1. straight from the shoulder 直截了當(dāng)，一針見(jiàn)血

大約一百年前straight from the shoulder成為習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)，用來(lái)指直截了當(dāng)、開(kāi)誠(chéng)布公的說(shuō)話方式，而且這樣說(shuō)話是不顧慮是否會(huì)傷害對(duì)方感情的。例如：

Boy, Nancy is sure mad at me! I told her straight from the shoulder this man she wants to marry is no good and she’d be making a terrible mistake. Now she won’t even speak to me.

唉，Nancy一定生我的氣了!我直截了當(dāng)?shù)貙?duì)她說(shuō)她想嫁的那人一無(wú)是處，她看錯(cuò)了人。現(xiàn)在，她連理都不理我了。

2. pull no punches 直言相告

有時(shí)拳擊手會(huì)因?yàn)槭止鞘軅惖脑虿挥昧羧@就叫做pull the punches，但是通常拳擊手在比賽時(shí)出拳一定會(huì)竭盡全力，那就是pull no punches。逐漸人們用pull no punches來(lái)比喻盡管忠言逆耳也毫無(wú)保留地說(shuō)出實(shí)情。例如：

When I saw my brother Joe turning into an alcoholic, I pulled no punches -- I told him to think of his wife and kids, stop drinking and go out and find a job.

我看到我弟弟Joe成了個(gè)酒鬼，立刻毫不留情地正告他，要為妻子和孩子著想，讓他立刻戒酒并出去找個(gè)工作。

3. lay it on the line 把話放到桌面上

Lay it on the line可能是這樣，把一大筆賭注放在賭臺(tái)上，孤注一擲，盡其所有地做最后較量，就叫做lay it on the line，現(xiàn)在也可以當(dāng)作“最后通牒、攤派”的意思來(lái)用。例如：

I’m fed up with George -- he doesn’t do half as much work as the others. So I called him in and laid it on the line -- either he starts doing his work like anybody else or we fire him at the end of the month.

我可受夠了George，他干的活還沒(méi)旁人一半多。所以我叫他來(lái)跟他把話都說(shuō)明白了，要不跟別人一樣好好工作，要不就在月底走人。

4. let it all hang out 開(kāi)誠(chéng)布公，挑明

Hang是掛的意思，let it all hang out如果直譯就是“把什么都掛出來(lái)。” 換句話說(shuō)就是“把什么都挑明了。例如：

We agreed to forget our feelings and let it all hang out. Susan told me everything she didn’t like about me and I told her what annoyed me about her. You know, it really cleared the air for both of us.

我倆同意心平氣和地把話都挑明了說(shuō)。Susan說(shuō)出了我所有那些讓她看不順眼的事情，而我也跟她講了她會(huì)令我不快的做法。知道嗎，這真的使我們之間的誤會(huì)煙消云散了。