hem and haw

猶豫不決

The ‘You’ is a kind of wild animal which is by nature extremely suspicious.

“猶”是一種野獸，它天生性情非常多疑。

Whenever it hears a sound， it immediately becomes afraid， suspecting that there is a hunter nearby who is trying to catch it， or another animal that wants to harm it. It runs up into a tree and hides， peeking out its head and scanning all around.

不論它在甚么地方找食物，或是散步，一聽(tīng)到聲音就害怕。它懷疑有獵人要來(lái)抓它，或是別的野獸要來(lái)害它，就慌張地爬到樹(shù)上躲起來(lái)。再把頭探出來(lái)，偷偷地看。

After a while it climbs back down， looking here and looking there.

過(guò)了一會(huì)兒，又從樹(shù)上跳下來(lái)，在地上東張西望地看看那邊。

Only when it is sure that there is nothing around does it finally begin to relax.

一直到什么也沒(méi)看見(jiàn)，才定下心來(lái)。

But then pretty soon， it will again grow afraid， and running up into a tree， begin the same routine all over again.

但是過(guò)了一會(huì)兒，它又懹疑起來(lái)，就又爬到樹(shù)上，在樹(shù)上停一會(huì)兒，定定心，認(rèn)為沒(méi)有什么危險(xiǎn)了，才從樹(shù)上跳下來(lái)。

Time and time again， the ‘You’ repeats this， with the result that it spends half of its day running up and down trees， and wastes a lot of energy.

就這樣一次又一次地跳上跳下，跳了大半天，總是白費(fèi)力氣。

So， when someone is very hesitant， and cannot make a decision， others often say of this person that ‘the ’You‘ cannot decide.“

后來(lái)的人，因?yàn)?ldquo;猶”天生好疑心，不果斷，所以當(dāng)一個(gè)人處理事情時(shí)，沒(méi)有主意，不知道怎樣處理，就叫做“猶豫不決”。

英語(yǔ)中“猶豫不決”對(duì)應(yīng)的表達(dá)可以用“hem and haw”，在這兒hem和haw這兩個(gè)詞都是模擬人們?cè)陂_(kāi)口說(shuō)話(huà)前清理嗓子和鼻腔的聲音。我們時(shí)而會(huì)這樣做，尤其當(dāng)自己確定不了該說(shuō)什么才恰當(dāng)?shù)臅r(shí)候，更會(huì)如此。久而久之，人們就用hem and haw來(lái)描述猶豫不決或者躊躇不前了。

我們來(lái)看兩個(gè)例子。第一個(gè)例子說(shuō)到個(gè)十六歲的男孩正努力說(shuō)服爸爸讓他去考汽車(chē)駕照。我們知道美國(guó)不少地區(qū)規(guī)定至少得滿(mǎn)十六足歲才 能開(kāi)車(chē)。

I keep asking dad to let me get my license. But all he does is hem and haw and then end up saying he wants to think it over some more.

我一直要爸爸讓我去考到駕照，但是他總是支支吾吾地，末了又說(shuō)他還得想想再說(shuō)。

這位爸爸顯然是下不了決心，害怕剛夠開(kāi)車(chē)年齡的兒子開(kāi)車(chē)闖禍，所以這段話(huà)里的hem and haw意思是支吾其詞、拖延猶豫。

我們?cè)倏磦€(gè)也用上了hem and haw這個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)的例子。這回是新聞?dòng)浾咴谡f(shuō)一名參議員不敢直截了當(dāng)?shù)鼗卮鹩浾哧P(guān)于他在下屆改選中作何打算的問(wèn)題。

He keeps hemming and hawing about whether he’ll run for another term. But I‘d bet money that sooner or later he’ll run all right - where else could he get a job as good?

他對(duì)自己是否會(huì)爭(zhēng)取連任的事再三含糊其辭，但是我敢打賭他一定會(huì)參選。他能上哪兒再找到象這么好的工作呀?

這名參議員跟多數(shù)政界人物一樣，說(shuō)話(huà)經(jīng)常會(huì)給自己留有余地，不愿意把話(huà)說(shuō)定了。所以這里的hemming and hawing意思也是含糊其辭、不明確表示他的決定。