我有个朋友最近想买车，她看中了一辆敞篷车，可是这车的车评并不好。我给她看了关于这辆车耗油和需要维修的车评，可她竟然听都不听，就想买这辆车！忽略这些可是买车的大忌。这也让我想到一个习惯用语，那就是：brush off。
Brush是“刷”的意思，brush off字面意思是“刷掉”，引伸出来就是“忽略，不理睬”的意思。上面的例子中：
- My friend shouldn't brush off the poor ratings of the convertible.
我朋友不应该忽略这辆敞篷车很差的车评。
在下面的例子里，这对夫妇可真不应该忽略检查人员给他们的忠告！到底发生了什么呢？
- The homeowners were told by inspectors that they ought to move their home further from the river. Instead, they went ahead with plans to add a second story. When a terrible storm hit a year later, the river flooded. And the house was destroyed. If the couple hadn't brushed off those safety warnings, they wouldn't have lost their property.
检查人员告诉屋主说，他们应该把屋子建在离河边更远的地方。但是屋主非但没有听取这个意见，还又加盖了第二层。一年之后下了一场暴雨，河水上涨淹没了房屋。如果这对夫妇没有忽略那些安全警告，他们也许不会失去自己的财产。
俗话说，小心使得万年船，千万不能忽略任何可能发生的危险隐患。不过有的时候，又要有主见，不能人云亦云，受别人影响。比如我有个好朋友，是个服装设计师，特有才，但是刚开始创业的头几年，很多人都说她肯定不会成功，好在：
- She brushed off all the bad reviews.
她对这些负面评论根本不予理睬。
谁都希望有个体贴，疼你的丈夫或者男朋友，不过啊，可不是每个人都那么幸运。要是碰上下面例子里的这位Phil，可就倒霉喽！
- Phil hasn't had many steady girlfriends. That's because they don't like the way he treats them. After a couple of nice dates, he expects them to always be available for him. Yet he rarely makes the effort to return their calls or text messages. Why should they want to stay with a guy who brushes them off?
菲利普一直没有什么稳定女友，这是因为她们都不喜欢他对待她们的方式。几次约会之后，他就认为这些女孩子应该随叫随到，可他自己却很少尽快回她们的电话或短信。为什么要跟一个经常忽略自己的人在一起呢？
这些女孩子做得对！不值得跟一个整天不把自己当回事的人在一起。大家可能已经发现了，这句话中说Phil often brushes them off，“brush somebody off” 就是“忽略某人”的意思。比如：
- She's been telling her husband to see a dentist for his bad teeth, but he keeps brushing me off.
我让我老公赶紧去看看那颗烂牙，可他却把我的话当耳边风。
