(反复地)打,击;碰撞,撞击;发出;踏出,开辟;抢先;避免,逃避
beat a dead horse
释义: 做徒劳无益的事;白费力气
词义溯源: 打“死马”,引申为做徒劳之事
例句:
Look, you're beating a dead horse. This issue was settled in last night's meeting.
译文: 你看,你这是在白费力气。这个问题在昨晚的会议上就解决了。
beat a path to one's door
释义: 拜访者络绎不绝,门庭若市
词义溯源: 踏出一条路到某人门前
例句:
Tom thinks he is so famous now that agents will be beating a path to his door to get a contract with him.
译文: 汤姆觉得自己现在这么出名,经纪人肯定会争先恐后地到他家来跟他签合同。
beat a retreat
释义: 逃避,退却
词义溯源: 发出撤退信号
例句:
Several students scaled the embassy's gate, but beat a retreat when armed riot police came after them.
译文: 一些学生爬上了大使馆的大门,但是在武装防暴警察追过来之后就撤退了。
beat around/about the bush
释义: 顾左右而言他,绕圈子
词义溯源: 击打树丛边缘
例句:
Politicians are notorious for beating around the bush when they want to avoid answering a question.
译文: 众所周知,政客们在想要回避某一问题的时候都喜欢绕圈子。
beat one's brains out
释义: 猛烈殴打,打死
词义溯源: 把脑子都打出来
例句:
Greg's father warned him that if he ever caught him using drugs he would beat his brains out.
译文: 格雷格的父亲警告他,如果抓到他吸毒,就要打死他。
beat one's gums
释义: 长时间地唠叨,说废话
词义溯源: 牙龈上下碰撞
例句:
While the speaker was beating his gums, half of the audience got up and left.
译文: 演讲者说的都是空洞无物的话,所以一半听众都起身离开了。
beat/bang one's head against a brick wall
释义: 徒劳无益
词义溯源: 用头撞墙
例句:
Go ahead and try if you want to, but I think you're just beating your head against a brick wall.
译文: 如果你愿意的话就去试试吧,但我认为你只是白费力气。
beat/knock sb. down to size / beat sb. down
释义: 让某人变谦逊,灭其气焰
词义溯源: 把气势打下来
例句:
I wish someone would beat that arrogant guy down to size someday.
译文: 我希望有一天有人能够灭了那个傲慢的家伙的气焰。
beat sb. to the punch/draw
释义: 抢先行动
词义溯源: 抢先出拳
例句:
His company beat the competitor to the punch by introducing the new technology in their mobile phones six months ahead.
译文: 他的公司先下手为强,比竞争对手提前六个月推出手机新技术。
beat sb. up / beat up sb.
释义: 痛打,殴打
词义溯源: 重重地打
例句:
First Walter beat Ed Smith up for saying something bad, then Ed's older brother beat up Walter.
译文: 先是沃尔特因为埃德说了一些不好听的话而暴打了他一顿,然后埃德的哥哥又把沃尔特揍了一顿。
beat sth. into one's head
释义: 灌输,反复使人记住
词义溯源: 捶打进脑中
例句:
What do I have to do to make you understand? Do I have to beat it into your head?
译文: 我怎么才能让你明白呢?是不是得把它塞到你脑袋里?
beat the band
释义: 快速地,迅猛地
词义溯源: 打得连乐队都追不上
例句:
My secretary typed the letter to beat the band, finishing it in less than five minutes.
译文: 我的秘书打字非常快,不到五分钟就把信打完了。
beat the gun
释义: 抢在最后时刻前完成
词义溯源: 比枪声先行动(源于体育)
例句:
If we work on it all night tonight, we might just beat the gun.
译文: 如果我们今天晚上熬夜做的话,到时应该可以正好完成。
beat the living daylights out of sb.
释义: 狠揍,毒打
词义溯源: 打出某人的生命力
例句:
Mother used to beat the living daylights out of us if she caught us fighting each other.
译文: 如果妈妈发现我们在打架的话,她会狠狠地揍我们。
beat the pants off sb.
释义: 痛打某人
词义溯源: 打到连裤子都掉
例句:
Heavyweight champion Stuart Vogel is going to beat the pants off Boris Ivan.
译文: 举重冠军斯图尔特·沃格尔要把鲍里斯·伊万打个落花流水。
beat the rap
释义: 逃避惩罚
词义溯源: 躲避法律指控
例句:
High-priced lawyers helped Mr. Simpson beat the rap.
译文: 辛普森先生花重金聘请律师帮自己逃脱了刑事责任。