Neil: This is Real English from BBC Learning¹ English and today we're going to look at an English idiom. I'm Neil.

Yang Li: 大家好，我是杨莉。在今天的地道英语里我们一起来学习英语成语。那 Neil, 今天要学习的是哪个成语呢？

Neil: We're going to look at – the… grass… is… always… greener. The grass is always greener.

Yang Li: 这个成语的字面意思是草更绿，这是什么意思？

Neil: It means that it always seems there's a better situation than yours, even if in reality there isn't.

Yang Li: 这个成语是说一个人总是不满足于现状，不知足。在汉语里我们说这山望着那山高。

Neil: Interesting. I'll give you an example of when we might use it. For example, I might leave my job for another one because the salary is higher – but actually the people I work with are horrible so actually I'm not very happy in my new job – so I could say 'the grass is always greener on the other side'.

Yang Li: On the other side 在另一边，the grass is always greener on the other side. 如果你离开现在的工作因为你觉得新工作会更好，然而事后你发现现在的工作还不如以前的，这时我们就说 the grass is always greener. Here's another example.

Example

A: So why did you and Claire split² up? What went wrong?

B: I was just a bit foolish – I didn't think. I was really attracted to Jennifer and we got together. I thought I was in love with her but she wasn't right for me. You know what they say, the grass is always greener.

Yang Li: 这位男士离开了他的女友和别人在一起了，他原以为做了一个非常正确的使他高兴的决定，而事与愿违。他非常不知足，觉得天外有天还有更好的。

Neil: Yes he thought the grass would be greener on the other side but it wasn't. So just to re-cap. The grass is always greener on the other side.

Yang Li: 意思就是不满足现状，总觉得可以更好，这山望着那山高。想学到更多的英语常用表达可以登陆我们的网站 www.bbcchina.com.cn下次再见。

Neil: Goodbye.