When the cat's away, the mice will play.
山中无老虎,猴子称霸王。
When the cat's away, the mice will play.直译过来就是:“猫儿不在家,耗子就会出来活动”,这个短语的正确意思是:“山中无老虎,猴子称霸王”。因此,当美国人说"When the cat's away, the mice will play."时,他/她要表达的意思就是:"The subordinates will do as they like when the superior is away."、"The weak will become active without the strong."。
情景对白:
Shirley: Do you know the boss's assistant has criticized a few colleagues today just for some trivial things? We should take care.
雪莉:你知道吗?老板助理今天因为一些小事批评了几个同事。我们最好当心点。
Jane: Yeah. The boss is away at the moment. When the cat's away, the mice will play.
简:是啊,现在老板不在,山中无老虎,猴子称霸王。
搭配句积累:
①Now the project should be in the charge of an assistant for the boss is on a business trip.
老板出差了,现在这个项目竟然由一个助理负责。
②The staff become too casual without the boss there.
老板不在,员工们越来越散漫了。
③She turned down our application for more technical personnel without asking the boss.
她没问过老板,就拒绝了我们要更多多技术人员的申请。
④A little secretry should dare yell at us.
一个小小的秘书居然敢冲我们大吼。