例句-1: "When Joe went to his new job, he got off on the wrong foot -- on the first morning he upset his new boss by arriving at the store two hours late. And right now he's out looking for a job again."

这个人说：“乔找到了一份新的工作,可是他刚开始到那家店里去上班时就给人一个坏印象。第一天上班他就晚到两个小时，让他的老板好不高兴。现在他又在找工作了。”

To get off on the wrong foot 这个俗语实际上可以适用于任何情况。下面一个例子是一个男学生在说他交女朋友的情况：

例句-2: "I finally got a date with that new girl in class but I sure got off on the wrong foot with her: I had car trouble and got to her place almost two hours late."

他说：“那天我终于和班上新来的那个女同学约好了出去玩。可是，当天我的车出了问题，晚了两个小时才去接她，所以我一开头就把事弄糟了。”

有意无意做错事、说错话的情况是很经常的。下面我们要讲的一个俗语就是无意中说错了话而伤害了别人，或者叫自己很不好意思。这个俗语就是：to put your foot in your mouth。

我们来举个例子看看什么样的情况才 to put your foot in your mouth：

例句-3: "When Sally told that silly joke about the sailor with one leg she really put her foot in her mouth. She didn't know the man across the dinner table had a brother at home in a wheelchair."

这句话翻成中文就是：“沙莉吃晚饭时说了一个笑话，拿一个只有一条腿的水手开玩笑。她可不知道坐在饭桌对面那个人的哥哥就是个残废，行动都得靠轮椅。”

Sally如果事后了解情况的话,她肯定会说: "Well, I certainly have put my foot in my mouth."

下面我们再来举一个例子:

例句-4: "I certainly put my foot in my mouth at the party last night when I asked Mister Brown to say hello to his wife for me. Somehow I'd forgotten that his wife died six months ago."

这人说：“我昨晚在那个聚会上无意中说错了话。我让布朗先生替我向他的太太问好。不知怎么回事，我忘了他太太已经在半年前去世了。”

今天我们给大家介绍了两个由 foot 这个字组成的习惯用语。第一个是 to get off on the wrong foot。 To get off on the wrong foot 是指一个人在做某件事的时候一开始就给人一个坏印象，或者一开始就把事弄糟了。我们今天介绍的第二个俗语就是 to put one's foot in one's mouth。这是指无意中说错了话而伤害了别人。

第四十五讲
Words & Idioms Lesson 45

cold feet

jump in and get your feet wet

一个人在充满信心的时候往往就会无所畏惧，勇往直前。但是，当一个人对某件事感到胆怯的时候，他就会畏缩不前。我们经常可以看到一种情况：有的人对一件事开始的时候很有信心，很有把握。可是，事到临头就变得没有勇气了。在英文里有一个俗语是用来形容类似情况的，那就是 cold feet。 Cold 是冷的意思， feet 就是两只脚。 Cold feet 并不是在雪地里走而使你的脚很冷。Cold feet 是指临时上场感到胆怯。例如：

例句-1: "Peter told his wife that this time he was really going to walk in and demand a pay raise from the boss. But when he arrived at the office, he got cold feet."

这句话翻成中文的意思是：“这个名字叫皮特的丈夫对自己的妻子说，这次他可一定要到他老板的办公室去要求增加工资了。可是，他一到了办

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