又中又英 | Animal idioms | 褚簡寧

　　During my younger days in Hong Kong, I tried hard to get the monkey off my back. But the harder I tried, the more difficult it became. I finally decided to go cold turkey. Some of you may be confused with what I just wrote. Many English idioms use the names of animals and birds, such as “a sitting duck” or “in the doghouse”.  If you are a sitting duck, it means you are vulnerable or are defenseless against danger or an attack. Companies are sitting ducks if they don’t protect their computer systems against cyberattacks.

　　If you are in the doghouse, it means you are in trouble or someone, such as your boss, is angry with you. To get the monkey off your back means dealing with a troublesome problem that is making you unhappy because it is hard to overcome. I smoked a lot of cigarettes during my younger days. So did my friends. It was a troublesome addiction that I knew was bad for my health. A classmate got throat cancer from smoking. Surgery luckily saved his life, but he still has difficulty talking.

　　I tried hard but couldn’t get the monkey off my back. I decided to go cold turkey. To go cold turkey, as I have explained before, means to suddenly stop a habit, such as smoking, even though it causes some suffering. I was lucky because going cold turkey didn’t make me suffer too much. I have not smoked since. Some friends are social smokers, which means smoking only during social occasions. I did that a few times in recent years but stopped because I knew it was still bad for my health.

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　　我從前在香港還年輕之時，曾努力嘗試「弄走我背上的猴子」（get the monkey off my back），但我越努力越變得困難，最終決定來個「冷火雞」（cold turkey）。你們好些人讀着我剛剛所寫的，大概讀得一頭霧水吧。許多英文成語都會用上動物和雀鳥，例如“a sitting duck”又或是“in the doghouse”。若你是“a sitting duck”，意即你像一隻呆坐待宰的鴨子，很脆弱，又或面對危險或攻擊毫無自衛能力。如果企業不保護自己的電腦系統，防範網絡攻擊，那它們就會成為容易被攻擊的活靶子（sitting ducks）。

　　若你是“in the doghouse”，意即你惹禍了，又或惹怒了某人，例如你的老闆。To get the monkey off your back是指去擺脫一個長久以來令你不快的困擾，因為它難以克服。我年輕的時候抽煙抽得很兇，我的朋友們也是。這是一個很棘手的癮頭，我知道這對自己身體不好。一個同班同學因為抽煙而得了咽喉癌，幸運地透過手術撿回一命，但他現時說話仍有困難。

　　我當時曾經很努力，卻仍然未能去掉這個令我困擾的難題（get the monkey off my back），我最終決定要go cold turkey——to go cold turkey，正如我以前解說過的，是指突然戒掉一個習慣，例如吸煙，即使那帶來一些痛苦。我很幸運，因為突然戒煙（cold turkey）並沒有令我受多大的苦，自那時起我便沒有再抽過煙。一些朋友是social smokers，意即只在社交場合才會抽煙。我近年曾那樣做過幾次，不過也停止了，因為我知道那仍然有損我的健康。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻