与五官相关的英语习语
EyeThe eyes are extremely precious to us. That is why we say “Mind your eye
(当心)!”when we reminding 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.
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 bit news.
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 pitchers 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.
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
one's nose at somebody or something (对某人或某物嗤之一鼻).
Lip
We have two lips: the upper lip and the lower lip. If one's two lips are
closed, one cannot speak. So it goes without saying that "don't open your lips
(不要开口)" means "don't 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 someone's lips (脱口而出).
Then the incident may become a piece of news that is on everybody's lips
(众口相传).
Tongue
We all know we cannot speak without the tongue. So the tongue is closely
related to speech. To hold one's 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 person's native
language.
"Don't 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, haven't you?"
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