你Hold得住吗?

时下“hold住”一词爆红网络，“hold”一词有“掌握、控制”的意思，而“hold住”就是指要控制住整个场面。在英语中，关于“hold”的词组也有不少，本期的《小词大义》就让我们来一探究竟。

“Can’t hold a candle to” is a popular expression. It is from the time before electricity, when people used candles for light. Someone who lived in a big house would have a servant light his way by holding a candle. The expression meant that the person who cannot hold a candle to you is not fit even to be your servant. Now, it means such a person cannot compare or compete. In the following song, singer Dolly Parton tells her new love that her old flames, her old lovers, cannot compare with him. (Song—“Old flames can’t hold a candle to you. No one can light up the night like you do.”)

电器发明之前，英国人和中国人一样只能靠蜡烛来照明。工匠在晚上做工时，会叫学徒给他拿着蜡烛；有钱人晚上从酒馆、戏院回家时，也有仆人拿着火把引路。仆人和主人的身份本来就很悬殊了，如果连做人家的仆人、给人家拿蜡烛都不配的话，那么双方在地位、能力等方面一定相差很远。因此，人们现在往往用“can’t hold a candle to”来表达“远逊于，简直不能与……相比”的意思。

Another expression is “hold your tongue”. It means to be still and not talk. “Hold your tongue” is not something you would tell a friend. But a parent or teacher might use the expression to quiet a noisy child.

“Hold out” is another expression one hears often in sports reports and labor news. It means to refuse to play or work. Professional football and baseball players hold out if their team refuses to pay them what they think they are worth. Members of labor unions hold out and refuse to work until they get the work agreement they want.

The expression “hold up” has several different meanings. One is a robbery. A man with a gun may say, “This is a hold up. Give me your money.” Another meaning is to delay. A driver late for work may tell his boss, “I was held up by heavy traffic.” Someone who was robbed on the way to work might say, “Sorry, boss, I was held up by a hold up.”

Still another meaning of the expression is for a story to be considered true after an investigation. The same driver late for work could say, “My boss did not believe a hold up held me up. But the police confirmed what I said, so my story held up.”

“Hold on” is another expression. It often means wait or stop. As you leave for school, your brother may say, “Hold on, you forgot your book.”

Our final expression is “hold the line”. That means to keep a problem or situation from getting worse, to hold steady. For example, the president may say he will hold the line on taxes. He means there will be no increase in taxes. Now, I must hold the line on this program. I have no more time left today.

从字面上来理解，“hold your tongue”就是“管好你的舌头”的意思，言下之意，就是叫人闭嘴，谨言慎行。这个词组通常用于长辈对晚辈的训诫，而不用于同辈之间。

“Hold out”经常出现在体育新闻或劳工新闻中，是“罢工”的意思。在体育新闻中，如果球队拒绝在工资上体现出球员自认的价值，球员就会拒绝出赛，工会成员也会罢工直到得到满意的劳工合同。