短语"go south"并不是指“去南方”,而是指事情变糟、变坏,或者是向不利的方向发展。此外,它还可以表示逃跑或消失。例子:经过连续的加班,小明的健康开始走"go south",他意识到需要改变生活方式。在这个句子中,“go south”就是表示健康状况开始往不利的方向发展。
When the negotiations went south, we had to reconsider our strategy.
当谈判不顺利时,我们不得不重新考虑我们的策略。
The talks between the two countries seemed promising at first, but they eventually went south.
起初两国之间的谈判看似充满希望,但最终却没能成功。
I invested a lot in that startup, but things went south, and I lost most of my money.
我在那家初创公司投资了很多,但情况不利,我失去了大部分资金。
Their relationship started off great, but it went south after they had a big argument.
他们的关系起初非常好,但在一次大争论之后急转直下。
The weather forecast was good, but the weekend went south when it started to rain non-stop.
天气预报一开始不错,但到了周末连绵不断的雨让情况变得糟糕。
He was leading the race, but his chances of winning went south when his car had a mechanical failure.
他一直领先比赛,但当他的赛车发生机械故障时,他赢得比赛的机会也随之消失。
短语"go south"的起源并不明确。普遍的看法认为这可能是由于标准地图的方向配置,其中南向是向下的方向,而向下在很多文化里都有着消极的含义。另一种可能是源自一些美洲原住民用来指代死亡的委婉语。这个成语有多种变体形式,如"head south"、"move south"和"turn south"。在使用上,这个短语意味着情况变坏,变得不利或恶化。例如,股市可能"move south",表示股市下跌;天气可能"turn south",即天气状况恶化。