我听人说过几次 "I am going
out on a limb." 请 Cathy 解释这个用法 ，她特意编了以下一个很形象的故事：
A boy
and girl were walking hand-in-hand. They saw an apple tree. The girl wanted an
apple, so the boy climbed the tree, being careful to step on the thick branches
(or “limbs”) nearest to the trunk. He picked an apple for the girl and threw it
down to her.
“No,”
she said. “I want that apple, there!” And she pointed to an apple way
out at the end of a branch.
She was
a mischievous girl and wanted to see how much the boy liked her.
The boy
liked the girl very much. So he pulled himself out along the branch, out to
where the branch was very thin. “See?” he said. “I’m ‘going out on a limb’ for
you.”
He
reached for the apple that the girl had pointed to. Crack! The branch broke and
the boy tumbled to the ground.
“What a
dope you are!” laughed the girl.
“To go
out on a limb” means to put yourself in a difficult situation (physical,
financial, or in regards to one’s reputation), usually for another person or a
cause. 等于 “To risk life and limb”，冒失去生命和手脚的危险。意指为别人或某个事业，用自己的人身或名誉，或在经济上冒险。
这里还有个例句：
“Thank
you for lending me this money. I realize you are really going out on a limb for
me.”
“Don’t
worry. Just try to pay me back before my mortgage payment is due next month!”
最近看了一篇有趣的文章，讲的是美国高等院校彼此较量，使出各种招数，吸引家庭富裕而且成绩优秀的学生入读，达到名(prestige)利(revenue)双收的目的。