Americans have used colors to create many expressions they use every day.
We say you’re ‘in the pink’ when we are in good health. It is easy to understand how this expression was born. When my face has a nice fresh, pink color, it is a sign my health is good.
The color green is natural for trees, it is an unnatural color for humans. When someone doesn’t feel well, someone who is sick, for example, we say he ‘looks green’. When someone is angry because he doesn’t have what someone else has, we say he is ‘green with envy’.
Some people are ‘green with envy’ because someone else has more dollars, or ‘green backs’. Dollars are called ‘greenbacks’ because that’s the color of the backside of the money.
Blue is a cool color. The traditional blue music of American blacks is the opposite of red hot music. It is slow, sad and soulful ( 深情的 ). To be blue, of course, is to be sad.
The color black is often used in expressions. People describe a day in which everything grows wrong as a ‘black day’. A ‘black sheep’ is the member of a family or group who always seems to be in trouble. If someone meets a ‘black cat’, something unlucky might happen to him. Not all the ‘black’ expressions have bad meaning. A company ‘in the red’ is losing money. If someone tells you to put someone ‘in black and white’, they want you to write it down.
( ) 1. After reading the passage, we can infer ( 推断 ) if someone ‘looks grey’, he _______.
A. looks well B. may need a doctor
C. is healthy D. is ‘in the pink’
( )2. I was really _________ when I saw his nice new car.
A. red B. blue C. green D. black
( )3. Which of the following is true?
A. A company surely likes to be ‘in the red’.
B. All the color expressions in the passage come from Britain English.
C. Not all the ‘black’ expressions have bad meanings.
D. Dollars are called ‘greenbacks’ because they have trees on the backside.