一分钟英语 第10期:Burn The Midnight Oil 挑灯夜战

Welcome to English in a Minute.

欢迎收听本期的《一分钟英语》。

Sometimes, American English is confusing and hard to understand, like: burn the midnight oil.

有时候，美语有些糊里糊涂的，很费解，就比如：burn the midnight oil（挑灯夜战）。

Everybody knows Americans burn a lot of oil, but is there a special oil that they burn in the middle of the night?

大家都知道美国人要烧掉很多油，但是这里是有一种专门在晚上烧的油么？

I have big exam tomorrow.

我明天有场重要的考试。

Are you prepared?

你准备了么？

No, not at all! I have to burn the midnight oil, I need to do well on this exam.

没有，没怎么准备。我今天不得不挑灯夜战（burn the midnight oil），我需要取得一个不错的成绩。

Americans are not burning a special oil reserved for the middle of the night, they are just staying up very late.

美国人不是晚上才去烧什么特别的油，他们只是要熬夜到很晚。

This actually makes sense if you think of a candle, or a lantern, and you have a lot of work to do, that may take you all night.

如果你想想蜡烛、提灯，就能够明白短语的意思了。有很多工作要做，这也许会花费整晚的时间。

This is a phrase everybody will understand, and you can use this phrase when you have a lot of work to do, and not that much time to do it in.

这是一个众人皆知的短语。当你有很多事情要做或者没有太多时间做某事的时候，你就可以使用这个短语。

And that's English in a Minute.

以上就是本期的《一分钟英语》。