Eat One's Heart Out——傷心欲絕

** grieve（悲疼）,worry（憂慮）,or regret（抱憾）excessively in a bitter and hopeless situation

** suffer from excessive longing（企盼渴求）for someone or something unattainable

** suffer from envy（羡慕）or jealousy（嫉妒）

~~ 傷心欲絕；非常傷心；愁腸寸斷；憂心如焚；默默傷心；深覺傷疼 // 企盼渴求 // 嫉妒

~~ eat one’s [own] heart // be distressed // be troubled // weep and wail // be sorrowful //// be consumed with desire for // be aching for // be craving for // be desirous of // be covetous of // be enamored of //// green in the eye // green-eyed monster

!! The ancient Greeks had an expression “Eat not the heart,” meaning not to consume oneself with troubles or worries. “Eating our hearts for weariness and sorrow” appeared in Homer’s Odyssey (c. 850 B.C.).

（古希臘人有“不要吃心”的說法，意思是不要被煩惱或憂慮來折磨自己。“因厭倦和悲傷而非常沉疼”出現在《荷馬史詩 · 奧德賽》（約公元前850年）中）。

!! By 1581, a slangy variant surfaced as an imperative eat your heart out, meaning “doesn’t that make you jealous?”

（到了1581年，一個俚語變體出現，作為一種祈使語氣，“吃掉你的心”意思是“那不會讓你妒忌嗎？”。）

>> The elderly parents have been taking care of their only son who suffered a traffic accident twenty years ago and was paralyzed and unable to speak. They still eat their heart out when they see his condition has not improved.

（年邁的父母長年照顧着他們的獨生子，他在二十年前遇上交通意外導致四肢癱瘓及不能說話，當他們見到兒子的病情沒有進展時傷心欲絕。）

>> Since her husband passed away, she has been eating her heart out, and has lost motivation at work.

（自從丈夫離世後，她非常傷心，在工作中失去動力。）

學勤進修教育中心英語專科導師 李啟文　　教授