follow suit

今天中午我忽然想吃麦当劳,由于很久没去,我看到他们的菜单时有些吃惊。我印象里的麦当劳都是些不健康的快餐,但是现在,菜单里多了全麦麦片,水果片,沙拉等等选择。这种改变可以用一个习惯用语来形容,那就是: follow suit。

大家都知道,follow是跟随的意思,而suit,可以指扑克牌四种花色里的任意一种,两个词连起来follow suit,跟着出同样的花色,引伸为“效仿,跟着做”。

就像上面的例子里,随着人们健康意识的提高,越来越多的餐厅纷纷推出健康的低卡路里菜单,连麦当劳都没落下。All the restaurants started to offer healthy food items. McDonald's felt they needed to follow suit.

在下面例子里,我们要讲讲casual Friday的来历,让我们一起来听一听:

例句-1:Who wants to have to wear formal business clothes every day? For many employees, Friday is when you can dress casually. You might even be allowed to wear jeans. It seems the trend began in California in the late 1990s. Before long, workplaces throughout the U.S. copied the practice. Other countries have been following suit ever since.

这段话是说: 谁想每天都穿正装上班呢? 对很多人来说,星期五就是能穿便装的日子,或许你还能穿牛仔裤呢!这个潮流似乎是90年代末从加利福尼亚州兴起的。不久,美国各地的公司都开始实行这种做法,其他国家也纷纷效仿。

这个Casual Friday就是星期五便装日! 谁都不希望每天西服革履的。由于燃油价格上涨,美国的西南航空公司最近宣布,往返机票价格上涨4到10美元。业内观察人士说,其他航空公司很可能会follow suit跟着涨价。

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人身攻击在美国社会是一件绝对不被接受的事情。在下面的例子里,咱们要去看看一个广播主持人中伤别人之后,给他自己带来了什么样的后果:

例句-2:The radio entertainer made a habit of making rude comments. Perhaps that's why his talk show was so popular. But when he insulted a woman repeatedly on the air, people from across the country complained loudly. Before long, one of his advertisers withdrew its support. Then another followed suit. Soon the majority had done the same, leaving the show with few sponsors.

这段话是说:这名广播节目主持人一贯以言辞犀利著称,也许这就是为什么他的谈话节目那么受欢迎。不过当他多次在节目中对一名女士出口不逊后,很多地方的听众都表示不满。没过多久,他的一个广告商就不再支持他了,随后,另一个也撤走了对节目的赞助。很快,大多数广告商都选择退出,整个节目没剩几个赞助人了。

不久前,美国著名体育频道ESPN就解雇了一名员工,原因就是他使用了侮辱性的语言来形容冉冉升起的亚裔篮球明星林书豪。这确实说明,言论自由是要在有框架内的自由,并不是毫无限制的随便乱说。

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