又中又英 | Horses for courses | 褚简宁

　　Many Hong Kong people eat, sleep, and breathe horse racing. Some even spend much of their waking hours looking at the racing pages of newspapers to compare the horses, how they perform in different types of weather, and suggestions by newspaper racing experts. If you eat, sleep, and breathe something, it means you are extremely interested or passionate about it. Many people eat, sleep, and breathe sports. Your waking hours refer to the time when you are not sleeping. The waking hours of most people are during the day except for those on overnight duty who sleep during the day.

　　Almost 100,000 people packed the Sha Tin Racecourse last Thursday for the first racing day of the Year of the Horse hoping for good luck and prosperity. I know very little about horse racing. Will this Year of the Horse make even more people eat, sleep, and breathe horse racing in the hope that the Horse Year will make them win? I don't know, but the Year of the Horse reminded me of the idiom horses for courses. The word "courses" has several meanings, but in the idiom horses for courses it means the condition of a particular racecourse a horse runs on.

　　The original meaning of the idiom is that a racehorse performs best on a racecourse that it is specifically suited for. But the idiom now also means it is important to choose suitable people for a particular activity or job because everyone has different skills. It is not horses for courses to choose a journalist like me to ride racehorses! I would instantly fall off!

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　　许多香港人全心投入（eat, sleep, and breathe）赛马之中，有些人甚至连醒着的时间（waking hours）都多半用来看报章马经，去比较不同的马匹，牠们在各种天气下的表现，阅读报章专业马评人的建议。若你eat, sleep, and breathe something，意即你对某事物非常热衷，像吃饭、睡觉、呼吸那样重要。许多人对体育相当痴迷（eat, sleep, and breathe sports）。你的waking hours就是你睡眠以外的时间，大部分人的waking hours都是日间，除了要通宵工作的人，需要在白天睡觉。

　　上星期四，差不多有十万人挤满了沙田马场，希望在马年首个赛马日迎来好运又发财。我对赛马所知不多。这个马年，不知会否令更多人醉心于（eat, sleep, and breathe）赛马中，期望马年令他们赢大钱？我不知道。不过马年让我想到了成语horses for courses。Courses有不同的意思，但在成语horses for courses中，是指给马匹赛跑的特定赛道的状况。

　　这个成语的原意是马匹在适合牠的赛道上，才能有最优秀的表现。然而，这个成语现在也用来说要知人善任，让合适的人去做合适的活动或工作，方能发挥所长，因为每个人有不同的技能。选一个像我这样的新闻工作者去赛马，就不是horses for courses了！我会马上堕马！

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻