sleep on a dothesline困极了

【使用地区】：英国

【释义】：

The expression“I’m so tired I could sleep on a clothesline，”with much more British than American use today，dates back to eighteenth—century England，when people unable to afford a bed in boardinghouses were charged two pennies to sit on a communal bench through the night，leaning on a clothesline stretched tightly in front of them．The taut“two—penny rope”was cut in the morning，the sleepers joked into reality again．

这一表达方式意为“我太累了，在晒衣绳上也能睡着”，这种说法如今在英国比在美国普遍，其出典可回溯到18世纪的英国。当时人们付不起寄宿公寓铺位的费用，只好交两便士，整夜坐在公共长椅上，头靠在前面拉紧的晒衣绳上。早上，拉紧的“两便士绳”被砍断，睡觉的人猛然一惊，重新回到现实世界。