【英语习语】
at one's beck and call
【习语注释】
该习语中的beck其实是beckon的变体,表示“示意”,而call则用的是其本义,表示“呼叫”。整个习语表示“to be entirely subservient to someone; to be responsive to someone's slightest request”,即“完全屈从于某人;对某人哪怕是一点点的要求都会作出回应”,相当于汉语里的“随叫随到;唯命是从;任其使唤;任其摆布;俯首帖耳;随时待命”。
【习语运用】
Don't expect to have me at your beck and call.
休想随意摆布我。
I knew he was trying to wheedle me into being at his beck and call.
我知道这是他拉拢我,好让我俯首贴耳地为他效劳。
He regularly slips out of the White House to buy a burger, despite having a cordon bleu chef at his beck and call.
尽管拥有顶级厨师随时待命,但他经常会溜出白宫去买汉堡。
【闲话习语】
该习语较早于1611年出现在Aemilia Lanyer对的作品《Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum》中:
"The Muses doe attend upon your Throne,
With all the Artists at your becke and call;"
之后也出现了该习语的变体用法“beckon call”,虽然没有作为习语广泛使用,但直到最近仍然有人在用,如Phil Differ and Jonathan Watson在伦敦的《每日镜报》(Daily Mirror)中就有过这样的使用:
“He [football manager Dick Advocaat] told me what he was particularly looking forward to when he comes to Scotland and that's having the entire Scottish press at his beckon call and I promised he won't be disappointed.”
那么,你还知道英语里“随叫随到”的其它说法吗?欢迎留言探讨。
想要了解更多有关英语学习的经验、方法与资料,请扫码加微信好友详询:
联系客服