Chinese practice
To rein in the horse at the brink
Photo: Paul Cooper, Taipei Times
照片:台北時報記者古德謙攝
懸崖勒馬
xuan2 yai2 le4 ma3
「懸崖勒馬」這句成語出自一部早期的文獻,即元朝鄭光祖的雜劇《智勇定齊》,原作「臨崖勒馬」。書中原句為「呀!你如今船到江心補漏遲,抵多少臨崖勒馬纔收騎」,意即船開到江心,才要補漏,就像臨斷崖才知收住韁繩,讓馬停止前進,恐怕已經來不及了。因此,「懸崖勒馬」後來用以譬喻到了危險的邊緣而能及時醒悟回頭。
在英文中類似的片語是「in the nick of time」(在緊要關頭)、「just in time」(及時),或是「at the very last moment」(在最後一刻)。此處所用之「nick」一字,可追溯至十六世紀,它指的是木頭上的一個小刻痕或是刻度,用作測度時間,標記事情發生的時刻。「nick」一字現在已經沒有原來「the critical moment」(關鍵時刻)的意思,其原義只在這個片語中保留下來。這片語之後又進一步加上修飾語「of time」,雖然狹義而言它原本單純指的是「在某一確切時刻」,但這個成語現今多用來指最後關頭。 (台北時報記者林俐凱譯)
♦ 他本來已經要扣下板機了,幸好他懸崖勒馬,沒有鑄下大錯。
(He was just about to pull the trigger, but luckily held back right at the last moment, and didn’t make a huge error.)
♦ 幸好他們及時懸崖勒馬,停止濫墾濫伐,才沒有毀掉環境。
(Thank heavens they stopped the deforestation right at the last moment, and didn’t ruin the environment.)
英文練習
in the nick of time; just in time
The idiom 懸崖勒馬 comes from quite an early work, the Yuan dynasty play Zhi Yong Ding Qi by Zheng Dehui. In the play there is the line “呀!你如今船到江心補漏遲,抵多少臨崖勒馬纔收騎”, which means, “oh, it is like taking the boat to the middle of the river, and only then repairing the leaks, or racing to the edge of the cliff before realizing that you need to pull on the reins and bring your steed to a halt. As a result, the idiom 懸崖勒馬 is a metaphor for arriving at the brink of danger before realizing the risk, and deciding to pull back.
The equivalent English idiom is to do something “in the nick of time,” “just in time” or “at the very last moment.” The word “nick,” as used here, dates back to the 1500s, and refers to a small cut, or notch, made in wood, usually as a precise marker of time, the exact moment in which something is to happen. The meaning of “nick” as “the critical moment” is now obsolete, and survives only in this idiom. The idiom was later further elaborated with the qualifier “of time” and, whereas the strict sense of the first usage simply meant “at a precise moment,” the idiom now more usually refers to something that happens at the last possible moment. (Paul Cooper, Taipei Times)
♦ Ah, you’re here, and just in the nick of time. Breakfast is ready.
(啊,你來了,到得正是時候。早餐已經準備好了。)
♦ The police arrived just in the nick of time. Any later, and she would have been a goner.
(警察及時趕到。再晚一步的話,她就沒救了。)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into
There are several methods to prevent or slow down enzymatic browning in fruit. __3__ This lowers the pH level of the fruit tissue, causing the PPO to be far less active. Another method is to store the fruit in an airtight container or to wrap it tightly with plastic wrap. Doing this will reduce its exposure to oxygen. __4__ Although fruit that has undergone enzymatic browning may look less appealing, it is still safe to eat. However, by using one of these simple methods, you can enjoy fresh-looking fruit for a longer period. 有一些方法能避免或減緩水果的酶促褐變。其中一個有效的方式就是在切片水果的表面塗上酸性物質,像是檸檬汁或醋。這樣做能降低水果組織的酸鹼值,讓 PPO 更不為活躍。另一個方式是將水果存放在密封的容器內,或用保鮮膜將其緊緊包住。這樣做會減少水果與氧氣的接觸。快速蒸一下切片水果或將其短暫浸泡在滾水中也能使PPO失去活性,並終止 PPO 與空氣的作用。 雖然經歷酶促褐變的水果可能看起來較不吸引人,但仍然可以安全食用。然而,藉由採用這些簡單方法中的其中一個,你就能在更長的一段時間享用看起來新鮮的水果。 What Did You