My mother put her foot down.
    對(duì)話
    David: Let's go and have a coffee together.
    Susan: I'm sorry I can't, I've got to go home now.
    David: Why? It's only half past nine. The night is young!
    Susan: Well, I've stayed out late so often that my mother put her
    foot down yesterday and told me I've got to be in by ten in future.
    David: I'm sorry to hear that. She must be really strict.
    戴維：我們?nèi)ズ缺Х劝伞?BR>    蘇珊：對(duì)不起，我不能去，現(xiàn)在得回家了。
    戴維：為什么？現(xiàn)在不過(guò)九點(diǎn)半，還早哩。
    蘇珊：嗯，我常常晚回家，昨天家母斷然禁止，叫我以后十點(diǎn)鐘之前回到家里。
    戴維：真可惜。她一定是個(gè)很?chē)?yán)格的人。
    蘇珊說(shuō)母親斷然禁止她晚回家：My mother put her foot down。從前，to put/set one's foot down這成語(yǔ)習(xí)慣和on (something)連用，即‘用腳踩著/壓著某事物’，引申解作‘?dāng)嗳唤乖撌挛铩?；現(xiàn)在，一般只說(shuō)to put/set one's foot down，指‘拿定主意’，仍多用于‘阻止某事發(fā)生’或‘要人家服從’的情況，例如：(1) My daughter wanted to get a job, but I put my foot down and insisted on her going to college（我女兒想找工作，但我堅(jiān)決反對(duì)，要她上大學(xué)）。(2) You must put your foot down and stop your staff playing computer games during office hours（你必須堅(jiān)決禁止職員在辦公時(shí)間玩計(jì)算機(jī)游戲）。
    戴維說(shuō)：The night is young。young可以解作‘（夜晚、季節(jié)等）尚早’，例如The winter/afternoon was still young即‘那時(shí)才是初冬’、‘那時(shí)午后不久’。要說(shuō)‘（夜晚、季節(jié)等）已深’，則怎么說(shuō)？你可以用advanced一字。Advanced和young一樣，常用來(lái)指人的年齡，例如：People (who are) advanced in years (=People of advanced years) are more liable to heart attacks（年紀(jì)大的人，心臟病突發(fā)的比率較高）。用advanced來(lái)說(shuō)季節(jié)等，自然有比喻含義，例如：(1) He did not leave till the night was well advanced（他到夜深才離去）。(2) With spring fairly advanced, the trees are mostly in full leaf（現(xiàn)在已是深春，樹(shù)木多已長(zhǎng)滿綠葉）。留意in leaf是成語(yǔ)，指‘長(zhǎng)出葉子’，單數(shù)形式的leaf不可改為復(fù)數(shù)的leaves。