美國習慣用語 第756:忍氣吞聲
我昨天跟同事爭得面紅耳赤。美國聯邦最高法院明明是11位大法官，可她非說只有9個。我還理直氣壯地說人家連這點基本常識都沒有。
結果一查，才知道，原來真是9個，是我自己錯了。這也讓我想起一個可以跟大家分享的習慣用語，叫：swallow one's pride. Swallow是吞嚥，pride是驕傲。
從字面上看，swallow one's pride，意思是吞下自己的驕傲，引伸爲放下自尊，忍氣吞聲。
本來嘛，最高法院明明只有9個大法官，我卻很無知地非說有11個，最後也只好忍氣吞聲地承認自己錯了。You had to swallow my pride and admitted that I was wrong. Yes, I did.
在下面這個例子裏，意大利廚師羅伯特好象跟我有類似遭遇。不過人家處理得可比我強多了。我們一起聽。
例句-1：Chef Roberto has received almost every honor for his Italian cooking. Yet, despite his years of experience, he accidentally cut his finger on live television last week. He could have pretended that nothing had happened. Instead he swallowed his pride, joking that even he makes mistakes from time to time.
這段話意思是：羅伯特廚師憑藉一手意大利廚藝，幾乎贏過所有烹調比賽。儘管他有如此豐富的經驗，上星期還是不小心在電視上切破了手指。他本來可以裝得若無其事，可他沒有這樣做，而是放下自尊心，開玩笑說，就連他，也會時不時犯點兒錯誤。
或許，這樣做反而更能得到大家的尊重。不久前，日本豐田汽車公司發現，已經出廠的數百萬輛汽車都有毛病，於是， They swqllowed their pride，宣佈召回這些車輛，免費檢修。
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我打電子遊戲，早就不是八歲女兒的對手了，認輸成了家常便飯，但是下面例子裏這個當舅舅的，下棋輸給七歲的侄子，卻感到十分意外。讓我們聽聽他是怎麼說的：
例句-2：When my seven-year-old nephew begged me to play chess, I indulged him. My plan was to let him take out a few of my pieces to build his confidence. Imagine when he checkmated me within four moves! That was humiliating. I'm not used to swallowing my pride, but I had to admit defeat and congratulate him.
這個人說：我七歲的侄子求我跟他下棋，我同意陪他下一盤。我本來打算讓他幾個子兒，幫他建立點自信心。誰知道，他只走了四步，就將了我的軍。太丟人了。我雖然不習慣忍氣吞聲地放下自尊，但還是不得不認輸，並向他表示祝賀。
其實這不算什麼。我有個朋友，準備求婚的前一天，被女朋友甩了，He had to swallow his pride and return the engagement ring. 他不得不放下自尊，回到珠寶店，把訂婚戒指退掉。
