玩「袋鼠」游戏 美国词语故事

"To play possum" means to deceive, to hide the truth.

That men have learned much from the behavior of animals is hardly news. As we all know, the actions of many animals, when threatened, are most interesting to watch. Especially, the smaller ones. The monkey runs for the trees; the turtle retreats into shell; the armadillo rolls up into a ball. And the fox, the smartest of small creatures, can get lost; thus, the expression "to out-fox" somebody.

But the opossum, or possum, as it is often called, has its own special defence. It turns over and plays dead, in a manner of speaking.

The possum does this in the belief that its hunter is not interested in a dead possum, but only in a live one. This, however, is not always true, as many a possum has discovered.

The possum was one of the first wild animals the American colonists in Virginia got to know. They did not know what to call this small animal and asked the Indians for its name.

The colonists had some difficulty in pronouncing the Indian word and came up with "opossum," which then became possum. The Indians gave it their name because of the creature's color. The Indian word meant "white animals, " although most possums are grayish in color.

The early colonists quickly became interested in the imaginative behavior of the possum when it was attacked. The creature put on a good show, acting as if it were dead. It fell to the ground and shut its eyes, sticking its tongue out of a half-open mouth. The possum continued to play dead even while being kicked and beaten or shaken by a dog. Once the danger passed, up he jumped and ran off, to go through the same act somewhere else, some other day.

And so was born the saying, "to play possum," although it took some time to creep into the language. Not until the early 1820's did the expression find its way into print, with these words: "One who counterfeits sickness, or dissembles strongly for a particular purpose, is said to be possuming. "

Some years later, in 1855, it was used this way: "I will play possum with these folks and get a rise out of them that will astonish their weak nerves. "

In time, the expression found its way onto politics, as so many colorful American saying do. By the very nature of their trade, politicians often find that the only way to escape a tight or critical situation is to "play possum"－to act as if they are going one way, whereas really they mean to go in the opposite direction.

It is always possum-time in politics, but more so when the time arrives to think of choosing party nominees for the presidency.

These are days that test a politician. How good is he at playing possum？Everybody knows he is a candidate, how can he hide the fact？Of course, by rolling over and playing dead, showing no interest whatsoever in the great prize, while the other candidates go by and disappear. One traditional way to do this is by issuing statements: "I am not a candidate. " "I will not run. " "I do not seek the office."

Even if nobody believes the accuracy of the statements, many enjoy the show. It is a good one. "Playing possum" always is.

注解：
to play possum　"possum" 为美洲产小袋鼠，全句意为装死；装傻
deceive　欺骗
behavior　行为
hardly　其实不是
threatened　受到威胁
turtle　龟
retreat　内缩
armadillo　犰狳
out-fox　以计取胜
opossum　即possum
special defense　特别防御法
turn over　翻倒
hunter　猎人，掠食者
colonist　殖民者
pronouncing　发音
grayish　灰色的
imaginative　富想像力的
fall to the ground　倒在地上
sticking its tongue　伸出舌头
up he jumped　等於he jumped up他一跃而起
creep　爬行
counterfeit　假冒；伪装
dissemble　掩饰；假装
get a rise out of　哄骗
possum-time　装傻的时机
seek the office　参选官职
accuracy　准确；真实性