第一次看到“keep one’s finger on the pulse”一下想到的是中醫(yī)里的“把脈”。其實(shí)，人身上可直接用手指探查的脈搏不止手腕一處。歐美槍?xiě)?zhàn)片，警匪片中我們也常常會(huì)看到將手指按在脖子兩側(cè)確定人是否存活的場(chǎng)景。所以，英語(yǔ)中用這個(gè)短語(yǔ)來(lái)表示“摸清情況，了解行情，了解趨勢(shì)”也就不奇怪了。

A: What’s your favourite TV programme.

B: I love American Idol. I watch Idol all the time because it helps me keep my finger on the pulse of American pop culture and music. 我很喜歡“美國(guó)偶像”節(jié)目，我一直在看這個(gè)節(jié)目，因?yàn)樗茏屛視r(shí)刻感受到美國(guó)流行文化和音樂(lè)的潮流。

類(lèi)似的意思我們還可以說(shuō)：This is a program which keeps it’s finger on the pulse of global trends and entertainment industry. 這是一檔把握全球流行趨勢(shì)和娛樂(lè)脈搏的節(jié)目。

再來(lái)看幾個(gè)表示“摸清情況”的例子：

I'm just new at this game. I've only just started to keep my finger on the pulse. 在這一行我還是個(gè)新手。到目前為止我還沒(méi)摸透行情。

The chairman does his best to keep his finger on the pulse of his company’s activities. 董事長(zhǎng)竭盡全力去掌握他的公司各項(xiàng)活動(dòng)的確切情況。

A successful politician is one who keeps his finger on the pulse of the electorate. 一位成功的政治家是一個(gè)對(duì)選民有深刻了解的人。

If you want to know what's happening on the social scene, ask Jane. She has her finger on the pulse and can tell you who's going to be there. 如果你想知道社交聚會(huì)的情況，就去問(wèn)簡(jiǎn)。她是消息靈通人士，能告訴你哪些人會(huì)到場(chǎng)。

本期內(nèi)容我們就介紹到這里。期待與您相約下期口語(yǔ)課堂。

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