記得中學(xué)時(shí)，班里曾有男同學(xué)手里拿著粉筆假裝吸煙，還真蒙了不少人。仔細(xì)想想，粉筆和香煙還真是張得很像，只不過(guò)前者是消耗自己為人類(lèi)服務(wù)，而后者是燃燒自己來(lái)危害人類(lèi)。像這樣外形相似，實(shí)質(zhì)卻大相徑庭的例子無(wú)處不在，比如我們今天要說(shuō)的chalk and cheese。

Cheese is soft and white; chalk is hard and also white. The words chalk and cheese are similar, as they begin with the same sound. Although chalk and cheese have such similarities, they are very different from each other in taste and texture, and this is the point made by this expression.

奶酪和粉筆都是白色的，但奶酪質(zhì)軟而粉筆質(zhì)硬。它們的另一個(gè)相似點(diǎn)是兩個(gè)單詞chalk和cheese的開(kāi)頭音節(jié)都是ch，開(kāi)頭發(fā)音相同。雖然chalk（粉筆）和cheese（奶酪）有上述相似之處，但是它們的構(gòu)成和味道卻是完全不同的，這也是chalk and cheese這個(gè)短語(yǔ)意思的由來(lái)。

For example:

Although they are brothers, they are as different as chalk and cheese.

雖然他們是兄弟，但是兩人一點(diǎn)也不一樣。

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（英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 Helen 編輯）

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