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发表于 2008-6-8 22:32:51
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引用第53楼lfang于2008-04-11 21:02发表的 :
挑一个刺
北大英语系有一位美国女教师Marcelia Yeh(叶玛西)问同事吴兴华"straight as a die"是什么意思。吴转问我。我记得die是名词,是dice的单数。这个短语是"清一色"的意思。
die的复数是dice。
(as) straight as a die感觉和清一色的意思离的有些远;是非常直或者非常诚实的意思。想不太通这里的die最初指代的到底是什么东西。
非常感i谢lfang先生的提醒和质疑,以及parivraj 学士的指点迷津。
就这个问题也向人请教过,尚没有结果。
目前看,lfang的意见是对的。我也贴上一些“搜索成果”:
1.OED上的例句:
Examples from OED:
1530 Palsgr. 629 Make this borde as smothe as a dyce, comme vng dez.
1600 Hakluyt Voy. (1810) III. 256 Goodly fields as plaine and smoothe as any die.
c1710 C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 151 Ye tide was out all upon the sands at Least a
mile, wch was as smooth as a Die.
a1732 Gay Songs & Ball., New Song on New Similies, You'll know me truer than a die.
1877 Spry Cruise Challenger xiii. (ed. 7) 226 Arums climbing fifty feet up large
trees as straight as a die.
2.维基百科上的有关解释,附图一张,应该可以回答“这里的die最初指代的到底是什么东西。”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dice
Dice were probably originally made from the ankle bones (specifically the talus or "astragalus") of hoofed animals (such as oxen), colloquially known as "knucklebones", which are approximately tetrahedral. Modern Mongolians still use such bones, known as shagai, for games and fortunetelling. In addition to bone, ivory, wood, metal, and stone materials have been commonly used. Recently, the use of plastics, including cellulose acetate and bakelite, is nearly universal. It is almost impossible to trace clearly the development of dice as distinguished from knucklebones, because ancient writers confused the two. It is certain, however, that both were used in prehistoric times.
由图看,这个短语最初只能取smoothe光滑之意,因为最早的骰子并不“直”,甚至和“直”都沾不上边。
虽如此,也不排除李先生当时的回答另有所据,尚待查证。
另外,能否请教parivraj 学士,您的这个ID是什么含义啊?我google不来。 |
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