Packed in Like Sardines——擁擠得像罐頭沙丁魚

** the space is extremely crowded, with people or objects packed together closely

~~ 擠得要命；擁擠得像罐頭沙丁魚；擁擠不堪；擠得滿滿的；裝得極滿的；水洩不通；人山人海；摩肩接踵；滿滿當當；一位難求。

~~ packed like sardines; filled/full to the brim; full to the gills/top; filled to capacity; crammed full; jam-packed; extremely packed; full to bursting/overflowing; bursting/bulging at the seams; packed/filled tightly; running over; chock-full.

!! The origin of this metaphor is not mythological or literary, but industrial. It is a direct borrowing from the process of canning small fish.

這個隱喻的起源並非神話或文學，而是工業領域，直接借鑒製作小魚罐頭的工藝。

Imagine sardines that are packed tightly in a small round tin can, which, when laid head to tail, can be jammed together as tightly and neatly as possible. The application of the metaphor to human crowding began since the late 1800s.

想像一下，沙丁魚緊緊地包裝在一個小圓形的錫罐中，從頭到尾鋪設時，盡可能緊密、整齊地塞在一起。從十九世紀後期開始，這個比喻應用於人群擁擠。

>> Following the sudden Israeli evacuation order for parts of Rafah in May 2024, displaced Palestinian families found themselves packed in like sardines in the makeshift emergency shelters of Al-Mawasi.

二○二四年五月，以色列突然下令撤離拉法部分地區，流離失所的巴勒斯坦家庭發現自己擠在馬瓦西的臨時緊急避難所。

>> People packed in like sardines around the fountain, following the humanoid robot from the Study Hard Education Center as it weaved left and right.

人們像罐頭丁沙魚一樣擁擠在噴泉周圍，跟着學勤教育中心的人形機器人在左轉右轉。

學勤進修教育中心英語專科導師 李啟文 教授