昨天晚上,我去一个朋友家吃饭,饭后,朋友的太太给客大家表演了一场模仿秀。她不只模仿了一些明星,居然还模仿了我! 而且模仿得太像了! 不只举手投足,连声音都唯妙唯肖! 这种模仿功力让我想到了一个习惯用语,那就是:To a tee.
To a tee 就是完美恰如其分。我朋友太太的模仿秀达到了to a tee的完美程度。我想,下次假如我有事不可以来主持节目,完全可以让她来代班,观众朋友们八成听不出不同!
除去模仿秀,其它不少艺术工作也追求逼真、传神,让大家来听听下面这段话:
My wife suggested that we have a nice portrait painted of our family. So we sat for the artist and a couple of weeks later he told us hed finished. I had my doubts that the painting would come out really looking like us. But when he unveiled it, I was astonished! He captured our likenesses TO A TEE.
这段话意思是:我太太说,大家应该请人画个全家福,于是大家找了一位艺术家,让他给大家画。几个星期后,他告诉大家,作品已经完成。我本来还心有疑虑,感觉他或许会画得不像,但,当他把作品拿到大家眼前时,我完全惊呆了! 他完全抓住了大家的神态,画得太逼真了!
这个画家真有本事! 我对画画是一窍不通,不过,我先生说我在烹饪方面非常有天分。去年他过生日的时候,我照着食谱做了一次烤牛排,结果大获成功! 牛排的火候和味道都是to a tee恰如其分! 模样也和食谱上的照片相差无几!
做饭要学会火候,做人也是一样。譬如买衣服,就要买符合自己身材和风韵的。大家来听听下面这段话:
With my job interview coming up, I wanted to look my best. I decided it was worth spending extra money on a high-quality designer suit. After trying on several, I found one that fit me TO A TEE. It was as if a tailor had made it to my exact measurements.
这段话的意思说:我过几天要去一个工作面试,所以我想,我得以最好形象去见将来的雇主。我决定多花点钱,买一套高质量的名牌西装。在试穿了好几套之后,我终于找到了一套特别适合的。这衣服太合身了,简直像是裁缝为我量身定作的。
我想,这个年青人的面试肯定进行得很好,由于他听上去非常自信。而且,一套得体的西装可以给他的外表加分,能给雇主一个好印象,正所谓clothes make the man - 人靠衣装嘛! 衣服不只要大小适合,还要符合个人风韵。譬如,我妹妹是个很热情、外向的人,所以她的衣服大多是颜色鲜艳,款式潇洒的,我感觉,这类衣服suit her to a tee很合适她。
To a tee这个说法由来已久,据了解在17世纪时就有了。当时,这个短语中的tee指的是英文书写中细微的笔划。所以,to a tee,原意就是每一笔一划都精确。后来,就变成了恰如其分,刚刚好的意思。