A sucker is one who is easily fooled, easily
tricked and cheated. His history is a long one because suckers
are as old as mankind. There are several ideas as to how the word
came into use. One goes back to the early European settlers in
America.
The story is told that they found in
the lakes and rivers of the new land strange fish, kinds that they
had never before seen. One kind was especially strange-a
small fish that swam in deep water and sucked up food from the river
bottom. It could do this because of the shape of its mouth. The
settlers began to call this fish a "sucker."
After a time, they discovered many other kinds of fish that got food
by sucking it into their mouths. They, also, were called suckers.
So, suckers were found everywhere, and even the
worst fisherman could catch a sucker of some kind.
In time, the word was used to describe any easy victim.
Another
explanation, however, is that the word came from the idea of someone
being sucked into something without knowing it, as a person is sucked
into some tricky business or scheme and fooled and cheated.
As
far back as 1842, for example, there was a newspaper story about a
coach driver who told a would-be passenger, "I do not have to
drive anybody in the middle of the night, so don't try to suck me
in." And there was a newspaper report about a sermon
in church. The preacher said, "I can't help but
say it : life is all moonshine, a monstrous humbug,
a grand suck-in."
A third and more recent
explanation is that "sucker" was coined to
describe someone as trusting and innocent as a
suckling-a
young creature still sucking at its mother's breast. Of course, it
would not be difficult to fool such a person.
The
word was given popular fame by an American showman, P.T. Barnum. He
said that there was a sucker born every minute.
Nobody knew better than he. After all, he built his success on that
idea. Millions of people paid money to see his circus
freaks and fakes. Barnum should have said kinder words about these
people. They may have been suckers, but they made
him successful.
That can also be said of the
man who wrote the line made famous by a Hollywood movie-that
one should never give a sucker an even break, that
one should, in other words, bleed him dry.
Strange
as it may seem, this is a universal feeling. Nobody likes a sucker.
Throughout history, everywhere in the world, people have been cruel
to suckers. Psychiatrists, perhaps, can tell us why.
Possibly, to risk a guess, people look upon suckers
as they do upon people with leprosy, fearful of getting the
disease.
Modern society has discovered a new
kind of sucker, sometimes called an " angel."
Such is one who can be talked or sucked into giving money to support
some project. It may be a political campaign, a
cause or an organization. Or it may be a new play.
There
are as many projects as there are suckers to support
them. Specialists and staffs work hard to develop what has become
known as "sucker lists," with the names of
people who may have money to give away. One newspaper, The
Philadelphia Bulletin, said at one time, "The telephone
directory is not intended to be a sucker list, but a
smart operator can use it for one."
This
is a frightening thought. Millions of us have telephones and each one
of us is a promising candidates for some sucker
list. We cannot, therefore, be too hard on suckers.
They-and
we-are
part of modern life.
注解:
sucker 傻瓜。
tricked 被愚弄。
come
into use 普遍使用。
settler 定居者。
suck 吸。
river
bottom 河底。
victim 受害者。
explanation 解释。
scheme 诡计。
coach
driver 马车驾驶。
would-be
passenger 可能的乘客。
sermon 讲道。
preacher 讲道人。
can't
help but say it 不得不说。
moonshine 空想。
monstrous
humbug 大欺诈。
coin 铸造。
suckling 乳臭未干的小子。
showman 表演者。
freaks
and fakes 把戏。
an
even break 均等机会。
bleed
him dry 榨光他的一切。
psychiatrist 心理医师。
leprosy 麻疯病。
political
campaign 竞选。
The
Philadelphia Bulletin 费城通讯报。
frightening 可怕的。
promising
cadidate 有希望的候选人。
hard
on 苛刻对待。
关键字:英语阅读
生词表:
sucker [?s?k?] n.乳儿;吸管;吸吮者 六级词汇
trusting [?tr?sti?] a.信任的;相信的 六级词汇
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VIDEO – “INCREDIBLE SUCKERS” NAME ~25 MINUTES (NAUTILUS
WITH ITS RAZORBACK SUCKERS SMALL EYES AND A HUMP
Tags: easily fooled,, easily, fooled, sucker