莎士比亞對現代英語的影響，這裡就不多介紹了。
直接開始上硬貨吧，當然其中有些表達古英語裡也有，但，是莎士比亞使它們變得家喻戶曉。
a fool's paradise
黃粱美夢
Romeo and Juliet
He seems to be living in a fool's paradise.
他似乎活在自己的美夢裡。
Winning the lotter is a fool's paradise.
中彩票大獎是痴人說夢。
a foregone conclusion
必然會發生的事; 事先料定的結局
Othello
The outcome of the vote is a foregone conclusion.
投票結果已成定局。
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
Romeo and Juliet
玫瑰即使不叫玫瑰,依然芳香如故！
a sorry sight
悲慘的光景；慘狀
Macbeth
He was a sorry sight when he got home - soaking and covered in mud.
當他回到家時的樣子真是慘不忍睹——全身溼透，渾身是泥。
All that glitters is not gold.
The Merchant of Venice
閃光的不一定都是金子。
All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players.
As You Like It
整個世界是一座舞臺，所有上場的男男女女不過是演員。
Greek to me
一竅不通（對我來說是希臘語）
Julius Caesar
But, for my own part, it was Greek to me.
但是，就我自己而言，這無異於天書。
Physical chemistry is Greek to me.
我對物理化學一竅不通。
fair play
按規則比賽;公平辦事
用在多部劇中
There must be fair play whatever the competition is.
無論什麼競賽，都必須公平競爭。
Frailty, thy name is woman.
女人啊，你的名字是弱者！
Hamlet
hot-blooded
情感強烈的;血氣方剛的;熱血的
The Merry Wives of Windsor
He's just your average 25-year-old hot-blooded male.
他只是像你一樣普通的25歲熱血青年。
household words
家喻戶曉的
Henry V
Some of the fifty corporations are household words, like CBS and Westinghouse.
50家公司中有一些家喻戶曉，如哥倫比亞廣播公司和西屋電氣。
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child.
King Lear
一個忘恩負義的孩子簡直比毒蛇的牙更尖利。
Heart's content
心滿意足的；滿心歡喜的
多部劇中
This time, she will be to one's heart's content smile, as if he were her whole world.
這一次，她會心滿意足，笑逐顏開，仿佛他是她的整個世界。
If music be the food of love play on.
Twelfth Night
假如音樂是愛情的食糧,那麼演奏起來吧。
love is blind
情人眼裡出西施;愛情使人盲目
The Merchant Of Venice
If love is blind, then maybe a blind person that loves has a greater understanding of it.
如果愛是盲目的，那麼也許一個盲人對愛的理解更深。
make your hair stand on end
讓人毛骨悚然
Hamlet
Some of the stories people had told me in that room would make your hair stand on end.
在那個房間裡人們講的一些故事會讓你毛骨悚然。
Milk of human kindness
惻隱之心；人情
Macbeth
She's full of the milk of human kindness.
much ado about nothing
無事空忙;無事生非;小題大做;庸人自擾
Much ado about nothing
It was all much ado about nothing.
這完全是無事生非。
My sister always makes much ado about nothing.
我妹妹總是小題大做。
night owl
夜貓子
長篇敘述詩The Rape of Lucrece
I'm not a night owl. I go to sleep at 11 p.m.
我不是夜貓子。我晚上11點睡覺。
a pound of flesh
一磅肉; 合法但有悖情理的要求
Merchant of Venice
The British government is demanding a pound of flesh in return.
英國政府的要求太過分了，有悖情理。
Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep.
靜水流深。
Henry VI
the be all and end all
要義;最重要的部分
Macbeth
I used to think money was the be all and end all of happiness, but oh was I wrong.
我以前認為金錢是幸福的全部，但我錯了。
The course of true love never did run smooth.
通向真愛的路從無坦途。
A Midsummer Nights Dream
To be or not to be, that is the question.
生存還是毀滅，這是個問題。
Hamlet
too much of a good thing
好事過頭；好事過頭反成壞事
As You Like It
Enjoy it! You can't have too much of a good thing.
見好就收吧，你不可能一直走運。
Truth will out
紙包不住火
The Merchant of Venice
Truth will out, even if buried in a golden coffin.
即使把真理裝在金棺材裡埋起來,它終究也會顯露出來。
vanished into thin air
消失的無影無蹤
Othello
She can't just have vanished into thin air.
她不可能憑空消失。
We have seen better days.
今非昔比
Sir Thomas More
wild-goose chase
徒勞無功；竹籃打水一場空
Romeo and Juliet
We wasted all day a wild-goose chase.
我們徒勞無功的浪費了一整天。
woe is me
我太倒黴了
Hamlet
I'm cold and wet and I haven't even got enough money for my bus fare home. Oh woe is me!
我又冷又溼，連回家的車票錢都不夠。唉，倒黴催的！
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