"Hanged for a sheep as a lamb" nghĩa là gì?

Chơi lớn thử một lần. Photo courtesy: chrisevans

"Hanged for a sheep as a lamb" = vẫn bị treo cổ dù là cừu hay là dê -> ai đó sẽ phạm tội nặng hơn vì hình phạt vẫn giữ nguyên. Thành ngữ xuất phát từ hình phạt ngày xưa, khi trộm cừu sẽ xử tội chết.

Ví dụ
Dad said I was to be home from the dance by eleven o’clock, but I enjoyed myself so much that it was midnight before I realized it, so I though I might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb and stopped on till the end.

“Law reform (cải cách) requires more than simply purloining (ăn cắp) another jurisdiction’s legislation (thẩm quyền lập pháp). It is a good way to start of course, we do not have to reinvent (phát minh lại) the wheel, but if we are to steal we may as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb,” she said.

There’s a proverb that applies here. When the English authorities long ago imposed capital punishment for any theft of farm animals, no matter how small, the pilfering (ăn cắp vặt) of the fattest, most valuable livestock went up. If taking any animal was going to get you hanged, “might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb,” the folk wisdom said.

Ngân Nguyễn

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