字面意思就是“去南方”
…
联想起无数人纠结是要北上还是南下工作,
难道外国人也有类似的隐喻?
其实这个短语的解释还不止一个,
我们来一一认识一下
go south 是什么意思?
go south
1 To escape; to vanish or disappear. (Not necessarily in a southerly direction.)
去逃跑;逃走不见或消失(并不一定是往南逃)
例:
Everyone in the gang went south when they learned that the police had discovered their hideout.
那帮人听说警察发现了他们的藏身之处,便纷纷逃走不见了。
The dog has gone south into the night.
狗已消失在夜色中了。
2 To fall or drop; to depreciate; to lose quality or value. (Especially related to finances or stock exchanges.)
下降或落下;贬值;失去雷竞技百科 或价值(尤指与金融或股票交易有关的。)
这个意思可能和地图上的“上北下南”有关,南方就是下方,往南走就是下降的趋势。
例:
The company's stock profile continued going south for the third day in a row today.
该公司的股票今天连续第三天下跌。
It seems like all our moral standards have just gone south.
看来我们的道德标准都下降了。
3 To cease working or functioning; to quit, fail, or fall apart.
停止工作或运作;退出,失败或分崩离析。
例:
Talks between the labor union and the construction firm went south yesterday, so it looks like workers will be on strike again soon.
工会和建筑公司昨天谈崩了,所以看起来工人很快就会再次罢工。
My computer is only a month old, and it's already gone south.
我的电脑才用了一个月,就已经坏了。
总的来说,go south都有一个趋势上的不好,由此我们也可以猜出go north作为它的反方向也就表示了一个好的趋势。
例:
I hope the talk will go north this time.
我希望这次的会谈取得成功。
(来源:每日学英语微信公众号)