跟“野貓”有關的短語

Humans have always depended on animals. From the beginning of human history， wild animals provided food， clothing and sometimes medicine.

We may not depend as much on wild animals now. But we hear about them every day. Americans use the names of animals in many ways.

Many companies use animals to make us want to buy their goods. Automobile companies， for example， love to show fast horses when they are trying to sell their cars. They also name their cars for other fast， powerful animals.

Automobile manufacturers and gasoline companies especially like to use big cats to sell their products. They like lions， tigers and wildcats.

When Americans say wildcat， they usually mean a lynx， an ocelot or a bobcat. All these cats attack quickly and fiercely. So wildcats represent something fast and fierce.

What better way is there to sell a car than to say it is as fast as a wildcat. Or， what better way is there to sell gasoline than to say that using it is like putting a tiger in your tank.

An early American use of the word wildcat was quite different. It was used to describe members of Congress who declared war on Britain in 1812. A magazine of that year said the wildcat congressmen went home. It said they were unable to face the responsibility of having involved their country in an unnecessary war.

Wildcat also has been used as a name for money. It was used this way in the 1800s. At that time， some states permitted banks to make their own money. One bank in the state of Michigan offered paper money with a picture of a wildcat on it.

Some banks， however， did not have enough gold to support all the paper money they offered. So the money had little or no value. It was called a wildcat bill or a wildcat bank note. The banks who offered this money were called wildcat banks.

A newspaper of the time said those were the days of wildcat money. It said a man might be rich in the morning and poor by night.

Wildcat was used in another way in the 1800s. It was used for an oil well or gold mine that had almost no oil or gold in it. Dishonest developers would buy such property. Then they would sell it and leave town with the money. The buyers were left with worthless holes in the ground. Today， wildcat oil wells are in areas that are not known to have oil.

Yet another kind of wildcat is the wildcat strike. That is a strike called without official approval by a union. During World War II， an American publication accused wildcat strikers of slowing government production.

as fast as a wildcat 像野貓一樣快。

“tiger”是美國埃索（ESSO）石油公司的老虎牌機油。“put a tiger in your tank”是該公司給汽油產品做的標準化廣告語，意思是機油效果良好，如同把老虎放入油箱，也就是指他們的油很猛，能給汽車提供強效動力。為了能快速結合老虎形象對該汽油產品的特質進行正面想象，把隱含的意義表達出來，我們可以把該廣告語試譯為“強勁動力，如虎添翼”。

wildcat congressmen 意思是莽撞的國會議員。wildcat 的意思是（尤指在財政金融或商業上）魯莽的，冒險的，不可靠的。

wildcat bill 和wildcat bank note 指價值很低或者幾乎沒有價值的紙幣。

wildcat banks 野貓銀行，指美國1863年《國民銀行法》通過以前成立的資本極少或根本無資本但發行貨幣的銀行。1836年美國第二銀行關閉之后，直到1863年美國《國民通貨法》（一年后進行了修改，稱為《國民銀行法》）的頒布，在這27年里，美國進入了自由銀行時期，銀行體系完全由私人（非公司）和根據各州發給的公司執照來經營的銀行組成，開辦銀行成了一種賺錢的方法，因而那時又稱為“野貓銀行時期”。

wildcat money 指準備金不足而發行的紙幣。

wildcat oil wells 野貓油井、初探井，指未探明是否有石油的探井。

wildcat strike 野貓式罷工、自發罷工，指未經工會正式批準、工人自發進行的罷工。wildcat strikers 當然就是指進行野貓式罷工的工人了。