nose（鼻）趣談

程永健

nose和eye、ear都是感覺器官，司嗅覺。由此產生了許多常用的習語。have a nose for表示“擅長發現某事物”，起源于獵狗憑嗅覺能發現某物，例如A good reporter has a nose for news.（好記者善于發現新聞。）nose與動詞poke、stick、push及介詞into連用，其后接表示物的賓語，表示對某事物好奇、打聽、探詢，往往提出一些不令人歡迎的問題，如We dont want any of your interference. Youre a great deal too fond of poking your nose into things that dont concern you.（我們不要你干涉，你太喜歡打聽與你無關的事情了。）與此相反，“不過問、不干預”便是keep ones nose out of sth.。nose還可以作動詞，nose into也有“打聽、干預”之意；nose about則是“到處探尋”。此外，nose還可以構成形容詞nosy（或nosey），a nosy parker就指“愛打聽、愛管閑事的人”。

nose由于在頭的前部，before ones nose便表示前方，如run straightly before my nose指“向我的正前方奔跑”。同樣，follow ones nose也是“朝前方走”，常用來為人指路，但此習語也可指并無目的地信步走去，如I dont know where I want to go. Ill just follow my nose and see what happens.（我不知道要去什么地方，只是隨便走走看看。）不過，be led by the nose（讓人牽著鼻子走）卻只有比喻義，指盲從或聽命于人，如He lets his wife lead him by the nose.（他聽命于妻子。）

under sb.s nose指在某人面前，漢語一般以“眼”來比喻“就在眼皮底下”，如It is astonishing how one forgets things， even things under ones nose.（人們忘性之大令人吃驚，甚至就在眼皮底下的東西也會忘記。）此習語也可指“當著某人的面”，如The thief took Mrs. Dakes pearls right from under her nose.（那小偷居然當著戴克太太的面把她的珍珠偷走了。）也許是由于nose在臉的中部極易受人注意，所以as plain as the nose in your face便表示“顯而易見、一清二楚”。西方人鼻子大，英語中卻有這樣一個有趣的諺語：He that has a great nose thinks everybody is speaking of it. 可見鼻子特別大的人也會產生一種不安的自我意識，老以為別人會議論他，此諺語也指“心里有鬼的人老懷疑別人”，近似“做賊心虛”。

nose與視覺聯系構成向前或向下看兩類短語，都有比喻義。cant see beyond ones nose （or the end of ones nose）是說向前的視覺界線不出鼻子的范圍，相當于“鼠目寸光”，指對自己行動的后果毫無預見，如Hes very careless in his business， and now his company is in trouble—hes never been able to see beyond the end of his nose（.他做生意粗心大意，現在他的公司有困難了——他從來就目光短淺，不會籌劃。）另一習語look down ones nose（目光朝下），指一種高傲的、不屑一顧的態度，通過at接表人的詞語，如She is one of these haughty people who look down their nose at anyone they think their social inferiors.（她是那種傲氣十足的人，對她認為的社會地位低的人一律瞧不起。）

用nose表示高傲的習語頗多。如果對事物而言則改用turn up ones nose at，表示把鼻子翹上天，也是不屑一顧的意思，如When I gave him the present， he turned up his nose at it.（我送他的禮品他看不上眼。）另一習語with ones nose in the air也同樣表示高傲自大、盛氣凌人。thumb ones nose at則是“輕蔑”的一種粗魯表示，即用拇指頂著鼻尖把手掌扇動，指公然蔑視、拒不順從，和cock a snook at同義，如Betty thumbed her nose at her mothers command to stay at home.（貝蒂對她母親要求她呆在家中的囑咐不予理會。）

nose也是被打的部位。bite/snap sb.s nose off出自打架時互咬鼻子，喻指話語尖刻、氣勢洶洶，如I asked him if he was free in the afternoon， but he bite my nose off.（我問他下午是否有空，他卻惡狠狠地回答我。）bloody sb.s nose意為把某人打得鼻孔流血，喻指因羞辱而傷自尊，從被辱角度說則是get a bloody nose，如I had an argument about politics last night with a friend of mine—he argued very cleverly， and I got a bloody nose.（昨晚我和一個朋友就政治問題進行辯論，他的論點高明，我被他駁倒，感到自慚形穢。）put sb.s nose out of joint原指把鼻子打破，喻指挫敗某人，尤指代替某人得寵，如Gerald was engaged to pretty Polly， which put Neds nose out of joint， as he had hoped to marry her.（杰拉爾德和漂亮的波莉訂婚了，這使內德大為挫敗，他原本希望能和波莉結婚。）rub sb.s nose in it指老提別人不愉快或做錯的事，如I know I let you down badly over the arrangements for the party， but dont rub my nose in it in front of my friends.（我知道在這次晚會的安排上很對不起你，但你不要當著我朋友的面重提此事讓我難堪。）上面的習語都是別人的傷害，如果表示自己給自己傷害，則另有一習語cut off ones nose to spite ones face，字面義指對面孔出氣而割去鼻子，實指做損人不利己的事，如If you refuse to go to the party that you would really enjoy just because you dont like one of the guests， you are cutting off your nose to spite your face.（你若因不喜歡其中一個客人而不去參加晚會，那就是放棄去享樂的機會，自己和自己過不去。）

keep ones nose clean是干該干的事，不惹麻煩，如The boss said Jim could have the job as long as he kept his nose clean and worked hard.（老板對吉姆說只要他不惹麻煩，工作努力，就能保住飯碗。）keep ones nose to the grindstone指對工作堅持不懈，埋頭苦干，如Only by keeping ones nose to the grindstone can one hope to improve ones standard of living.（只有堅持不懈地努力工作才能改善生活水平）。have ones nose in a book指埋頭讀書，如When I am not gardening I always have my nose in a book.（不干園子的活兒時我便埋頭讀書。）

nose還可以表示“頭”的概念，如count noses指計算到會的人頭數。古時有一種nose tax，實為“人頭稅”。pay through the nose據說與nose tax有關，不納此稅則有割鼻子的危險，所以這一習語指花一大筆錢，如As we needed a car badly and there were very few to be bought， we had to pay through the nose for one when we found it at last.（我們急切地要買一部小汽車，而市場上很難買到，最后找到一部時只好高價購買。）