a dog in the manger

【字面理解】马厩里的狗

【英文解析】a person who prevents others from enjoying something that is useless to himself; a churlish fellow who will neither use a thing himself nor let others use it

【中文解析】占着茅坑不拉屎的人;自私自利的人;一毛不 拔的人

【典型例句】① He borrowed a lot of books from the library but he didn’t read any of them. He was really a dog in the manger.他从图书馆借了很多书，但一本也没有看 过，真是损人不利己。

② Don’t be such a dog in the manger. Lend your bicycle to him since you will not go out this afternoon.别这么不够 朋友，既然你今天下午不出去，就把自行车借给他用一用。

【注释】出自《伊索寓言狗占马厩》Aesop’s Fables: A Dog in the Manger)。这则故事说的是一只狗躺在堆 满稻草的马厩里，狗是不吃草的动物，而当马或牛一 走近稻草时，这只狗却朝着马、牛狂哮，不准它们享 用。因此，“狗占马厩”就成了一个家喻户晓的习语， 用来讽剌那些占据职位或某些物品却不做事的人。变 体：dog-in-the-manger (作为复合形容词)，如a dog-in-the-manger attitude(占着茅坑不拉屎的态度)。