「美國習慣用語」第三十四講
to put all his eggs in one basket
雞蛋也是一些美國俗語的組成部份。要是一個人把他所有的錢都當做賭注，想冒險發財，這在中文裏是“孤注一擲”，在英文裏就是：to put all his eggs in one basket. Eggs就是雞蛋，one basket就是一隻籃子。 To put all his eggs in one basket的意思就是把所有的雞蛋放在一隻籃子裏，這樣是很冒險的。我們來舉個例子:
例句-1: If you want to play the stock market, it's smarter to divide your money and buy three or four different stocks instead of putting the whole amount into just one stock and putting all your eggs in one basket.
這個人說：“要是你想玩股票，你最好是把你的錢分開來買三、四種不同的股票，這是比較聰敏的作法。你千萬不要把所有的錢都買一種股票。”
To put all your eggs in one basket不僅可以用在經濟方面，它還可以用在其他方面。下面這句句子就是一個例子：
例句-2: Going steady in high school with only one member of opposite sex is a mistake. Go out with several people -- don't put all your eggs in one basket.
這是說：“在中學裏只交一個男朋友，或一個女朋友，那是錯誤的。應該多交朋友，而不要把自己局限在一個人身上。”
烏鴉是人們都討厭的鳥，它又大又黑，叫的聲音既粗又難聽。烏鴉的肉也老得沒法吃。可是，有一個美國俗語偏偏就是“吃烏鴉”: to eat crow. Eat就是吃，crow就是烏鴉。烏鴉肉根本是沒法吃的，因此要一個人吃烏鴉，那肯定是非常難受的。這也正是to eat crow這個俗語的意思。 To eat crow的確切意思是一個人把自己弄得很丟臉，因為他犯了一個很難堪的錯誤，而又不得不承認。也許舉個例子能夠更好地說明to eat crow的意思：
例句-3: That man running for mayor went around bragging he'd win the election by a big 50,000 majority. But he had to eat crow when the woman running against him won by more than 60,000 votes.
這句話的意思是：“那個競選市長的人到處吹噓說他肯定能得到大多數選民的擁護，以五萬張選票當選市長。可是，現在他很丟臉，因為那位和他一起競選的女候選人最後獲得六萬多張選票而當選市長。”
可是，愛誇口的人似乎到處都是。下面的一個例子更是可笑:
例句-4: Our neighbor had to eat crow yesterday. He's been telling us what a good tennis player he is. Well, he took my 12-year-old son out to play and the kid beat him three straight sets.
這個人說：“我們的鄰居真是丟了臉。他老是在我們面前吹噓，說他網球打得多麼多麼好。他昨天帶著我那十二歲的兒子去打網球，結果我兒子以三比零把他打敗了。”