【主题】
Oaky, last time we learned "The cat's out of the bag." which means a secret is told by someone carelessly and by mistake so that many people know it . And today I would like to share an expression which means someone means to tell some private informations . Let's listen to a simple situational dialogue and get it.
A : Let's get this out in the open. I am unhappy working here.
B : Is there anything we can do to get you stay.
【答疑解惑】
It is "get- this- out -in-the- open". It's a way of saying "I want to tell it honestly. " and it's also a way of saying that the speaker wants to talk about something private. It's similar to saying in Chinese: "打开天窗说亮话","敞开了说吧","把某事公之于众" and so on.
【视野拓展】
Let's have a further look at this sentence. "Get out"means "become known". 意思是:泄露,被人知道。For example: If this gets out , there'll be trouble. 这事要是被别人知道了,就麻烦了。“Get something out”has two explanations. One means "to produce or publish something". 意思是:生产,出版,发表。Let's look at the following example sentences. It was this factory that got it out. 是这家工厂生产出这个产品的。The pictures taken by me was got out in Guilin Daily Newspaper. 我拍摄的照片在桂林日报上发表了。Will we get this book out by the end of the year. 我们这本书将在年底出版吗?Another means "to say something with difficulty". 意思是:困难的说出,勉强的说出。For example: She managed to get out a few words of thanks. 他终于勉强的说出了几句道谢之话。From the above typical sentences , we can see the use of this phrase. It can be said and written as "get something out" as well as "get out something".
"In the open" in this sentence also has two explanations. One equals "in the open aire" which means "in a place outside rather than in a building". 意思是:在户外,在野外,在露天。For example: I once had the good luck to hear old Christopher try his lungs in the open air in Scotland.有一次我有幸听到老克里斯托在苏格兰野外亮嗓子。Another is equal to "openly" which means "without hiding any feelings opinions or information". 意思是:公开地,毫不隐瞒地。For example: Can you talk about sex with you parents in the open. 您能和你的父母公开的谈谈关于性的问题吗?
【总结】
And now it's easy to catch this sentence. Let's get it out in the open. "get out"是泄露被别人知道的意思,in the open是公开的意思。这句话直译就是:我们把这件事泄露出去公开地让别人知道。简而言之,就是“我们将这件事公之于众。”用我们地道的中文说法就是“我们打开天窗说亮话把。”还可以说:“我们把事情放在桌面上说吧。”“我们敞开了说吧。”此外注意的是昨天我们学的“The cat's out of the bag.”是无意中泄露了秘密的事情。而今天学的“Get it out in the open”是有意说出秘密的事情的。