我最近建议制作一个新节目，以美国语言和文化为主题，举行相关的知识竞赛，大家都说是个好主意，让我立即开始做。谁知我的一个同事突然请长假，她的工作全都推给了我，结果我的新节目还没开始，就被无限期搁置了。这在英语里叫：put in mothballs。
Mothball在中文里是卫生球，樟脑丸。put in mothballs就是“束之高阁，无限期搁置”的意思。My show idea has been put in mothballs. 我新节目的提案就这样被无限期地搁置起来了，不知道什么时候才有时间去做。
很多人喜欢收藏旧东西，不舍得扔，其实，这些看似没用的东西有时也能派上用场。
- My son loves the ice skates his grandmother gave him. I don't think he realizes they had been mine when I was his age. Mom had put them in mothballs, not sure if anyone would ever get any use from them. I'm sure glad she'd decided not to throw them out.
我儿子特别喜欢奶奶送他的冰鞋。其实他可能不知道，这双冰鞋是我小时候穿过的，后来被妈妈收了起来，并不知道以后会不会有人能穿。她没把这双冰鞋丢掉，让我太高兴了。
我祖母也是一样，什么东西都不舍得扔。She puts everything in mothballs. 家里跟个二手店似的。英语里有个词专门形容这种人：packrat。
刚才说到，我祖母什么都不舍得扔，经常拿个旧打字机什么的老古董问我要不要。你别说，有时候还真有点儿值钱的东西。我觉得，她可以把所有东西都捐给下面这个例子里正在筹备中的历史博物馆。
- Our town clearly supports building a history museum. But the mayor came out to say that he's putting the proposal in mothballs for now. Apparently there isn't enough funding available. Still, no one's giving up hope that it can be reconsidered in the not-too-distant future.
我们镇里的人显然都很赞成建一个历史博物馆，但是镇长却说，他要暂时把这项提案搁置起来，因为没有足够的资金。不过，大家都不肯放弃，希望不久的将来这项提案会重新被考虑。
很多项目不能上马，问题都出在资金上。我的一个朋友在美国航空航天局工作，他开发的很多项目都是因为缺少联邦拨款而处于停顿状态。
put in mothballs最早是二十世纪四十年代出现的，如果更简单一点的话，可以直接把mothball做为动词来用。比如我可以说，My show idea has been mothballed. 或者说The mayor is mothballing the proposal for a new museum.
