我昨天跟同事争得面红耳赤。美国联邦最高法院明明是11位大法官，可她非说只有9个。我还理直气壮地说人家连这点基本常识都没有。
结果一查，才知道，原来真是9个，是我自己错了。这也让我想起一个可以跟大家分享的习惯用语，叫：swallow one’s pride. Swallow是吞咽，pride是骄傲。
从字面上看，swallow one’s pride，意思是吞下自己的骄傲，引伸为放下自尊，忍气吞声。
本来嘛，最高法院明明只有9个大法官，我却很无知地非说有11个，最后也只好忍气吞声地承认自己错了。You had to swallow my pride and admitted that I was wrong. Yes, I did.
在下面这个例子里，意大利厨师罗伯特好象跟我有类似遭遇。不过人家处理得可比我强多了。我们一起听。
例句-1：Chef Roberto has received almost every honor for his Italian cooking. Yet, despite his years of experience, he accidentally cut his finger on live television last week. He could have pretended that nothing had happened. Instead he swallowed his pride, joking that even he makes mistakes from time to time.
这段话意思是：罗伯特厨师凭借一手意大利厨艺，几乎赢过所有烹调比赛。尽管他有如此丰富的经验，上星期还是不小心在电视上切破了手指。他本来可以装得若无其事，可他没有这样做，而是放下自尊心，开玩笑说，就连他，也会时不时犯点儿错误。
或许，这样做反而更能得到大家的尊重。不久前，日本丰田汽车公司发现，已经出厂的数百万辆汽车都有毛病，于是， They swqllowed their pride，宣布召回这些车辆，免费检修。
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我打电子游戏，早就不是八岁女儿的对手了，认输成了家常便饭，但是下面例子里这个当舅舅的，下棋输给七岁的侄子，却感到十分意外。让我们听听他是怎么说的：
例句-2：When my seven-year-old nephew begged me to play chess, I indulged him. My plan was to let him take out a few of my pieces to build his confidence. Imagine when he checkmated me within four moves! That was humiliating. I’m not used to swallowing my pride, but I had to admit defeat and congratulate him.
这个人说：我七岁的侄子求我跟他下棋，我同意陪他下一盘。我本来打算让他几个子儿，帮他建立点自信心。谁知道，他只走了四步，就将了我的军。太丢人了。我虽然不习惯忍气吞声地放下自尊，但还是不得不认输，并向他表示祝贺。
其实这不算什么。我有个朋友，准备求婚的前一天，被女朋友甩了，He had to swallow his pride and return the engagement ring. 他不得不放下自尊，回到珠宝店，把订婚戒指退掉。