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Believe it or not, the English language has about 25,000 idiomatic expressions.
不管你信不信，英语中大约有两万五千种地道表达。
And some of the oldest ones have very interesting histories.
一些最古老的表达有着非常有趣的历史。
Today our question involves an expression from early English literature.
今天我们的问题涉及到一个早期英国文学中的表达。
It comes from Dimitrije in Serbia. Here is what he writes:
问题来自于塞尔维亚的Dimitrije。下面是她写的问题：
What is the exact meaning of the word "doornail"?
“doornail”这个单词的确切意思是什么？
That word comes from Shakespeare's idiom "as dead as a doornail."
这个词来自莎士比亚的俚语“as dead as a doornail”。
I'm not sure about what the idiom means and when it is used.
我不确定这个俚语是什么意思，也不知道该怎么用。
Hello, Dimitrije. That is a great question!
你好Dimitrije，这个问题问的非常好。
One of the best things about teaching is that students ask questions teachers don't know the answers to.
教学中最棒的事情之一就是学生会问老师不知道答案的问题。
We have to look for the information and, in the process, we learn things, too. Here is what I learned:
我查阅了一些资料，也学到了不少，以下是我的发现：
The expression "as dead as a doornail" is older than William Shakespeare.
“as dead as a doornail”这种表达甚至比莎士比亚都要古老。
One of its earliest known uses was in a poem by the 14th century English writer William Langland.
它最早的用法是在14世纪英国作家威廉·朗格兰的一首诗中。
Knowing the meaning of "doornail" will help us understand this idiom.
了解“doornail”的意思可以帮助我们理解这个习语。
Doornails are very large nails that, in early times, were used to strengthen doors.
门钉是非常大的钉子，之前常被用来加固门。
Workers hit the nails into doors and the sharp end came out the other side.
工人们把钉子敲进门里，尖头从门的另一边钻出来。
The worker then flattened the sharp metal with a hammer to make each nail secure.
然后工人用锤子把锋利的金属压平，使每个钉子都牢固。
There are two theories about why doornails were called "dead."
关于门钉为什么被称为“dead”有两种说法。
One says that, after they were repeatedly hit, the nails became unusable for any other purpose.
有人说，这些钉子被反复敲击后，就不能再用于任何其他用途了。
Another says that the force and number of times these nails were hit "killed" them, making them "dead."
另一种说法是，敲钉子的力度和次数“杀死”了他们，使他们“死了”。
Whichever explanation is true, "as dead as a doornail" simply means this: totally and completely dead.
无论哪种解释是正确的，“as dead as a doornail”的意思都是：完全、彻底地死了。
The expression was common in England by the 16th century.
这种表达在16世纪的英国很常见。
Today, the expression is not often heard, especially in American English.
现在这个表达已经不常见了，尤其是在美式英语中。
But, making comparisons of equality with the word "as" is still common in American English.
但是在美式英语中，用“as”来比喻平等仍然很常见。
One way we do this is with the structure as + adjective + as.
一种表达结构是“as+形容词+as”。
For example: I am as tall as my father.
例如：I am as tall as my father. 我和我爸爸一样高。
Here's another example: Your food is as good as it was years ago.
再比如：Your food is as good as it was years ago. 你的饭菜和几年前一样好。
When we use the as + adjective + as structure in expressions, we call them "similes."
我们也可以用“as+形容词+as”的结构来表达比喻。
Here is an example of a commonly used simile: as light as a feather.
这里有一个常用的明喻的例子：“as light as a feather——轻如鸿毛”。
Here's another example: as happy as a clam.
再比如：“as happy as a clam 非常开心，高兴极了”。
And, sometimes similes involve humor, such as "as exciting as watching paint dry," which means: not exciting at all.
而且，有时明喻包含幽默，比如“as exciting as watching paint dry”，意思是一点也不兴奋。
And that's Ask a Teacher.
以上就是今日名师答疑的全部内容。
I'm Alice Bryant.
我是艾莉丝·布莱恩特。
