嗨,大家好!我們知道milk的意思是「牛奶」,honey有「蜂蜜」的含義,land有「土地」的含義,那land of milk and honey直譯是「牛奶和蜂蜜的土地」,實際上並不是這個含義,那這句習語到底是什麼意思?
land of milk and honey的意思是「a country where living conditions are good and people have the opportunity to make a lot of money」,即「魚米之鄉,豐裕之地,富饒的樂土」。
這句習語源於《出埃及記》,在第三章有這樣一段話:
I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing withmilk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
上面這段話,講的是在上帝的指示下,摩西帶領他的人民,也就是很多被迫做奴隸的人,擺脫束縛,走向自由。摩西向這些人許諾自己的土地。 而他擁有的土地是流溢著牛奶與蜂蜜的土地。
《聖經》中有個詞名為「應許之地」,這個詞出自《舊約·創世紀》,以色列的先祖和上帝做了約定,上帝應許其後代將擁有流溢著牛奶與蜂蜜的土地。所以milk and honey並不單單是「牛奶和蜂蜜」,其可以用於指代這樣的應許之地。
因此,後來人們就把land of milk and honey表示「富饒的樂土」這樣的含義。
例句:
This country is now the fanciedland of milk and honey.
這個國家現在成了人們嚮往的豐裕之地
Many Mexicans regard the United States as a land of milk and honey.
許多墨西哥人把美國看成是富饒的樂土。
以上就是今天所學內容,你學會了嗎?