1. Not playing with a full deck 失魂落魄、神志不清

Deck這里指的是一副撲克牌，所以not playing with a full deck從字面解釋就是在打一副缺牌的撲克。你想一副缺牌的撲克打得成牌嗎？當(dāng)然不成，這就跟缺心眼的人辦不成事兒一樣。當(dāng)然，not playing with a full deck這個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)是用作比喻意義的，表示不是處于完好無缺的狀態(tài)。

例句-1：

Have you noticed that old man who sits on a park bench all day talking to himself? I overheard him today and he's just talking nonsense. I'm afraid the poor guy isn't playing with a full deck.
你有沒有注意到整天坐在公園長(zhǎng)凳上喃喃自語(yǔ)的那個(gè)老人?我偶然聽到他說的全是毫無意義的廢話，恐怕那可憐的家伙有點(diǎn)神志迷糊了。

2. Not having both oars in the water 舉止笨拙、頭腦不平衡

Oar是劃船的槳。大多數(shù)非機(jī)動(dòng)船都需要在水里劃動(dòng)雙槳來推進(jìn)。如果劃船的人沒把雙槳都放下水中一齊劃動(dòng)，只有一把槳下水地亂劃一氣，那只船就會(huì)在原地團(tuán)團(tuán)轉(zhuǎn)，進(jìn)退不得，可見這個(gè)劃船人有多笨拙。當(dāng)然not having both oars in the water這個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)現(xiàn)在不只是用來說笨拙的劃船人，它的應(yīng)用范圍擴(kuò)大了。

例句-2：

Professor Blank is so absent-minded you think he doesn't have both oars in the water. But when you go to his class and listen to his lecture, you know why everybody says he's a genius in his field.
Blank教授老是那么心不在焉、丟三拉四的，你會(huì)覺得他頭腦不正常。但是如果你去上他的課，聽他的講座的話，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)他在自己的學(xué)術(shù)領(lǐng)域內(nèi)可真是才華出眾。