egg /eg/► SEE ALL(have) egg on your facethe/a curate’s egg(kill) the golden gooselay an egga nest egg ●(have) ˈegg on your face (informal) be made to look stupid出丑；出洋相◆Let’s think this out carefully. I don’t want to end up with egg on my face. 我们好好盘算盘算，我可不想到时候出洋相。●the/a ˌcurate’s ˈegg (BrE) sth that has some good things and some bad things about it瑕瑜互见之物；好坏参半之物◆‘Is it an interesting book?’ ‘It’s a bit of a curate’s egg, good in parts. The dialogue’s often quite amusing.’“这本书有趣吗？”“好坏参半吧，有些地方不错。对话挺有趣的。”ORIGINThis idiom comes from a story in the magazine Punch. A polite curate (= an assistant to a priest) is given a bad egg while eating in the house of a very senior priest. When asked if he likes the egg, he replies that ‘parts of it are excellent’.这个习语源于《笨拙》杂志上的一则故事。一位彬彬有礼的助理牧师（curate）在老牧师家中吃饭时拿到一个坏了的蛋。当问及他是否喜欢这个蛋时，他回答道“部分是好的”。●(kill) the golden ˈgoose ( (kill) the goose that lays the golden ˈegg/ˈeggs) (destroy) sth that makes you rich, successful, etc.杀鸡取卵；（毁掉）摇钱树；（自绝）财源；（自毁）前程◆The government is worried that a new tax might kill the golden goose by scaring away foreign investment.政府担心新税收会吓跑外国投资者，从而断了财路。◆The banks made vast profits from an energy trader that had become the golden goose of Wall Street.各大银行已从华尔街的摇钱树 － 一个能源交易商身上赚了不少钱。ORIGINThis comes from an ancient Greek story about a farmer who had a goose that laid golden eggs. The farmer thought that if he killed the goose he could get all the eggs inside. However, by killing the goose, he lost everything.这个谚语源于古希腊传说。一位农夫有一只会下金蛋的鹅，他认为把鹅杀了就能取出全部金蛋，结果落得一场空。●lay an ˈegg (informal, especially NAmE) fail or make a mistake失败；犯错◆He laid an egg with these proposals with the very people he wanted most to convince.在向他最想说服的人提出这些建议的时候，他犯了一个错误。◆Columnists sometimes lay an egg, but Martin has laid an ostrich omelette.专栏作家有时也犯错，但马丁这次可是大错特错。●a ˈnest egg (informal) a sum of money saved for the future为将来储备的钱；储备金◆She has a nice little nest egg which she intends to use for travelling round the world one day.她存有一笔不小的钱，留着将来环游世界用。ORIGINA nest egg was an egg left in a nest to encourage a chicken to continue to produce more eggs. * nest egg 原指为诱使母鸡多下蛋而留在鸡窝的鸡蛋。