趣味短语：绞尽脑汁 Rack one's brains

Rack one's brains

【英文解释】make great mental effort (to remember something, think of a solution, etc.)

【中文解释】思前想后，绞尽脑汁

【短语来源】Literally, to stretch one's brains on the rack, an instrument of torturethat stretched a victim's joints when its wheels and rollers, to which the limbs were attached, were turned by the operator. Its use in England was abolished in 1640.

这个短语很形象，是一种残酷的绞脑袋的刑罚，连动词“绞”都和中文遥相呼应，所以可以说，人类的智慧是相通的。

【有例有句】1. I have been racking my brains all day trying to think of a birthday present for her.

我花了一整天思前想后给她送什么生日礼物。

2. All night I have been tossing and turning racking my brains to think what could have possessed the young man to kill himself.

整整一晚我辗转反侧, 绞尽脑汁，到底是什么使这个年轻人自尽。

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