What Are Fast Friends?什么是Fast Friends?

2023-09-05

时代英语·高一 2023年8期

How do you usually describe good friends？ Once someone used “Youre a fast friend” to describe a friend. What does it mean， friends soon？ Of course not. Fast friend refers to a faithful and reliable friend.

你们平时是怎么形容好朋友的呢？曾经有人用“Youre a fast friend”来形容好友。这是什么意思，“朋友很快”吗？当然不是。Fast friend是指忠实可靠的朋友。

Examples：

例句：

The two of them had been fast friends since college.

他们俩从大学开始就是好朋友。

So， how did the saying “fast friend” come from？

那么，fast friend这个说法是怎么来的呢？

Although many believe that the idiom “fast friends” means friends who developed a liking for one another quickly， the term is actually a shortened form of “steadfast friends”.

虽然很多人认为fast friends这个习语是指很快就喜欢上彼此的朋友，但这个说法实际上是“坚定的朋友”的缩写形式。

The origin of the idiom “fast friends” comes from an even older version of the word “steadfast”—Old English triewe， meaning faithful， trustworthy， and steady in adhering to promises or friends.

fast friends這个习语源于“坚定不移”这个词的古英语版——triewe这个词，它的意思是“忠实，值得信赖，对承诺或朋友坚定不移”。

“Familiar words with partial meaning” is a common situation in English. In fact， in addition to the familiar “fast” meaning， fast also has many explanations.

“熟词偏义”是英语中常见的情况。事实上，fast除了我们熟悉的“快的”的意思，还有很多解释。

1. 作形容词

①牢固的

The glue had set and my hand was stuck fast.

胶水凝固了，我的手被牢牢粘住。

②放荡的

a fast crowd

一群生活放荡的人

2. 作名词

禁食期

The monk began a fast and prayed for happiness.

那个和尚开始禁食来祈福。