说到午餐lunch，其表达可不完全和“吃”有关，小伙伴们千万别理解错了。

今天就和大家一起聊聊lunch的相关表达吧。

out to lunch

如果你想表达“带某人出去吃饭”，可以说take sb (out) to lunch。但out to lunch却没有这个意思，真正表达的是“疯狂的，注意力不集中，心不在焉，神志不清”。

例句：

You must have been out to lunch when you wrote that weird report.

当你做这个奇怪的报告的时候，你一定是神志不清的。

It seems that you were out to lunch in class.

你上课时似乎心不在焉。

I'll take you out to lunch when I get back.

我回来后带你出去吃午饭。

lose one's lunch

lose one's lunch是个美式俚语，字面意思是“丢掉了午餐”，实际表达是“呕吐，没胃口”（to throw up/vomit）。你还可以用toss one’s lunch来表达觉得恶心。

例句：

I felt like I was going to lose my lunch from seasickness out on that boat.

我感觉我要因为晕船恶心吐了。

The smell was so disgusting that several people tossed their lunches right then and there.

这味道太恶心了，许多人吐得到处都是。

do lunch

当别人问你要不要do lunch，可千万别理解为让你做饭，这个词的意思是“与某人会面并一起用午餐”（= have lunch together，非正式）。

例句：

I was just calling to see if you wanted to do lunch tomorrow?

我就是想打来问下明天是否有时间一起吃午饭？

Say, let's do lunch next week-I have some new ideas I want you to hear.

喂，下星期我们共进午餐吧。我有些新的想法想讲给你听听。

此外，当有人邀请你a spot of lunch时，是在表达共进“量少不用花很长时间就能吃完的食物”。

free lunch

中文里有俗语“天下没有免费的午餐”，英文也有，那就是free lunch。free lunch指“不费力或者不付出代价就能白白获得的东西”。

例句：

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

天下没有白吃的午餐。

He’ll hardly offer you a job if you don’t contribute to his party; there’s no free lunch in political campaigns.

如果你没有为他的党派做出什么贡献，他应该不会给你一份工作的；毕竟在政治活动中可没有白吃的午餐。

power lunch

power lunch是“午餐会”，指“公司人员（通常是高层）在吃午餐时开的会”（an occasion at which people eat lunch while they are working and talking about business）。

例句：

We're discussing the possibilities of a company merger over a power lunch this afternoon.

今天下午我们在午餐会上讨论了公司合并的可能性。

ladies who lunch

ladies who lunch指的是花大量时间用来社交的人，通常是指“有钱又闲”的人。在过去有钱人家的太太们会在吃精致又贵的午餐时侃侃而谈，进行社交。

这个短语来自美国作曲作词家史蒂芬·桑德海姆（Stephen Sondheim）上世纪70年代的一首歌：

A toast to that invincible bunch…Let's hear it for the ladies who lunch。

例句：

He is best known for making clothes for ladies who lunch.

他因为有钱的时髦妇人做衣服而出名。

The restaurant, in the center of the city with a view overlooking the bay, is a favorite destination for ladies who lunch.

这家餐馆位于市中心，俯瞰海湾，是有钱的时髦妇人的理想之地。

eat sb's lunch

eat sb's lunch字面意思是“吃了某人的午饭”，实际上是表达“打败某人”（to be much more successful than someone）。

例句：

Unless we’re careful, foreign competitors will eat our lunch.

如果我们不小心谨慎，外国的对手会打败我们。

I've been practicing really hard because I refuse to let my nemesis eat my lunch again.

我一直在努力训练，因为我不想让对手再打败我一次。

（来源：外研社公众号）