脑”（head），于是就有了Head of State（国家元首）或the head of a delegation（代表团团长）的说法。

头是脑的所在处。它自然跟思想和智慧相联系。很多时候，我们希望工作做得妥当，就需要听别人的意见，正所谓“一人计短，二人计长”啊！（Two heads are better than one.）

2. Eye

The eyes are extremely precious to us. That is why we say “Mind your eye!” when we remind someone to be careful.

Not only human beings and animals have eyes, many things also have eyes “the eyes of a ship”, “the eye of a needle”, “the eye of a typhoon”, and so on.

眼睛极其宝贵，因此我们叫人“当心”就说Mind your eye！

不仅人和动物有眼，很多事物都有“眼”，例如“锚索眼”（the eyes of a ship）、“针眼”（the eye of a needle）、“台风眼”（the eye of a typhoon）等等。

3. Ear

The ear is the organ of hearing. A piece of light music is easy on the ear(悦耳动听). We are usually all ears(专心聆听) for it.

When they think somebody is overhearing, English people use either of the two proverbs: Walls have ears(隔墙有耳) and Pitchers have ears(壶罐有耳). They also think that little children have big ears(小孩子耳朵尖). Nice boys and girls respect other people. They will not secretly listen to others private conversations.

提到听的器官我们就会想到耳朵，一段轻音乐悦耳动听(is easy on the ear),同时我们经常专心聆听(all ears)。

当我们认为一些人在偷听的时候，英国人总会用这样两个词语：隔墙有耳(Walls have ears)和壶罐有耳 (Pitchers have ears)。同时他们也认为小孩子耳朵尖。对于好孩子来说，他们总是尊重其他人，不会去偷听别人的谈话。

4. Nose

The English phrase “face to face(面对面)” and its Chinese counterpart(对应) are exactly the same. But English people, to express the same idea, can say nose to nose instead. There is no such substitute in Chinese.

The word nose appears in many idioms. Here are two which are quite similar to their Chinese equivalents: lead somebody by the nose(牵着某人的鼻子走) and turn up ones nose at somebody or something(对某人或某物嗤之以鼻).

English people can say “as plain as the nose in ones face(一清二楚)” to mean “very obvious”. May be to them, the nose is the most conspicuous part of the face.

英语成语face to face(面对面)和汉语是相对应的，但是对于英国人来说当他们想表达相同的观点时，他们会用nose to nose来代替，在汉语中你是找不到这种表达的。

在许多成语中你会看见“nose”这个词下面两个短语和汉语的表达是相对应的：牵着某人的鼻子走(lead somebody by the nose)对某人或某物嗤之以鼻(turn up ones nose at somebody or something)。

当英语人说“as plain as the nose in ones face”时，他们的意思是指“一清二楚”，也许是因为他们认为鼻子是脸上最明显的部位。

5. Lip

We have two lips: the upper lip and the lower lip. If ones two lips are closed, one cannot speak. So it goes saying that “dont open your lips(不要开口)” means “dont speak”.

His lips are sealed. Are his lips really stuck together by wax or glue? No, his lips are sealed when asked about something that he must keep secret. Sometimes a top secret is betrayed because it has escaped someones lips(脱口而出). Then the incident may become a piece of news that is on everybodys lips(众口相传).

我们有两个嘴唇：上嘴唇和下嘴唇。当我们把嘴唇合上时是不能讲话的，所以当我们说“dont open your lips”是指“不要说话”。

他的嘴被封上了。难道他的嘴唇真的被胶水给封上了吗，不是这样子的，只是当它想保守秘密的时候，不开口罢了。也许有时我们不小心脱口而出时，秘密就被泄漏了。当人们众口相传时，谣言也就变成了事实。

6. Tongue

We all know we cannot speak without the tongue. So the tongue is closely related to speech. To hold ones tongue(保持沉默) means “to keep silent”. A person who has too much tongue(太多嘴) is disliked by all, for he is too talkative. Mother tongue is not the tongue of a mother: it is a persons native language.

“Dont you have a mouth below your nose(你鼻子底下不是有张嘴吗)?” The Chinese say so to blame a person who did not say what he should have said. But this not the right way to express the idea in English. English people would say, “You have a tongue in your head, havent you?”

人们都知道没有舌头我们没法说话，所以舌头是与我们讲话最密切的一个部分。“To hold ones tongue”是指保持沉默，如果一个人太多嘴的话，大家会很讨厌他的。“Mother tongue”的意思不是指”妈妈的舌头“，而是指一个人的本国语言。

“你鼻子底下不是有张嘴吗?”当中国人说这句话的时候，无疑是在责备一个人，当他应该说话的时候却“闭口不谈”，而在英语中你想表达这个含意却不是对应的。英国人会这样说：“You have a tongue in your head, havent you?”

7. Face

Face has to do with the idea of respect and dignity both in Chinese and English. You lose your face(丢面子) if you fail again and again, but a decisive victory will save your face(挽回面子) after all your failures.

When you feel unhappy, you pull a long face(拉长脸). The idea is conveyed in Chinese in the same way. But “about face(向后转)” does not refer to the face. It is a military order to turn round and face in the opposite direction. It is the exact equivalent of “about turn”.

脸，面和“面孔”、“面子”、“尊严”相关，中英文都一样。你一再失败，就“丢面子”（lose face），经历多次挫折之后取得最后成功也就“挽回面子”（save face）。

你不高兴的时候会pull a long face。中文也是说“拉长脸”。不过about face！却不指脸孔，而是步操时的口令，意思是“向后转”，另一个短语about turn跟它的意思完全一样。

8. Shoulder

The shoulders can bear heavy things. Your father has a great responsibility for the family on his shoulder. When faced with difficulty, the family should stand shoulder to shoulder(肩并肩) to overcome it. You should not turn a cold shoulder(不理睬) to your family members. Nor should you give your friends the cold shoulder(冷落朋友). Both expressions mean treating others coldly.

肩膀是用来扛沉重物体的，在你的父亲的肩上担着全家人的责任。当遇到困难时，全家人也会肩并肩地来克服它。你不应该不理睬你的家人，也不应冷落朋友。

9. Back

A good host is hospitable to his guests. But, if a guest is tiresome, the host is glad to see his back(他离开).

If your friend has done something really well, you may give him a pat on the back(轻轻拍背部) to show your appreciation.

If you turn your back on somebody(不理睬他人), you mean you do not like making friends with that person.

非常好客的主人无疑是个好主人，如果客人感到很疲倦，主人会很高兴地看到他离开。

如果你的朋友很出色的完成一件事，你会轻轻拍拍他的背来表示你对他的欣赏。

如果你不理睬他人，这意味着你不喜欢和这个人做朋友。

10. Heart

The heart is an extremely important organ inside the chest. It usually stands for something important or the centre of something, for example, the heart of the matter(问题的核心) or the heart of mystery.

Many other expressions make use of the word “heart”. A lover can be called a sweet heart(情人). The Purple Heart(紫心徽章) is a medal given as an honor to American soldiers wounded in battle.

If your friend is in trouble, you may encourage him by saying “Dont lose heart(不要灰心).”

心是胸腔内极其重要的器官，因此常常喻为事物的重要或核心部分，例如问题的核心（the heart of the matter），秘中之秘（the heart of a mystery）。

还有许多别的英语习语也用上了heart这个词。情人可以叫做sweet heart。Purple Heart是美国政府颁发给在战争中受伤士兵的紫心勋章。

如果你的朋友遇到困难，你可以鼓励他说：“不要灰心（dont lose heart），鼓起勇气吧！”

11. Stomach

The stomach is naturally related to ones appetite. If you dislike heavy food, you have no stomach for it(反胃). The word is also related to ones interests or likings. If you find something boring or vulgar, you have no stomach for it, either. Bad food turns your stomach. Similarly, your stomach turns at a bad joke.

Stomach can also be a verb. Look at this example: “How could you stomach(忍受) such rude words?” Apparently, stomach here can be replaced by “tolerate”.

胃自然和食欲有关。如果你不喜欢难消化的食物，那么你对它就没有胃口。“胃”这个词也和兴趣或嗜好相联系。如果你觉得什么事情无聊或庸俗，你也就对它毫无兴趣（have no stomach for it）。坏食品叫你反胃，而下流的笑话也同样会令你反胃。

stomach也可以用作动词。看看这个例子：How could you stomach such rude words？（你怎能忍受这样粗暴的言词？）显然，这里的stomach可以用tolerate或put up with来代替，而意思没有任何改变。

12. Arm

Every person has two arms: the right arm and the left arm. The right arm is usually stronger, so we call a good helper the right arm(得力助手).

We all know an arm is not very long. But when you keep someone at arms length(保持距离), the distance is long enough. For that means you do not like that person and you try your best to avoid him or her. We should indeed keep the bad friends at arms length.

每个人都有两双手臂：左臂和右臂，而右臂通常较强壮，因此，我们常以“right arm”来称得力的助手。

我们都晓得，手臂是相当短的，不过，当你和别人保持“一臂之距”（keep somebody at arms length）时，却不是很短的了。因为那意味着你不喜欢那个人而且避免和他（或她）亲近。我们对那些损友，确实是应该保持距离的。

13. Hand

Quite a number of phrases formed from the word hand are very similar to their Chinese counterparts. Here are some obvious examples: a fresh hand(新手), short of hands(人手短缺), hand in hand(手拉手) and wash ones hands of something(洗手不干了). But do not always take this for granted. Study these examples and you will understand.

He lives from hand to mouth(He has just enough money to live on). We gave them a big hand(We gave them lots of applause).

英语用hand这个词构成的许多短语也和中文的用语十分相像。明显的例子是：a fresh hand（新手），short of hands（人手短缺），hand in hand（手拉手，联手合作），wash ones hands of something（洗手不干）。不过，我们不要以为总是这样。

看看这两个例子你就会明白了：他的收入仅够糊口。（He lives from hand to mouth.）我们对他们报以热烈的掌声。（We gave them a big hand.）

14. Finger

How many fingers does each of your hands have? Now lets name them in English from the smallest: the little finger, the ring finger, the middle finger, the index finger and thumb.

Each finger has its own part to play. If your fingers are all thumbs(笨拙), that is too bad. That means you are very clumsy.

一只手有几只手指？“五只”，你肯定会这样回答。现在，让我们用英文从最小那只数数看：the little finger（小指）、the ring finger（无名指）、the middle finger（中指）、the index finger（食指）,还有一只叫什么呢？叫thumb（大拇指）。

每只手指都有自己的作用。如果your fingers are all thumbs，那可就糟了。这话说的意思是指你很笨拙。

15. forehead

Generally, a young person has a smooth forehead while an old person has a wrinkled one. When you think hard or feel displeased, you may knit your forehead.

Some people think that a person with a broad forehead must be intelligent while a person with a low forehead must be stupid. In fact, ones intellect can be trained and sharpened. Keep exercising your brain and you will become cleverer and cleverer.

对于前额一般来说，年轻人的前额光滑而老年人的前额起皱。当你苦苦思索或是感到不快的时候，你会皱起眉头。

有些人认为，前额宽的人聪明，前额低的人愚蠢。事实上，一个人的才智是可以靠培养和磨炼而成。坚持用脑，你就会越来越聪明。