我侄女最近说想当律师。我问她为什么想当律师的时候,她说这样她就能挣大把钞票,住豪华公寓,去高级餐厅,还能环游世界。她没有意识到,作为律师在职业生涯初期的工作时间有多长,他们又得为了工作牺牲多少个人生活。我想如果她知道了,她想成为律师的兴趣可能就可以用下面这个词来形容:fizzle out。
fizzle这个词本身的意思是失败,而fizzle out作为一个词组,意思是“归于失败、渐渐消失”。
有一项调查显示,很多法学院的学生都是这样:
- Once they discover how consuming that profession is, their enthusiasm seems to fizzle out.
当他们了解到律师行业有忙后,他们此前的热情就会渐渐退去。
在下面的例子里,我们要来听听一对情侣Chris和Sandy的故事:
- Chris and Sandy started dating months ago. All of our friends thought they made a great couple. Soon they moved in together and there was talks about them getting married. What Chris hadn't realized was that Sandy had an uncontrollable temper. Soon their relationship fizzled outT. We were sad to learn that another promising lover affair came to an end.
几个月前,Chris和Sandy开始约会。朋友们都认为他们很合适,没过多久,他们就搬到一起住了,还有人听说他们快要结婚了。Chris不知道的是,Sandy脾气很不好,后来他们的感情就慢慢淡薄了。我们很失望地看到,本来特别有希望的一对情侣并没走到一块儿。
结婚前发现不合适,总比结了婚再离婚好吧! 我有一个朋友就是这样,她经常在网络上认识人,聊天交友。可是真见了面,总发现那个人根本就不是网上说的那么回事!约会经常不了了之,我朋友还特郁闷。所以说,寻找另一半得靠运气。
- The dates often fizzle out and my friend goes home depressed.
在美国,经常有组织马拉松或是各种比赛来为抗击癌症募捐的活动。下面的例子里,一个竞赛组织团队的资金慢慢枯竭了。这是为什么呢?
- Hundreds of races take place every year to raise money to fight lung cancer. But one organization has been having trouble getting contributions. That's because its president was recently caught stealing and then lying about it. No wonder funding is fizzling out!
每年都会有几百个竞赛项目为抗击肺癌筹集资金。但是其中一个组织今年募集的资金特别少。结果有人发现这个组织的主席挪用公款,而且还撒谎!难怪他们筹集的资金越来越少!
基金的经营出现问题后,一旦主要支持者退出,其他人就会跟着退出。这就好像去参加一个派对,一旦有人开始离开,慢慢大家就会接二连三跟着回家:
- The party begins to fizzle out.
派对就会慢慢结束。