译词 | “monkey business”是“猴子生意”？
如果外国朋友突然跟你说“monkey business”，可别翻译成“猴子的生意”。
（图源：视觉中国）
“monkey”除了“猴子”的意思，还有一个意思是“淘气鬼，捣蛋鬼”。
（图源：Cambridge Dictionary）
例句：
They ate all the cakes, the monkeys.
他们吃掉了所有的蛋糕，这些捣蛋鬼。
Hey, put that down, you little monkey!
嘿，放下它，你这个小淘气！
“monkey business”也不能按照字面意思去理解，它的意思其实是“骗人把戏；恶作剧”。
释义：
behaviour that is not acceptable or is dishonest
骗人把戏；恶作剧
例句：
The teacher suspected that there had been some monkey business going on while she was out of the room.
老师怀疑她不在教室里的时候有人搞恶作剧。
“淘气捣蛋”这个意思还能延伸出以下几种表达：
1. monkey around 胡闹，捣蛋
例句：
The children were bored and started monkeying around.
孩子们都感到厌烦了，开始胡闹。
2. monkey around with sth 胡乱触摸；随意改变；随意恶劣对待
例句：
They shouldn't start monkeying around with the Constitution.
他们不应该随意改变宪法。
3. make a monkey out of sb 使（某人）出丑；耍弄，愚弄（某人）
例句：
I'm not going to dance too much at the party because I don't want to make a monkey out of myself in front of my coworkers.
我不想在聚会上跳舞跳得太多，因为我不想在同事面前出洋相。
4. throw a monkey wrench in the works 从中捣乱；破坏计划
例句：
The funding for the project was withdrawn so that really threw a monkey wrench in the works.
项目的资金被撤回，这真的打乱了计划。
其他关于monkey的表达：
I'll be a monkey's uncle! 天哪！哎呀！
not give a monkey's 一点都不在乎，完全无所谓
brass monkey weather 极冷的天气
grease monkey 汽车（或飞机）发动机修理工
monkey nut （尤指尚未去壳的）花生
monkey suit 男子晚礼服
终审｜清欢
