hem and haw

猶豫不決

The ‘You’ is a kind of wild animal which is by nature extremely suspicious.

“猶”是一種野獸，它天生性情非常多疑。

Whenever it hears a sound， it immediately becomes afraid， suspecting that there is a hunter nearby who is trying to catch it， or another animal that wants to harm it. It runs up into a tree and hides， peeking out its head and scanning all around.

不論它在甚么地方找食物，或是散步，一聽到聲音就害怕。它懷疑有獵人要來抓它，或是別的野獸要來害它，就慌張地爬到樹上躲起來。再把頭探出來，偷偷地看。

After a while it climbs back down， looking here and looking there.

過了一會兒，又從樹上跳下來，在地上東張西望地看看那邊。

Only when it is sure that there is nothing around does it finally begin to relax.

一直到什么也沒看見，才定下心來。

But then pretty soon， it will again grow afraid， and running up into a tree， begin the same routine all over again.

但是過了一會兒，它又懹疑起來，就又爬到樹上，在樹上停一會兒，定定心，認為沒有什么危險了，才從樹上跳下來。

Time and time again， the ‘You’ repeats this， with the result that it spends half of its day running up and down trees， and wastes a lot of energy.

就這樣一次又一次地跳上跳下，跳了大半天，總是白費力氣。

So， when someone is very hesitant， and cannot make a decision， others often say of this person that ‘the ’You‘ cannot decide.“

后來的人，因為“猶”天生好疑心，不果斷，所以當一個人處理事情時，沒有主意，不知道怎樣處理，就叫做“猶豫不決”。

英語中“猶豫不決”對應的表達可以用“hem and haw”，在這兒hem和haw這兩個詞都是模擬人們在開口說話前清理嗓子和鼻腔的聲音。我們時而會這樣做，尤其當自己確定不了該說什么才恰當?shù)臅r候，更會如此。久而久之，人們就用hem and haw來描述猶豫不決或者躊躇不前了。

我們來看兩個例子。第一個例子說到個十六歲的男孩正努力說服爸爸讓他去考汽車駕照。我們知道美國不少地區(qū)規(guī)定至少得滿十六足歲才 能開車。

I keep asking dad to let me get my license. But all he does is hem and haw and then end up saying he wants to think it over some more.

我一直要爸爸讓我去考到駕照，但是他總是支支吾吾地，末了又說他還得想想再說。

這位爸爸顯然是下不了決心，害怕剛夠開車年齡的兒子開車闖禍，所以這段話里的hem and haw意思是支吾其詞、拖延猶豫。

我們再看個也用上了hem and haw這個習慣用語的例子。這回是新聞記者在說一名參議員不敢直截了當?shù)鼗卮鹩浾哧P(guān)于他在下屆改選中作何打算的問題。

He keeps hemming and hawing about whether he’ll run for another term. But I‘d bet money that sooner or later he’ll run all right - where else could he get a job as good?

他對自己是否會爭取連任的事再三含糊其辭，但是我敢打賭他一定會參選。他能上哪兒再找到象這么好的工作呀?

這名參議員跟多數(shù)政界人物一樣，說話經(jīng)常會給自己留有余地，不愿意把話說定了。所以這里的hemming and hawing意思也是含糊其辭、不明確表示他的決定。