汉语里说“泼出去的水”指事情已经成定局，无法改变。而英语中人们用 “牛奶 milk”代替“水”以描述类似的状况。成语 it's no use crying over spilt¹ milk “奶已打翻，哭也无益”相当于汉语成语“覆水难收”，隐含的意思是事已至此，不可挽回，因此后悔也没有用，常被用来规劝他人向前看。

 

人们有时也会将这个表达变成 there is no use crying over spilt milk 或 don't cry over spilt milk 等形式来表达同样的含义。

 

例句

I'm sorry you left your camera in the taxi but it's no use crying over spilt milk. Go and get a new one!

你把照相机落在出租车里了，我深表同情，但事已至此，别再难受了。去买一台新的吧！

 

Don't cry over spilt milk! You left her and now she is with someone else - there is nothing you can do about it.

现在后悔已经于事无补！当初你离开了她，而如今她已经和别人在一起了，对此你什么也改变不了。

 

Sarah regrets rejecting the offer from that company in London. But she tells herself not to cry over spilt milk.

莎拉后悔当时拒绝了伦敦那家公司的录用机会。但她告诉自己事已至此，后悔也来不及了。

点击收听单词发音