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美国拍的灾难大片里一般都有一个英雄人物，他在危难当头的时候头脑冷静、镇定自若，最后想尽一切办法带领大家成功地逃出来。虽然看完之后会嘲笑一下美国的个人英雄主义情结，但是，电影传达出的“在危难时刻要保持冷静”的理念是非常正确的。

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“保持冷静、镇定”在英语中有一个表达方式叫“as cool as a cucumber”。“Cool”在这里不是“凉爽的”意思，而是“镇静的、冷静的”意思，比如我们经常说的“keep cool”。那么，为什么要像黄瓜一样冷静的？据说是黄瓜摸起来比较清凉，而“cucumber”和“cool”都是字母“c”开头，读起来比较朗朗上口。

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看下面例句：

1、Not everyone can keep as cool as a cucumber in an emergency.

（不是每个人都能在危急时刻保持镇定的。）

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2、 Last week Dad was in this auto accident and the other driver was so mad he was yelling and screaming. But Dad stayed cool as a cucumber and got the other guy cooled off too, once he saw there wasn't any real damage to either car.

　　这个儿子说：“上星期，我爸爸出了车祸。对方那个开车的人非常冒火，他大声嚷嚷，大声喊叫。但是，我爸爸却非常冷静，而且在那个人看到双方的汽车都没有受到很严重损伤后还设法使他冷静了下来。”

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3、While Mike and I were waiting for our food, this clumsy waiter spilled a bowl of piping hot soup on Mike's back. I was furious, but Mike was as cool as a cucumber. He even told the waiter not to worry about it.

我和麦克正在等我们的饭菜，那个笨手笨脚的服务员不小心把一碗滚烫的汤倒在麦克的背上。我真是生气极了，可是麦克却非常冷静。他甚至还叫那个服务员不要担心。

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