俗话说“条条大路通罗马”,背诵
It never rains but it pours.
pour的本意是“倾,倒”,在这里是“倾盆大雨”的意思,就好像水从天上哗哗地倒下来一样。
平时很少下雨,一下就是倾盆大雨,要是被你赶上了岂不是很倒霉呢?形容这样悲惨的情况,就可以用It never rains but it pours.
来看两个例句:
We had nothing to do for weeks, then suddenly we have all this work to do: it never rains but it pours!
我们已经无所事事了几个星期,突然间有这么多工作要做,真是祸不单行啊!
I missed my train this morning, lost my wallet and spilt coffee all over myself. It never rains but it pours.
今天早上我错过了火车、丢了钱包、还把咖啡洒了一身。真是祸不单行啊!
有趣的是,世界上还真的有常年遭受倾盆大雨之患的地方,例如喀麦隆的Debundscha:
The village of Debundscha in the Republic of Cameroon is thought to be one of the wettest places on earth. Its location at the foot of Mount Cameroon, facing the South Atlantic Ocean, gives it a long rainy season and a very wet climate with about 10,300 millimetres of rainfall every year.
喀麦隆共和国的Debundscha是世界上最潮湿的地方之一。它坐落于喀麦隆山山脚,面朝南大西洋,也因此拥有了漫长的雨季和极度潮湿的气候,年降水量约为10300毫米。(10300毫米是什么概念呢?中国的淮河流域年降水量约为800毫米,广东、台湾等地的年降水量也不过2000毫米。)
关于pour一词,还有另外一个谚语:pour cold water on
这个短语的字面意思就是把冷水泼到……上,而它的实际意义也正如中文俗语“泼冷水”,即批评某人的想法或计划不切实际。
例句:I wanted to walk up the mountain but Jane threw cold water on the idea. She insisted on taking the cable car.
我想徒步登山,但简给我泼了冷水。她坚持坐缆车上山。