有的人一開始就給人一個壞印象是怎么說的呢？ You should say ： to get
off on the wrong foot. To get off on the wrong foot ，這是指某人一開始
就沒給人一個好印象，或一開始由于某種行為而把事情弄糟了。下面這句話里說
的這個人就是一個例子：

    例句-1： When Joe went to his new job ， he got off on the wrong foot.
On the first morning he upset his new boss by arriving at the store two
hours late. And right now he's out looking for a job again. 這個人說：
“喬找到了一份新的工作，可是他剛開始到那家店里去上班時就給人一個壞印象。

    第一天上班他就晚到兩個小時，讓他的老板好不高興�，F(xiàn)在他又在找工作了。
“

    To get off on the wrong foot這個俗語實際上可以適用于任何情況。下面
一個例子是一個男學生在說他交女朋友的情況：

    例句-2： I finally got a date with that new girl in class but I sure
got off on the wrong foot with her： I had car trouble and got to her
place almost two hours late.他說：“那天我終于和班上新來的那個女同學約
好了出去玩�？墒�，當天我的車出了問題，晚了兩個小時才去接她，所以我一開
頭就把事弄糟了。”

    ******

    有意無意做錯事、說錯話的情況是很經(jīng)常的。下面我們要講的一個俗語就是
無意中說錯了話而傷害了別人，或者叫自己很不好意思。這個俗語就是：to put
your foot in your mouth.

    我們來舉個例子看看什么樣的情況才 to put your foot in your mouth ：

    例句-3： When Sally told that silly joke about the sailor with one
leg she really put her foot in her mouth. She didn't know the man across
the dinner table had a brother at home in a wheelchair. 這句話翻成中文
就是：“沙莉吃晚飯時說了一個笑話，拿一個只有一條腿的水手開玩笑。她可不
知道坐在飯桌對面那個人的哥哥就是個殘廢，行動都得靠輪椅。”Sally 如果事
后了解情況的話，她肯定會說： "Well， I certainly have put my foot in my
mouth."

    下面我們再來舉一個例子：

    例句-4： I certainly put my foot in my mouth at the party last night
when I asked Mister Brown to say hello to his wife for me. Somehow I'd
forgotten that his wife died six months ago.這人說：“我昨晚在那個聚會
上無意中說錯了話。我讓布朗先生替我向他的太太問好。不知怎么回事，我忘了
他太太已經(jīng)在半年前去世了。”