一只猫跳进鸽群里的场景很容易让人想到《猫和老鼠》里Tom会制造的种种混乱。不管是不是打算弄一只解馋，有这么多会动的温顺玩具在身边，小猫想不兴奋都难。不过，小猫是高兴了，鸽子们可就该扑棱棱乱飞做一团了。英语当中就有一个形容这样场景的短语Put the cat among the pigeons。故意将一只猫放进鸽群，目的就是要“挑起纠纷；引起麻烦”了。我们来看看下面这个对话：

A：The rich old lady told her sons and daughters that she would leave everything to her gardener and nothing to them. 这个有钱的老太太告诉她的儿女们，她将会把全部遗产留给园丁，而她的儿女们将一无所得。

B：She is really putting the cat among the pigeons. 这真是在制造混乱。

A：Yeah. Her sons and daughters don’t leave her house and they believe the gardener played some tricks on their mother. 是啊。他的孩子们都不肯离开她的房子。并且他们认为那个园丁一定是使了什么鬼计策。

再来看看另外一次混乱。

A：Arthur and his wife are in a big quarrel. Arthur和他妻子大打了一架。

B：What happened? 发生什么事儿了？

A：Julia told Arthur’s wife where he was on Monday night. Julia把Arthur星期一晚上去哪里告诉了他的妻子。

B：That really put the cat among the pigeons. 那像把猫放进鸽棚一样，一定会引起大麻烦。

这则习惯用法非常形象，也比较容易记，希望大家能在适当的时候正确运用，让自己的英语听起来更地道，生动。好了，我们下期再见吧。