109．船梁头朝上

［词语］on one's beam-ends

［含义］处于险境；一筹莫展；经济十分窘迫

［趣释］【物事喻指】船舶的横梁（beams）支撑着甲板，连接两舷。在风平浪静时，船梁是平衡的。如遇狂风巨浪倾斜时，横梁一端朝上，一端朝下，整艘船就会翻过去。后人们用“某人的船梁头朝上”（on one's beam-ends）来喻指某人船身倾斜、处于险境。此语原为早期海员用语，英国著名作家罗伯特·史蒂文森（Robert Stevenson）在其小说《金银岛》（Treasure Island）以及其他作者使用之后流行起来。现在on one's beam-end 多用于喻指经济上十分窘迫、山穷水尽、一筹莫展，常与to be连用。

［运用］It began to be chill; the tide was rapidly fleeting seaward, the schooner setting more and more on her beam-ends． 天气开始冷起来，潮水也急速退下去，帆船越来越倾斜，船舷差不多碰到水面。（史蒂文森语）

A mumber of large river craft were on their beam-ends for want of water． 由于河里水浅，许多大船都倾斜着。

Brown, the unemployed worker, was on his beam-ends with rheumatism． 失业工人布朗得了风湿病，经济十分困难。

None of his family helped him even though they know he was on his beam-ends． 尽管他的家人知道他山穷水尽，但没有一个人向他伸出援手。