2016年雅思閱讀題型一點通(1)

　　cat's paw 被他人利用的人;受人愚弄者

　　cat's paw 也坐cat's-paw或catspaw，字面意思“貓爪子”，出典17世紀(jì)法國著名的寓言作家拉·封丹的《猴子與貓》。講的是狡猾的猴子哄騙頭腦簡單的貓兒，替它從爐火中取出烤熟的栗子來。貓兒應(yīng)命去做，結(jié)果貓爪子被火燒傷了，而取出的栗子卻被猴子吃光了。

　　追根嗍源，遠(yuǎn)在公元前3世紀(jì)的《伊索寓言》中就有這個故事，不過沒有題目。

　　cat's paw常用來比喻a person used as a tool by another;one who is used merely for the convenience of a cleverer or stronger person之意。按其內(nèi)涵，這個成語與漢語成語“為虎作倀”所比喻的意義相似，僅是動物的形象不同

　　cat's paw除了單獨做復(fù)合名詞使用外，還構(gòu)成to make a cat's paw of sb(利用某人做為工具或爪牙)

　　eg:It is easy for him to be used as a cat's paw of evil-doing.

　　I am afraid that he is making a cat's paw of you.

　　Fish in Troubled Waters渾水摸魚;趁火打劫;陷于混亂

　　Fish in Troubled Waters直譯是：“渾水里捕魚”，出自《伊索寓言·漁夫》

　　這篇寓言江的是：有個漁夫在河里張網(wǎng)捕魚，他把魚網(wǎng)橫欄在河道里，然后拿了一條縛著石塊的繩子，不停的拍擊河水，使泥沙泛起，河水渾濁，魚兒在慌亂中紛紛自投羅網(wǎng)，漁夫用這個方法捕得了好多魚。但住在附近的人指責(zé)漁夫說：“我們飲水全靠這條河，你把水搞得這么渾，叫我們到哪里去找清水飲用呢?” 漁夫回答說： “可是，我若不把水搞渾，那就非餓死不可了”

　　因此，人們常用to fish in trouble waters 比喻to try to win advantages for oneself from a disturbed state of affairs; to make use of sb's misfortune to serve one's own ends.并因此產(chǎn)生了諺語it’s good fishing in troubled waters(混水好摸魚)。

　　在英語中，to fish in troubled waters 也可寫成to fish in the muddy waters，而且water必須做waters。

　　eg:The man who interferes in South American politics is fishing in troubled waters

　　I refused to let them come here because i knew they only wanted to fish in troubled waters

　　Those who made large profits out of illegally selling rationed goods during World War II were fishing in troubled waters.