受冷遇：in the doghouse
A pair of Putnam County lawmen were warning a dog owner to control his pet when it raced over and bit them on the leg. Now, the pooch is in the pound and the owner is in the doghouse.
普特南鎮的兩位執法人員在提醒一位主人管好其寵物狗的時候被這只沖上來的狗咬傷了腿部。目前，這只狗被關在動物收容所，而它的主人則備受冷遇。
該報道中，pound 可不是我們平常所說的貨幣單位“英鎊”或者重量單位“磅”，而是a public enclosure for stray or unlicensed dogs （走失或無證狗的公共收容所），也可以用 dog pound。那么后面一句中的doghouse 跟dog pound是不是一個意思呢？doghouse 原本的意思是“狗窩”，如果一個人被關在狗窩里(in the doghouse)，那他一定是做錯了事而受到冷遇。因此，這個短語 in the doghouse 就是out of favor or in trouble for doing something wrong (因做錯事而失寵、不受喜愛或者惹麻煩)等意思。
例如：
He has been in the doghouse with the administration for months.
他在管理部門失寵已有數月了。
The boy was in the doghouse with his teacher by often coming to school late.
老師很不喜歡那個男孩，因為他上學經常遲到。 |
