与 “mother” 相关的常用英语表达

很多国家都在五月的第二个星期日庆祝母亲节，以表达对母亲的爱和感恩。在英语里有一些带有单词 “mother” 或 “mum” 的常用表达，它们大多与 “母亲” 的含义相关，但也有例外。做《英语小测验》，测试你对这些英语表达的掌握程度。

1. Don’t tell anyone, it’s a secret! OK, ______.

a) mum’s the word

b) mum’s the phrase

c) mum’s the sentence

d) mum’s the book

2. It’s a really big secret, so yes, you must ______.

a) hold mum

b) hug mum

c) keep mum

d) grab mum

3. Which one of these phrases is an expression for your native language?

a) mother voice

b) mother speech

c) mother talk

d) mother tongue

4. There was thunder, lightning and hail like I’ve never seen before. It was ______ storms.

a) the mother of all

b) the mother in all

c) the mother off all

d) the mother about all     

5. Needing something urgently often encourages imaginative thinking. Which phrase has this meaning?

a) necessity is the mother of creation

b) necessity is the mother of invention

c) necessity is the mother of solution

d) necessity is the mother of answers

6. I love walking in the countryside - the fresh air on my face, the trees, the birds... there's nothing better than Mother ______.

a) Organic

b) Forest

c) Countryside

d) Nature         

答案

1.a)mum's the word
MUM`S THE WORD 是个很著名的成语，意思是“什麽都不要说，保持安静”的意思。这里的mum是个像声词，是模仿人捂上嘴之后的mmmmmm的声音。
Mum's the word
=I will not say anything about it
=My lips are sealed
这个成语来自莎士比亚的《Henry VI》的第二部分，'Seal up your lips and give no words but mum'
2.c)keep mum.
mum是“闭嘴不说话”。keep mum有时也写成stay mum，表示“一直不说话”，是指“知道某项秘密但是不说出来”，或是“不泄露自己心里的打算”。
例句：
Its significant that after keeping mum for two days， Jiang opened with a demand to end surveillance flights; only a day later did he call for an apology. (出自：TIME，Apr. 23,2001,p. 23 )
有一点值得注意：在保持沉默两天之后，江开口时要求的是美方结束侦察机作业；再过了一天之后他才要求美方道歉。
3.d)mother tongue n.母语，本国语
4.a)the mother of all
the mother of all sth,informal an extreme example of something…最极端的例子
We got caught in the mother of all storms.
我们遇到了最强的暴风雨。
5.b)Necessity is the mother of invention
[词典] 需要是发明之母;
6.d)Mother Nature 意思：n.自然的力量。
短语：
mother-nature 环境
mother of nature 自然之母
Mother Nature 反璞归真
双语例句：
They are one of Mother Nature’s masterpieces. 它们是在大自然母亲的杰作之一。