美國習慣用語 第842:cross that bridge when one comes to it
我的小侄女很喜愛動物，而且做事很認真。最近她宣佈，長大後要當獸醫! 我們都覺得這個職業蠻適合她的，不過她父母並不打算現在就開始爲她成爲獸醫做任何投資和計劃，因爲孩子畢竟還小，很可能以後改主意! 她父母的這種做法讓我想到一個習慣用語。那就是: cross that bridge when one comes to it.
Cross that bridge when one comes to it, 字面的意思是“到了橋邊再過橋”，其實就是指“等事情發生了再應對”，“船到橋頭自然直”。我侄女的父母就是這個態度。They don't want to start thinking about how to finance their daughter's veterinarian training yet. They prefer to cross that bridge when they come to it, 他們不要現在就開始爲孩子上獸醫學校準備學費，而是打算等孩子真上了再說。
在下面的例子中，有個女孩爲自己的未來做打算，嗯，其實也可以說是沒做什麼打算。我們來聽一聽:
例句-1：Carrie is determined to move to New York City next fall. At the moment, she doesn't know what she's going to do for a job once she gets there. Still, she's not worried. She says that she will cross that bridge when she comes to it. The way she figures it, she'll be able to find work after she gets settled.
這段話意思是說：Carrie下決心秋天到了就搬到紐約去住。現在，她還不知道搬過去之後要做什麼工作。不過，她也不擔心。她說，船到橋頭自然直。等她到了紐約，一切都安頓好了，再找工作也不遲。
這種隨遇而安的心態真不錯，不過，很多人都沒Carrie這麼大鬆心，不願意走一步算一步。很多人都是儘量避免可能出現的問題。這樣的話， they don't have to cross that bridge when they come to it. 他們就不用等問題發生了，再急切着想法子應對了。
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企業家常被人們認爲是務實、有遠見、有計劃的人，可實際上真是這樣麼？咱們來聽聽下面這段話：
例句-2：So far, the company presidents have agreed that they'll sign the contract with Mexico. Beyond that, they haven't really decided what they'll do next. The reality is that they'll deal with the situation when it happens. They're crossing that bridge when they come to it.
這段話是說：到目前爲止，公司總裁已經同意和墨西哥方面籤合同，可除此之外，公司決策層並沒有決定下一步的工作。事實上，他們打算走一步算一步。他們的態度就是等問題出來了再去想怎麼辦。
Cross the bridge when one comes to it, 在口語裏的另外一個說法是wing it. Wing it，也是“到時候再說”、“隨機應變”的意思。
