95．吃乌鸦

［词语］to eat crow

［含义］被迫收回已说过的话；被迫认输；忍受屈辱

［趣释］【经典喻指】1812年美英战争期间，一名美国士兵因追杀一只受伤的乌鸦误入英军阵地。英国军官听见射击声，他想惩罚这名美国人，但当时身上没带武器，于是，他装出夸奖美国人枪法的样子，要求看一看美国人的枪。等他把美国人的枪骗到手之后，就拿枪逼着美国人吃他打的乌鸦，然后得意地把枪还给美国人，转身准备离开。美国人拿到枪之后，用枪拦住英国人，硬逼着他把剩下的乌鸦全吃完。后来“吃乌鸦”（to eat crow）被人们用来喻指被迫收回已经说过的话、被迫认输、忍受屈辱。

［运用］It was a bitter experience for him to eat crow after the election results proved his prediction to be clearly inaccurate． 大选的结果，证明他的预测显然很不准确，他只好承认错误，这对他是一次惨痛的经历。

He is a proud person, and it was a bitter experience for him to eat crow in public． 他是个高傲的人，当众认错对他来说就是奇耻大辱。

His predictions were completely wrong, and he had to eat crow． 他的预测完全错误，他不得不认错。

I can't sing well, so I don't want to eat crow in front of the classmates． 我五音不全，可不想在同学面前唱歌出洋相。