美国习惯用语 - come to grips with

美国习惯用语 - come to grips with

昨天我姐姐给我打电话，抱怨他们家的家庭战争。我姐夫自己开了一家进出口公司，本想让子承父业，可我外甥偏要当个软件工程师，让我姐夫备受打击，过了好长时间，他才慢慢接受现实。这让我想到了一句习惯用语，那就是: come to grips with.

Grip本身是抓，掌握的意思; come to grips with, 意思就是去面对，着手处理。就像上面的例子里，我外甥不愿意继承父业，一心要当软件工程师，我姐夫虽然失望，但最后还是肯于面对事实, he has come to grips with my nephew's decision not to take over the family business.

2001年9月11号的恐怖袭击是美国历史上的一件大事。下面我们来听听历史学家对这起事件的看法:

例句-1：On September 11, 2001, four U.S. planes were overtaken by terrorists. Their dramatic crashes resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people. In some ways, Americans have come to grips with how that day changed the country forever. But it remains a difficult experience for many to deal with.

这段话意思是说：2011年9月11日，三架美国飞机遭到恐怖份子的劫持。这次袭击造成近3千人死亡。从某些方面看，美国人已经开始面对那天发生的一切彻底改变了国家这一事实。但对很多人来说，这段经历还是很难承受的。

是啊！尤其是对那些在911恐怖袭击事件中失去亲人的人来说，这段经历一定不堪回首。我记得上高中时，养了十几年的猫死了，I had a hard time coming to grips with the loss of my cat. 我难过了好长时间，才能面对这个事实。

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我朋友Amy最近刚离婚。She still hasn't come to grips with the fact that her ex would leave her for a younger woman. 她到现在还无法接受前夫为了一个比她年轻的女人而离她而去的现实。

美国是个大熔炉，如何面对种族歧视是一个重要问题。下面的这个例子里讲到了一个叫George的人。我们来听听他的想法发生了怎么样的转变：

George had always held a low opinion of immigrants. One day he was driving to work when a truck hit his car and knocked him unconscious. He awoke to find that he'd been rescued by a woman who'd grown up in Mexico. That's when he came to grips with his prejudice. It was time to face his dislike of people he didn't really know.

这段话的意思是说：乔治一直对移民没什么好印象。有一天他开车去上班的路上，一辆卡车撞到了他，把他撞昏了过去。醒来时，他发现，是一名墨西哥裔的妇女救了他。这件事让乔治开始正视自己的种族歧视心态，不能对不熟悉的人存在任何偏见。

种族歧视是一个很严肃的问题。通常情况下，存在偏见的人往往很难改变他们固有的想法，因为他们会避免去接触那些自己本来就看不上的人。