1. As good luck would have it

意思：幸運(yùn)的是?，F(xiàn)在這個表達(dá)通常簡略成 as luck would have it。

Origin: The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1600

Falstaff: You shall hear. As good luck would have it, comes in one Mistress Page; gives intelligence of Ford's approach; and, in her invention and Ford's wife's distraction, they conveyed me into a buck-basket.

出處：1600年《溫莎的風(fēng)流娘們兒》

福斯塔夫：您聽我說下去?？偹阄颐杏芯?，來了一位培琪大娘，報告我們福德就要來了的消息；福德家的女人嚇得毫無主意，只好聽了她的計策，把我裝進(jìn)一只盛臟衣服的簍子里去。

2. The game is afoot

意思：過程正在進(jìn)行。例句：球隊都到位了，哨聲響起，游戲已經(jīng)開始了。

Origin: King Henry IV, 1597

"Before the game is afoot, thou still let'st slip."

出處：1597年《亨利四世》："事情還沒有動手，你總是這樣冒冒失失地泄露了機(jī)密。"

3. Neither a borrower nor a lender be

意思：不要借債，也不要放貸。

Origin: Hamlet, 1602

Lord Polonius: Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

出處：1602年《哈姆雷特》

波洛涅斯：不要向人告貸，也不要借錢給人；因為債款放了出去，往往不但丟了本錢，而且還失去了朋友；向人告貸的結(jié)果，容易養(yǎng)成因循懶惰的習(xí)慣。

4. Fair play

意思：游戲規(guī)則合理，每個參與者機(jī)會平等。除了游戲之外，根據(jù)語境，比較普遍的意思是公平公正。

Origin: Shakespeare coined this phrase and used it in several of his plays; for example, The Tempest, 1610.

Miranda: Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle. And I would call it, fair play.

出處：莎士比亞創(chuàng)造了這個詞組，并且在多部戲劇中使用。比如1610年《暴風(fēng)雨》。

米蘭達(dá)：我說你作弄我；可是就算你并吞了我二十個王國，我還是認(rèn)為這是一場公正的游戲。

The term migrated into "fair dinkum", which is well-known as an Australian phrase. An Australian term meaning the same thing as "fair play" is the more recent "fair go".

該詞組后來又演變成了fair dinkum，后者澳大利亞常用。另外，還有一個意思相同的澳大利亞英語詞組fair go出現(xiàn)時間更晚一些。

5. Fancy free

意思：無拘無束。該詞組在20世紀(jì)又多了幾個單詞，變成了footloose and fancy-free。

Origin: A Midsummer Nights Dream, 1598

Oberon:

That very time I saw, but thou couldst not,

Flying between the cold moon and the earth,

Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took

At a fair vestal throned by the west,

And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow,

As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts;

But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft

Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon,

And the imperial votaress passed on,

In maiden meditation, fancy-free.

出處：1598年《仲夏夜之夢》

奧布朗：就在那個時候，你看不見，但我能看見持著弓箭的丘匹德在冷月和地球之間飛翔；他瞄準(zhǔn)了坐在西方寶座上的一個美好的童貞女，很靈巧地從他的弓上射出他的愛情之箭，好像它能刺透十萬顆心的樣子。可是只見小丘匹德的火箭在如水的冷潔的月光中熄滅，那位童貞的女王心中一塵不染，沉浸在純潔的思念中安然無恙。

6. Green-eyed monster

意思：嫉妒。

Origin: Othello, 1604

Iago:

O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;

It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock

The meat it feeds on; that cuckold lives in bliss

Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger;

But, O, what damned minutes tells he o'er

Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves!

出處：1604年《奧賽羅》

伊阿古：啊，主帥，您要留心嫉妒?。荒鞘且粋€綠眼的妖魔，誰做了它的犧牲，就要受它的玩弄。本來并不愛他的妻子的那種丈夫，雖然明知被他的妻子欺騙，算來還是幸福的；可是啊！一方面那樣癡心疼愛，一方面又是那樣滿腹狐疑，這才是活活的受罪！

7. Wild goose chase

意思：白費(fèi)力氣的尋找，徒勞無益的追求。

Origin: Romeo and Juliet, 1592

Romeo: Switch and spurs, switch and spurs; or I'll cry a match.

Mercutio: Nay, if thy wits run the wild-goose chase, I have done, for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five.

出處：1592年《羅密歐與朱麗葉》

羅密歐：要來就快馬加鞭；不然我就宣告勝利了。

茂丘西奧：不，如果比聰明像賽馬，我承認(rèn)我輸了；我的馬兒哪有你的野？說到野，我的五官加在一起也比不上你的任何一官。

The earlier meaning related not to hunting but to horse racing. A "wild goose chase" was a chase in which horses followed a lead horse at a set distance, mimicking wild geese flying in formation. Current use of the phrase alludes to an undertaking which will probably prove to be fruitless.

以前，該詞組的意思與賽馬相關(guān)，與狩獵無關(guān)。Wild goose chase曾指其他馬在追趕"頭馬"時隔著一段距離，與群雁飛翔的隊形相似?，F(xiàn)在這個詞組指一項可能是徒勞無益的任務(wù)。

8. Set one's teeth on edge

字面意思是引起讓人不適的牙疼。該詞組用來指使人不悅、厭煩。

Origin: Henry IV, 1596

Hotspur: Marry,

And I am glad of it with all my heart:

I had rather be a kitten and cry mew

Than one of these same metre ballad-mongers;

I had rather hear a brazen canstick turn'd,

Or a dry wheel grate on the axle-tree;

And that would set my teeth nothing on edge,

Nothing so much as mincing poetry:

'Tis like the forced gait of a shuffling nag.

出處：1596年《亨利四世》

呃，謝天謝地，我沒有這種本領(lǐng)。我寧愿做一只小貓，向人發(fā)出喵喵的叫聲；我可不愿做這種吟風(fēng)弄月的賣唱者。我寧愿聽一只干燥的車輪在輪軸上吱軋吱軋地磨擦；那些扭扭捏捏的詩歌，是比它更會使我的牙齒發(fā)癢的；它正像一匹小馬踏著款段的細(xì)步一樣裝腔作勢得可厭。