美國習慣用語 第820: break one's back

昨天我接到我妹妹的電話。她告訴我，她男朋友這才第一個星期到諮詢公司上班，就已經忙得見不到人了！她說這間公司把人女人當男人用，男人當牲口用，她男朋友每天都工作到晚上12點，還得把工作帶回家，非常辛苦。這讓我想到了一個習慣用語，那就是：break one's back.

我們知道，break這個詞本身是“打碎”的意思，而break one's back,背都打碎了，引申的意思就是“非常辛苦地工作”。

我妹妹的男朋友工作非常辛苦，working as a consultant in this company will break your back. 在這間諮詢公司上班非常辛苦。

下面這個例句是一個兒子談到他媽媽爲子女所作的犧牲。讓我們來聽聽看：

例句-1：Mom always wanted my sister and me to enjoy a better life than she had. That meant working two jobs for many years to afford what we needed. She broke her back. But, as a result, I became a surgeon and my sister a concert pianist. We would never have become so successful without our mother's great sacrifices.

這段話是說：媽媽一直希望我和妹妹能過上比她更好的生活。她多年來一直身兼兩份工作來滿足我們的所需。她一直非常辛苦。但是現在，我成了一名外科醫生，而我妹妹成了一名鋼琴演奏家。如果沒有媽媽的犧牲，我們絕不可能取得這樣的成功。

是啊。母親爲孩子的犧牲真的很讓人感動。這也是美國很多第一代移民的處境。他們爲了讓子女享受到他們沒有享受到的生活，一生都非常辛苦地工作。The parents of immigrant families are willing to break their backs in order to give their kids a better life. 移民家庭的父母非常辛苦地工作, 想讓孩子過上更好的生活。

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上面我們談到很多人辛勤工作，但是啊，也有恰恰相反的人。有些人，從來都不願意付出一點努力。我們來聽聽下面這個例子：

例句-2：My neighbor across the street is one of the laziest people I know. Just about every day, he's out drinking beer on his front porch. Yet his house is falling apart and his yard is full of junk. It would take a lot of effort to get the place in good condition. Unfortunately, I can't imagine him ever breaking his back.

這段話是說：住在對面的鄰居是我見過的最懶的人。他每天在門口走廊上喝啤酒，可房子卻是東倒西歪，院子裏堆滿了垃圾。要把那裏清理乾淨得花好大功夫。不過，我可無法想象他會辛苦地去整理。

自己家的院子都不願意收拾，可真夠懶的！在這裏，我們也可以用neck, 來代替，"break one's neckK" 一樣也是辛苦工作的意思。I can't imagine him break his neck for anything! 我想沒有什麼能讓他去辛勤工作。