858 rack one's brain

我最近发现自己还没上年纪,就已经开始健忘了。昨天,一个接受采访的专家向我推荐了一家很有介绍价值的机构。今天本想搜集点资料,可是那家机构的名字却死也想不起来了。如果你有类似经历的话,那你一定会喜欢今天要学的习惯用语,rack one's brain.

大家都知道,brain,是头脑的意思,前面加上动词rack意思就是挖空心思地努力想要记起、理解,或是解决某件事情。

今天一大早,我就一直在努力回忆昨天那个专家推荐的机构的名称,You've been racking my brain ever since this morning, 可死活就是想不起来。我们一起听听下面这个人有什么高招。

例句-1:You probably have passwords for a wide variety of purposes, right? From a personal identification number to access your bank account to secret codes for your e-mail, web page, and other on-line affiliations, your list keeps growing. But why struggle to remember all of these? Write them down in one secure place and then you won't have to rack your brain anymore!

这个人说:你八成有很多各种各样的密码吧?从进入银行帐户、到登陆电子邮件信箱、网页等等,密码清单越来越长。干嘛非得都记在脑子里呢?把它们写下来,放在一个安全的地方不就完了?那就再也不用绞尽脑汁去记密码了。

这倒是个好主意,我甚至听说,有专门的网站让用户存放密码。不过,要登陆这个网站,想必也一定需要密码。HA HA!

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我老公经常乱放东西,每天早上上班出门前不是找这就是找那,最常找不到的是钥匙,需要太太提醒他们。不过,下面这个例子中的人可就没这么幸运了。我们一起听。

例句-2:When I went to pick up my girlfriend, there was a note on the door. She wrote that she didn't want to see me anymore. Huh?! How could our relationship be over? I've been racking my brain trying to recall everything I've done and said lately. Instead of making me struggle, couldn't she at least let me know how I upset her?

这个人说:我去接我女朋友,发现门上有张条。条上说,她不想跟我交往下去了。我们怎么会就这么结束了呢?我绞尽脑汁,回想最近自己是不是做错了什么事,说错了什么话。她至少可以告诉我我什么地方得罪了她,让我不用这么百思不得其解。

我对此人深表同情,不管发生了什么,跟别人分手也应该有个说法。Rack one's brain, 这个习惯用语可以追溯到十六世纪。Rack,是一种刑具,有点象五马分尸。