#EZTALK #你不知道的美國大小事
#燙手山芋怎麼說
美國生活用語：蔬菜篇之 potato🥔馬鈴薯
1⃣ a couch potato
2⃣ small potatoes
3⃣ hot potato
4⃣ drop sb./sth. like a hot potato
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From their native home in Peru, potatoes have spread all over the world, becoming a staple in many countries. One of those countries is the U.S., where we like to eat them boiled, baked, fried and mashed. They’ve also become part of our language, as you’ll see from the idioms below.
原生於祕魯，現在普及於全世界的馬鈴薯，已經成為許多國家的主食，其中一個國家就是美國。美國人喜歡吃水煮、烤、炸馬鈴薯，還有馬鈴薯泥。當然，potato 馬鈴薯這個字也成為美語的一部分。
What would a potato do if you put it on a couch? Well, it would just sit there doing nothing. 1⃣So a couch potato is a lazy person who just sits around watching TV. And if they sit there long enough, they may even start to look like a potato! Ex: Since Dan got Netflix, he’s turned into a real couch potato.
如果你把一棵馬鈴薯放在沙發上會發生什麼事？嗯，它就會動也不動地坐在那裡。所以 a couch potato 就是形容「一直坐在沙發上看電視的懶人」，而且如果坐得夠久，他們也會越來越像顆馬鈴薯！如：Since Dan got Netflix, he’s turned into a real couch potato.（丹自從有了網飛帳號後，就成了一顆貨真價實的沙發馬鈴薯。）
Americans like to eat big Idaho potatoes—the bigger the better. 2⃣So what does “small potatoes” mean? It means a tiny or insignificant person, thing or amount. Ex: Last week’s storm was small potatoes compared to the hurricane we had two years ago.
美國人愛吃愛達荷州黃褐皮馬鈴薯，越大顆越讚。所以，small potato是什麼意思呢？指的是那些「不起眼或不重要的小人物；微不足道的小事；聊勝於無的數量」。如：Last week’s storm was small potatoes compared to the hurricane we had two years ago.（跟兩年前的颶風比起來，上禮拜的暴風雨根本只是小意思。）
When you bake a potato, you have to be careful when taking it out of the oven because it may be too hot to handle. As an idiom, 3⃣ a “hot potato” is a difficult or controversial issue that people avoid dealing with or discussing. Ex: Gun control is a political hot potato in the U.S.
當你烤好一顆馬鈴薯，你必須小心翼翼把它拿出烤箱，因為它會燙到你幾乎無法拿。因此hot potato在諺語中就是指「燙手山芋，難以處理或具爭議性的議題」，大家都不想碰觸或討論。如：Gun control is a political hot potato in the U.S.（槍枝管制在美國一直是燙手山芋。）
The phrase “hot potato” also appears in another idiom with a different meaning: 4⃣ “drop sb./sth. like a hot potato,” which means to abandon someone or something as quickly as possible, usually to avoid potential problems. Ex: Kim dropped her boyfriend like a hot potato when she found out he had a criminal record.
hot potato也出現在另一組諺語中，不過意思完全不一樣：drop sb./sth. like a hot potato，這個諺語是指「在事情變大條之前，儘快擺脫某人或某事」，如：Kim dropped her boyfriend like a hot potato when she found out he had a criminal record.（金在發現男友有前科的時候，就馬上擺脫他了。）
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