中國日報網(wǎng)" />

日本高清色视频在线视频在,国产香蕉97碰碰视频碰碰看,丰满少妇av无码区,精品无码专区在线,久久无码专区免费看,四虎欧美精品永久地址99,亚洲色无码一区二区三区

 
 
 

White elephant

中國日報網(wǎng) 2015-04-10 10:07

分享到

 

Reader question:White elephant

Please explain this sentence: Looking a gift horse in the mouth may seem rude, but you may see it is a white elephant in disguise.

A gift horse may be old and useless, ok, but what is a white elephant exactly.

 

My comments:

A white elephant is even worse.

People look a gift horse in the mouth to check how old it is. It’s kind of rude to do that because when others give you a horse as a gift, their good will cannot be mistaken.

Hence it’s better if we just accept the gesture gratefully and gracefully without nitpicking, lest we offend the gift giver.

But sometimes, the gift horse may be, just may be too old (having long teeth, if you do look into their mouth) to work or be any use to you at all. Then it becomes a burden because you have to feed it to keep it alive.

Well, a white elephant is worse.

Much worse.

A white elephant, you see, is such a good looking animal kept in ancient courts in southern Asia for entertainment. They’re elegant but also cost a lot to keep, as high flying entertainers can be high maintenance. Top-tier Hollywood actors, for example, charges more than 10 million bucks per movie, so there.

Anyways, according to legend, as explained by Phrase.org:

White (albino) elephants were regarded as holy in ancient times in Thailand and other Asian countries. Keeping a white elephant was a very expensive undertaking, since the owner had to provide the elephant with special food and provide access for people who wanted to worship it. If a Thai King became dissatisfied with a subordinate, he would give him a white elephant. The gift would, in most cases, ruin the recipient.

So, after all, not all gifts are created equal, it seems, and they’re not all free.

Anyways, in short, a white elephant gift can be much worse than any gift horse – because literally the elephant is much bigger, more elegant and can be much more ruinous.

The moral? Avoid gift horses whenever you can but above all, and avoid playing with kings and emperors at all costs.

Alright? All right, let’s read a few media examples:

1. ALLEGATIONS that the International Business School is a “white elephant” which is costing the Isle of Man too much to operate were strongly challenged in Tynwald yesterday by the government.

Education Minister Eddie Teare defended the government’s position, stating that a senior official from the John Moores University in Liverpool who had recently visited the Island was highly complimentary about the way the IBS was functioning at The Nunnery, including the quality of the degree courses and very high number of passes.

Onchan MHK Peter Karran alleged there was a government “cover up” on the true position concerning the running costs and asked a series of questions about how the IBS operated compared to the Isle of Man College of Further Education. “Are we getting value for money for taxpayers?” he asked. “It is costing us long millions of pounds.”

- MHK claims International Business School is a "white elephant costing millions of pounds", IsleOfMan.com, January 19, 2011.

上一頁 1 2 下一頁

 

分享到

中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津版權(quán)說明:凡注明來源為“中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津:XXX(署名)”的原創(chuàng)作品,除與中國日報網(wǎng)簽署英語點津內(nèi)容授權(quán)協(xié)議的網(wǎng)站外,其他任何網(wǎng)站或單位未經(jīng)允許不得非法盜鏈、轉(zhuǎn)載和使用,違者必究。如需使用,請與010-84883561聯(lián)系;凡本網(wǎng)注明“來源:XXX(非英語點津)”的作品,均轉(zhuǎn)載自其它媒體,目的在于傳播更多信息,其他媒體如需轉(zhuǎn)載,請與稿件來源方聯(lián)系,如產(chǎn)生任何問題與本網(wǎng)無關(guān);本網(wǎng)所發(fā)布的歌曲、電影片段,版權(quán)歸原作者所有,僅供學習與研究,如果侵權(quán),請?zhí)峁┌鏅?quán)證明,以便盡快刪除。

中國日報網(wǎng)雙語新聞

掃描左側(cè)二維碼

添加Chinadaily_Mobile
你想看的我們這兒都有!

中國日報雙語手機報

點擊左側(cè)圖標查看訂閱方式

中國首份雙語手機報
學英語看資訊一個都不能少!

關(guān)注和訂閱

本文相關(guān)閱讀
人氣排行
熱搜詞
 
 
精華欄目
 

閱讀

詞匯

視聽

翻譯

口語

合作

 

關(guān)于我們 | 聯(lián)系方式 | 招聘信息

Copyright by chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved. None of this material may be used for any commercial or public use. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. 版權(quán)聲明:本網(wǎng)站所刊登的中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津內(nèi)容,版權(quán)屬中國日報網(wǎng)所有,未經(jīng)協(xié)議授權(quán),禁止下載使用。 歡迎愿意與本網(wǎng)站合作的單位或個人與我們聯(lián)系。

電話:8610-84883645

傳真:8610-84883500

Email: languagetips@chinadaily.com.cn

<strong id="xdwva"><div id="xdwva"></div></strong>
<label id="xdwva"></label>

<thead id="xdwva"></thead>
    <label id="xdwva"></label>

  1. 日本高清色视频在线视频在,国产香蕉97碰碰视频碰碰看,丰满少妇av无码区,精品无码专区在线,久久无码专区免费看,四虎欧美精品永久地址99,亚洲色无码一区二区三区 久久九九久精品国产日韩经典 国产国语国拍精品 啊v在线观看高清无码 视频一区二区欧美 久久精品爱爱唉爱