 thumb nose: 藐視；嘲笑
[ 2006-04-13 08:40 ]
在逃42年的意大利頭號通緝犯、黑手黨教父貝爾納多·普羅文扎諾于4月11日在西西里島被警方逮捕。普羅文扎諾是個頗具傳奇色彩的人物，他在上世紀90年代黑手黨遭重創后,開始接管黑手黨老大職位， 長期以來一直藐視意大利當局。
請看外電相關報道：Italy's reputed Mafia boss, Bernardo Provenzano, who had been on the run since 1963, was captured without resistance Tuesday at a farmhouse near Corleone, Sicily. The No. 1 fugitive practicallythumbed his noseat authorities for more than 40 years.
報道中的thumb (one's) nose是個固定搭配，其字面意思是“把拇指放在鼻子上以示不滿、蔑視或嘲笑”，用英語可以解釋為：“to express discontent, scorn or ridicule by placing the thumb on the nose”。舉兩個例子：
He thumbed his nose at the world and often complained.（他憤世嫉俗，常常滿腹牢騷。）
You thumb your nose at the big things, yet you take the trivial things so seriously . This contradiction is hilarious!（你正事兒上吊兒郎當，在小節上卻特較真兒，真是矛盾得可笑。）
另外，別小瞧了thumb，它可是大有學問！比如：thumb down和thumb up是一對反義詞組，分別表示“反對”或“支持”；而be all thumbs則用來形容“笨手笨腳表示”。
如果看到under one's thumb，您可否發揮點想象力、想一想如來佛的手掌呢？如：She's got her husband under her thumb.對了，under one's thumb表示“受制于某人”，這句話可翻譯為：她丈夫始終逃不了她的管制。
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