有趣的每日一句

今天的每日一句是這麼寫的：Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. (Phyllis Diller) 為人父母的對這話應該是再同意不過了吧？「孩子還在長大時要整理房子，就好比在下雪天剷除走道上的積雪」。shovel就是鏟子，當動詞就是「拿鏟子鏟東西」。美國人家到了冬天門口、車道若積雪，便要拿鏟子shovel their driveway/sidewalk。若是嚴重到下起暴風雪(blizzard)，公司學校往往停班停課，這時便要出動鏟雪車(plow/snow truck)。但正如我曾提到，「對平凡單字需有不凡認識」的好奇心，你可知道shovel還可以很形象化地用在We shoveled food into our mouths as fast as we could.這樣的句子中？或許可譯為把食物大口「扒」進嘴裡吧？聯想力再豐富一點，你是否想到gobble或gobble down（狼吞虎嚥）這些字呢？