【英语习语】

be caught red-handed

【习语注释】

该习语的意思是“to be caught in the act of committing a misdemeanour, with the evidence there for all to see”，即“被抓到犯有轻罪，证据确凿”，相当于汉语里的“当场被抓；当场被铺；被逮个正着；被抓个现行”。

【习语运用】

The criminal was caught red-handed; all he could do was to confess.

罪犯被当场捉住，他只能认罪。

Russia says he was caught red-handed with a computer flash drive containingified information.

俄罗斯表示，他被抓获时持有一个包含机密信息的电脑闪存盘。

A shoplifter was caught red-handed trying to steal a watch from a jewelry store.

一个小偷在一家珠宝店企图偷走一只手表的时候被当场擒获。

【闲话习语】

该习语中的red-handed用来暗指在执行谋杀或偷猎后手上沾满鲜血，该习语源自苏格兰，其早期的形式是red hand，其较早用法可以追溯到1432年詹姆斯一世的《苏格兰议会法案》中：

"If he be not taken red-hand the sheriff cannot proceed against him."

已知最早的“red-handed”的书面使用记录来自沃尔特·斯科特爵士（Sir Walt Scott）的《艾芬豪》（Ivanhoe，1819年）：

"I did but tie one fellow, who was taken redhanded and in the fact, to the horns of a wild stag."

目前已知最早引用该习语“caught red-handed”的是英国小说家乔治·阿尔弗雷德·劳伦斯（George Alfred Lawrence），他在自己的作品《盖伊·利文斯通》（Guy Livingstone，1857年）这样写道：

'My companion picked up the object; and we had just time to make out that it was a bell-handle and name-plate, when the pursuers came up - six or seven "peelers" and specials, with a ruck of men and boys. We were collared on the instant. The fact of the property being found in our possession constituted a 'flagrans delictum' - we were caught "red-handed".'

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那么，你还知道英语里“逮个正着”的其它说法吗？欢迎留言探讨。