一分鐘英語 第137期:Barking Up the Wrong Tree

Welcome to English in a minute.

歡迎來到《一分鐘英語》欄目！

When you hear this saying, it might make you think about dogs. Barking Up the Wrong Tree.

當你聽見這個表達時，你會想起狗。找錯對象

Dogs bark. But are these two friends talking about dogs, or people?

狗叫。但是這兩人在談論狗還是朋友?

Did you hear that Sam is trying to get a raise from his supervisor?

你聽說了嗎，山姆想要從他的主管那得到晉升。

Yes! He's "barking up the wrong tree". Only the manager can give him a raise!

聽說了。他找錯對象了。只有經理可以讓他晉升。

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"Barking up the wrong tree" means to place attention on the wrong thing.

找錯對象的意思是把注意力放錯了地方。

It comes from 19th century America when people often hunted with dogs.

這個短語來源於19世紀的美國，那時人們經常用狗打獵。

The dogs would hunt animals called raccoons.

獵狗會捕殺一種叫浣熊的動物。

They could escape up a tree, with the dog barking on the ground.

浣熊會爬上樹逃跑，而獵狗則在地上狂吠。

But, raccoons could also jump to other trees, leaving the dog to "bark up the wrong tree".

但是，浣熊也可能跳上別的樹，留下朝着錯誤的樹吠叫的獵狗。

And that's English in a minute.

以上就是今天的《一分鐘英語》欄目！