〈 職人英語通〉牽著鼻子走 Lead someone by the nose

文／Dr.J.J.

中文裡如果說某人被別人牽著鼻子走，常是指這人好像是被別人當作牛一般使喚。無可諱言，當牛鼻子上的鐵環被人一拉，牛也只能乖乖地跟著拉牠的人走。

然而在英文裡，剛好也有類似的說法，而且也同樣是用鼻子（nose）被牽引（lead）來形容。

Eason：I’ m really losing my enthusiasm working at this company.

Eason：我真的快要沒有熱忱繼續待在這家公司了。

Angela：You’ re not happy about the pay here?

Angela：你是對待遇不滿意嗎？

Eason：No, it’ s got nothing to do with my salary.

Eason：不是，這跟我的待遇完全無關。

Angela：So it must be the fact of having too much work load!

Angela：那一定是工作量太大了！

Eason：No, you know that I always like challenges.

Eason：也不是，你知道我一向都很喜歡接受挑戰的。

Angela：So why are you feeling this way?

Angela：那你怎麼會有這種感覺呢？

Eason：It’ s all because of my boss.

Eason：原因在於我老闆。

Angela：He’ s too demanding?

Angela：他要求太多嗎？

Eason：Yes and no. I don’ t mind being given a lot of work, but I have my own way doing things. I just hate to be led by the nose all the time and told to do things exactly the way he wants me to.

Eason：也對，也不對。我不介意別人給我很多工作，但是我有自己做事的方式。我只是受夠了老是被牽著鼻子走，然後被要求完全照他的方式來做事。

Angela： I think you should sit down with him for a chat so he knows how frustrated you are with all that.

Angela：我想你應該坐下來跟他好好聊聊，這樣他才會知道你對這些事有多沮喪。

來源：自由時報

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