Is the juice worth the squeeze？

2018/08/16 04:12:37 網誌分類: 生活

16 Aug

        　　How much juice do you get by squeezing one orange? Certainly not enough to get a full glass of orange juice. You must squeeze several oranges to get a glass of orange juice. Shops that sell freshly-squeezed orange juice, of course, use juicers because they have to produce orange juice in bulk. A juicer is a machine that removes juice from fruit or vegetables.

        　　The word “bulk” has several meanings but used this way it means a large quantity. People who do not need orange juice in bulk or do not have a juicer have to squeeze orange juice by hand. Squeezing oranges by hand is hard work. Is the juice worth the squeeze if you have to work so hard to get a glass of orange juice?

        　　I seldom hear Hong Kong people use the expression “is the juice worth the squeeze?” But a former secretary of the US Air Force, Deborah Lee James, used it last week when she criticized President Donald Trump’s plan to establish a military Space Force by 2020 to compete with China and Russia in space. She was, of course, not talking about orange juice when she used the expression.

        　　Although the expression “is the juice worth the squeeze?” comes from squeezing juice from fruit, it is not normally used to discuss squeezing fruit. The expression means whether the end result is worth the trouble of achieving it. Critics such as James believe the end result of establishing a separate Space Force is not worth the trouble and huge cost.

        　　That’s why she used the expression “is the juice worth the squeeze?” which, in this context, means if the Space Force is worth the trouble and huge cost. The expression can be used in many ways. If you like your best friend’s girlfriend and want to compete with him to get her, your other friends can say: “Is the juice worth the squeeze?” Used this way, the word “squeeze” in the expression means betraying your best friend and the word “juice” means his girlfriend. Therefore, the expression in this context means whether it’s worth losing a best friend just to get his girlfriend.

        *****

        　　當你榨一個橙時，可以榨出幾多橙汁？一定不夠榨出一杯樠的橙汁啦，你一定要榨幾個橙才能有一杯橙汁。當然，那些售賣鮮榨橙汁的店舖是用果汁機（juicers）的，因為他們要大量（bulk）製造橙汁。A juicer 就是果汁機，能榨出水果或蔬菜的汁。

        　　Bulk有幾個意思，這裏則解作大量的。那些不需要大量（bulk）橙汁或沒有果汁機（juicer）的人，便需要用手榨橙汁。用手榨橙汁是個很費勁的工夫。若你要那麼費勁才能獲得一杯橙汁，那杯橙汁又是否值得你去擠（Is the juice worth the squeeze）？

        　　我很少聽到香港人用“is the juice worth the squeeze?” 這個習語，然而，美國前空軍部長德博拉．李．詹姆斯上星期就用了這句話，去批評特朗普計劃於2020年前成立軍事的太空部隊，以冀在太空與中國和俄羅斯較量。她用這個習語時，當然不是講橙汁啦。

        　　雖然習語“is the juice worth the squeeze?”是來自榨果汁，但通常都不會用來討論榨汁。這個習語是指，到底某事是否值得去做，其結果是否抵得上為了促成事件而付出的勞心勞力。批評者如詹姆斯便認為，建立另一個太空部隊的最終成果，根本抵不上過程中的費勁與龐大的支出。

        　　因此她用上習語“is the juice worth the squeeze?”，在這個語境下是指，是否值得為了太空部隊而這麼費勁，花上如此龐大的成本？這個習語可以有許多用法。若你愛上了你摯友的女友，想跟他競爭以贏得那女孩的芳心，你另一個朋友就可以說：“Is the juice worth the squeeze?”在這裏，習語中的“squeeze”（擠壓）是解作背叛你最好的朋友，而“juice”（果汁）則是指他的女友。因此，這個習語在這裏是指，為了得到你好友的女友而失去一個最好的朋友，是否值得呢？

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

回應 (0)

我要發表

Is the juice worth the squeeze？

網誌分類

最新網誌

月曆