The shoe is on the other foot的意思是:形势已经完全不同了。下面这个例子就能够说明the shoe is on the other foot在日常会话中是怎么用的:
例句-1: "Back in school we made fun of Jones because we thought he spent too much time studying instead of having fun. Now the shoe is on the other foot -- he's made lots of money and the rest of us are just barely making enough to feed our families."
这句话翻成中文就是说:"以前在学校里念书的时候,我们老是笑话琼斯,认为他这个人老是念书,不会玩。可是,现在情况就完全不同了。他赚了不少钱,而我们这些人的收入只够维持家计而已。"
下面的一个例子是一个球迷在夸耀当地的棒球队:
例句-2: "For the last ten years the Tigers have been the worst team in the league: we've finished down at the bottom. But now the shoe is on the other foot: we have all these good young players and we're beating everybody else in the whole league."
这句话的意思是:"我们这个地方的球队老虎队十年前是参加联赛的所有球队中最次的一个,比赛结果老是最后一名。现在可不同了。我们球队的队员都很年轻,球艺也好。他们把其他球队一个个全打败了。"