英语white是粉色的意思吗（为何英语whiteelephant白象）

英语口语：为什么white elephant(白象)变成“昂贵的累赘”的意思？

我们学习一门外语的最终目的，不是用中文懂得这门外语什么意思，而是要具备用这门外语理解这门外语的意思。

包括学习英语也是如此。学习英语的整个过程都是为了借助英语素材训练获得这个能力，而不仅仅是为了用中文懂得某个英语什么意思。

英语习语(Our old car is really a white elephant)中的a white elephant在具体上下文的确实表达“大白象”的意思，但是又是如何演变出“昂贵的累赘”(something useless and expensive)的含义呢？

A white elephant：本义：a white Indian elephant.It has an enormous(big) appetite(an enormous appetite means it eats a lot,or eats too much).So it costs a lot of money to keep it/raise it.

以后见到、想到a white elephant，你要能张口说出下面的英语，而不是开口就是“白象”white elephant

1.The story goes like this：When a king wished to ruin an offending (下文用disagreeable一词，其实意思一样，只是你要看的出来)courtier, he would give him a white elephant, which the courtier then had to maintain at great expense because the elephant ate a lot.

2. A tale says that the King of Siam would award a disagreeable(上文用offending一词，其实，二者意思一样) courtier a white elephant, it would ruin the courtier to keep the white elephant,it is a possession that is more trouble than it is worth.

你真没必要靠记住中文才能记住a white elephant什么意思。给你的朋友用英语说说white elephant的英语口语故事吧。