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"Asleep at the switch" nghĩa là gì?
27 Oct, 2014
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| A girl tries not to fall asleep while studying for her exam. Photo courtesy CollegeDegrees360. |
'Asleep at the switch' có từ asleep nghĩa là đang ngủ, và switch là cái nút để bật hay tắt điện. Thành ngữ này có từ thời thế kỷ thứ 19 để chỉ thiết bị hay cái ghi mà nhân viên hỏa xa dùng để chuyển các đoàn tàu từ đường rầy này sang đường rầy khác. Vì thế nếu nhân viên ngủ gục không chú ý đến việc bẻ ghi thì sẽ xảy ra tai nạn. Bây giờ 'asleep at the switch' có nghĩa là lơ đãng, không chú ý đến công việc của mình.
Ví dụ
When you’re a student, the end of the school year is a difficult time. Teachers have to constantly (luôn luôn) remind (nhắc nhở) you to pay attention in class. After all, if you’re asleep at the switch, you might not pass (không thi đỗ) your final exams.
The tornado (cơn bão lốc) had already destroyed (tàn phá) half of the town before anyone received any warnings. If the local weather forecasters (nhân viên dự báo thời tiết) hadn’t been asleep at the switch, perhaps more lives could have been saved. We can only hope that next time they’ll be more alert (cảnh giác).
Can't help but surmise (ngờ ngợ) Cochran doesn't want to get caught asleep at the switch again after taking it easy in the first months of the general election campaign. Maybe he needs that black vote again.
He praises a local assemblywoman, knocks some local mayors whom he thinks were asleep at the switch and explains why it was time for people in the eastern edges of Chula Vista — including the giant upscale Eastlake community — to stop being in charge of everything.
As long as the GOP controls either the House or the Senate, it can systematically block legislation (quy trình lập pháp), obstruct (làm bế tắc) the president’s agenda, shut down the government (or hold it hostage) and continue its four-year pattern of governing while asleep at the switch. It is like having a Labour prime minister with a Tory parliament.
Huyền Trang
VOA
Bài trước: "Take someone down a peg" nghĩa là gì?
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