今天我們要講的美國習慣用語是:icing on the cake. 大家都知道,cake是蛋糕的意思, icing是用來在蛋糕上做點綴的糖霜。如果我們說一件事情是icing on the cake,那就是說好上加好。在中文里也可以說是錦上添花。

舉個例子吧,老板剛剛通知我,要給我升職提薪。這本來已經(jīng)是天大的好消息了,不一會兒秘書又過來告訴我,要給我換一件新裝修的辦公室,還帶窗戶呢!這就叫 Icing on the cake. Yippee!

中文里常說,好事成雙。讓我們聽聽下面這個女孩子遇到了什么開心的事。她的哥哥說,

例句-1:My little sister was so excited when her braces were taken off her teeth earlier than expected.? Even better, she got invited to the school dance by one of the most popular boys in her class the next day. Talk about icing on the cake! She had one great thing happen on top of the other.

他說: 我妹妹剛剛摘了整形牙套,比預定時間早了很多,讓她喜出望外。更美的是,第二天就有個班里很搶手的男孩子邀請她去參加舞會。這可真是錦上添花,好事不斷。

這個女孩子可真夠幸運的。這讓我想起我舅舅,他原以為自己長了腦瘤,后來查出來,長期頭疼是由于視力衰退引起的,配副眼鏡就解決問題了。The icing on the cake是,他跟眼鏡店的接待員一見鐘情,沒過多久,那個接待員就成了我的舅媽。他們兩人恩恩愛愛,已經(jīng)過了三十年。

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在美國,經(jīng)常會有各種各樣的抽獎比賽,我是從來不參加,因為知道自己贏不了。不過每次看到別人得獎,還是挺羨慕的。讓我們聽聽下面這個球迷最近交了什么好運。

例句-2:The baseball magazine I subscribe to ran a contest. And guess what? I received the grand prize: two tickets to the World Series. I couldn't be any luckier than if the Yankees were to win. Seeing my favorite team score another victory would be the icing on the cake!

他說:我訂閱的棒球雜志舉行了一項抽獎比賽。我得了頭獎,是兩張世界棒球大賽的入場券。如果揚基隊能贏,那就更棒了。能親眼目睹我最喜歡的棒球隊拿冠軍,無疑將是錦上添花。

你知道嗎,紐約揚基棒球隊總共贏過26次世界棒球大賽的冠軍,是北美職業(yè)棒球歷史上最多的。難怪會有那么多忠實的球迷。