The scene had struck too close to home, to his own philandering and to his young women.

My comments:

“Home” is where we live. Anything happens to our home affects us at heart, i.e. very deeply. If, therefore, something strikes too close to home, it becomes personal, something we cannot shake off easily emotionally, something we can no longer be objective about. Usually it’s about some unpleasant truth that’s too much for someone to take.

In the example above, the “scene” reveals too much – so much about his own philandering that his young women will probably find it hard to view.

To them, the “scene” looks too (unpleasantly) real.

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Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.