943 boggle the mind

那天我去看微雕,真的很厉害!小小的一块木头上雕刻了整整一本红楼梦! 太不可思议了! 真的惊叹于雕刻师的精湛手艺。这让我想到一个习惯用语: boggle the mind.

Boggle本身有吃惊的意思,而mind是思想,头脑。Boggle the mind, 意思就是“令人惊叹的”。

雕刻师在小小的一块木头上雕了整整一本书,令人惊叹! 这换了我绝对不行。

我们再来看一个例子。大家都知道最初计算机非常沉笨,而现在电脑做得越来越轻便,像最新的iPad 2 还不到80克! 让我们来听听这令人惊叹的科技进步:

例句-1:Fifty years ago, the fastest computers ever made took up the space of a football field. Their many vacuum tubes and mechanical parts required constant maintenance. Amazingly, the computing devices we now hold in our hands can do so much more in only a fraction of the time. That boggles the mind.

这段话是说:50年前,世界上运作最快的电脑占地要达到整个一个足球场那么大。其中有很多电子管和机械零件,需要经常维修。可现在,我们手中拿的小电脑能在短得多的时间里做多得多的事情。 这确实令人惊叹。

想想我们现在不以为然的很多东西,摩天大楼,超音速飞机,基因工程,都是令人惊叹的人类发明。50年前,谁能想到现代社会根本就离不开电脑呢?

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Boggle the mind. 令人惊叹的。 在下面这个例子里,Linda在事业上取得了令人惊叹的成就。而她的同事George却有别的看法。让我们来听听看:

例句-2:George was shocked when Linda became his supervisor. She seemed to lack any of the necessary skills to manage employees. Her reports were often inaccurate and she did nothing to improve productivity. How she ever got her promotion boggled his mind. She must have known somebody important at the factory.

这段话是说:乔治得知琳达变成他的上司之后十分吃惊。她完全没有管理员工的能力。她的报告经常出现纰漏,而且她完全没有做任何事情来增加生产率。她是如何晋升的着实令人吃惊。她肯定认识工厂里的什么重要人物。

在乔治眼里,没有实际能力的琳达能够晋升令他吃惊。Boggle his mind。大家注意,在boggle the mind 中,我们可以把"the"换成任何人称代词,boggle sb's mind, 令某人吃惊。在这里,George was so baffled by Linda's promotion that it boggled his mind. 琳达的神秘升职令乔治吃惊。