【畫「說」俚語 Fun 輕鬆】#20 The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree 有其父必有其子

延伸閱讀 >> 「開心死了~」8句「表達開心、興奮」的道地英文用法，學起來讓你秒變歪果仁

Jennifer: Did you see the paper this morning?
Lulu: No, I didn't. Anything interesting happened?
Jennifer: Yeah! Mark Yao was arrested last night for robbing a bank.
Lulu: I knew something like this would happen one day.
Jennifer: Why?
Lulu: He's always causing trouble. After all, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Jennifer: What?
Lulu: Mark's father has been in and out of jail for years. Mark's just like him.

珍妮佛: 妳今天早上看過報紙了嗎？
　露露: 沒有耶。發生了什麼有趣的事嗎？
珍妮佛: ：有啊！姚馬克昨晚因為搶銀行被逮捕了。
　露露: 我就知道這樣的事總有一天會發生。
珍妮佛: 為什麼？
　露露: 他老是惹麻煩。畢竟，有其父必有其子。
珍妮佛: 什麼？
　露露: 馬克的爸爸多年來常常進出監獄。馬克就跟他一個樣。

俚語精解

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." 字面上的意思是『蘋果落地，離樹不遠』、『有其父必有其子』，尤指『上樑不正下樑歪』。類似的用法還有：
a chip off the old block　　有其父必有其子
＊chip   n. 碎片
　block    n. 木塊

---

阿雄頭長癩痢又愛摳鼻孔，和父親簡直是同一個模子刻出來的。這時候我們就可以說：
He's just like his father. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
= He's just like his father. He is a chip off the old block.
= He's just like his father. Like father, like son.
（他和他父親一個樣。有其父必有其子。）

其他和 apple 相關的有趣用法如下：

the apple of someone's eye  掌上明珠；某人寵愛的人

---

老王一家人都是癩痢頭，只有小女兒長得白白淨淨，最得老王寵愛。這時我們就可以說：
The little girl is the apple of her father's eye.
（這個小女孩是她父親的掌上明珠。）

apples and oranges　 完全不同的兩件事

---

麥可‧傑克森曾是流行音樂界裡叱吒風雲的人物，而馬友友則是知名大提琴家。兩人風格截然不同，若有人硬要拿兩人相比，我們就可以這樣說：
They are apples and oranges.
= Comparing them is just like comparing apples and oranges.
（比較他們兩人就好像在比較蘋果和橘子。他們截然不同。）

tree 有下列常用俚語：
bark up the wrong tree　　 找錯對象

---

阿雄皮夾裡的 1,000元大鈔不見了，他氣沖沖地跑去找坐在隔壁的小吳理論。小吳很無辜，因為錢不是他偷的。他就可以這麼說：
I didn't steal your money. You're barking up the wrong tree.
（我才沒有偷你的錢。你錯怪我了。）　
阿雄因為沒錢，只好向媽媽借錢，媽媽很氣阿雄又把錢弄丟了，因此說：
You want to borrow money from me? You're barking up the wrong tree.
（你想要跟我借錢？你找錯人了。）

延伸閱讀 >> Eat for two「吃兩份」隱喻什麼? Bun in the oven別以為是「烤箱裡的小圓麵包」