Like Greased Lightning——風馳電掣

** extremely fast

~~風馳電掣；閃電般迅速；全速；光速；閃電一般；飛快地；極快

~~like a bat out of hell; at warp speed; at full tilt; at the speed of light; quick as a flash; at breakneck speed; in double quick time

!! The simile plays on the fact that lightning is already the fastest thing people could observe. Adding "greased"—— a practical detail from everyday life (where grease reduces friction) —— humorously implies it could be made even faster, a classic bit of tall-tale hyperbole. It is first found in print in 1833 in an American newspaper, The Pennsylvania, in a story about a fast horse: "He 'spoke short' (reacted instantly), and went off like greased lightning."

這個明喻利用閃電本身已是人們所能觀察到最快的物體這一概念。加上“抹了油”——這個來自日常生活的實用細節（油脂可減少摩擦）——幽默地暗示閃電還能變得更快，可謂經典的誇張手法。這個比喻最早出現在一八三三年美國報紙《賓夕法尼亞報》（The Pennsylvania）的一篇關於快馬的故事中：“牠‘反應迅捷’（"spoke short"，指瞬間反應），像抹了油的閃電般飛馳而去。”

>> AI models now roll out like greased lightning, with firms rushing to embed new tools overnight.

人工智能模式如今如閃電般迅速推出，各公司爭相在一夜之間嵌入新工具。

學勤教育中心英語專科導師 李啟文 教授