You Can’t Have Your Cake, and Eat It 鱼和熊掌，不能兼得

Diarmuid: Hi, and welcome to BBC Learning English. I’m Diarmuid.

Feifei: 大家好，我是冯菲菲。

Diarmuid: In this Real English programme we’ll be looking at an English idiom.

Feifei: 还有对应的汉语成语谚语。

Diarmuid: Today’s English idiom is you can’t have your cake, and eat it.

Feifei: 什么意思呢？

Diarmuid: It means that you can’t have everything, or you can’t have things both ways.

Feifei: 意思是你不可能什么都有，或两者兼得。

Diarmuid: You can’t have your cake, and eat it.

Feifei: 这个成语的字面意思是, 你不可能吃了蛋糕，同时又想拿着蛋糕。

Diarmuid: Do you have an equivalent¹ idiom in Chinese?

Feifei: Yes. 汉语我们说鱼和熊掌，不可兼得。我觉得也可以翻译为，世事两难全。

Diarmuid: Let’s hear some examples of people using this idiom in conversation.

Examples

A: I’d love to spend more time with my daughter, but I’d miss out on my career if I worked part time.

B: Yeah, it’s tricky². You can’t have your cake and eat it.

A: I’ve saved loads of money because I’ve stopped going out. The problem is, now I’m really bored with staying in!

B: Well you can’t have your cake and eat it.

Feifei: 第一段对话中的母亲特别想多和女儿共度时光，可是又不想改半天上班，怕耽误了自己的事业。

Diarmuid: She can’t have her cake, and eat it.

Feifei: 第二段对话中的女孩子说，她攒了不少钱，因为她不在外出社交，省了不少开销，可是日久天长，没有社交的生活又让她感到烦了。

Diarmuid: She can’t have her cake, and eat it.

Feifei: 她不可能社交，省钱两者兼得。

Diarmuid: The English idiom is: You can’t have your cake, and eat it.

Feifei: 汉语我们说鱼和熊掌，不可兼得。换句话说就是世事两难全。

Diarmuid: Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed our programme. You can get a new programme every day on our website.

Feifei: www.bbcchina.com.cn 下次节目还有更多成语，千万不要错过收听，再见。

Diarmuid: Goodbye!