生活英语|像chalk and cheese一样“相差甚远”

记得中学时，班里曾有男同学手里拿着粉笔假装抽烟，还真蒙了不少人。仔细想想，粉笔和烟还真是张得非常像，只是前者是消耗自己为人类服务，而后者是燃烧自己来风险人类。像如此外形相似，实质却大相径庭的例子无处不在，譬如大家今天要说的chalk and cheese。

Cheese is soft and white; chalk is hard and also white. The words chalk and cheese are similar, as they begin with the same sound. Although chalk and cheese have such similarities^{1, they are very different from each other in taste and texture2, and this is the point made by this expression.}

奶酪和粉笔都是白色的，但奶酪质软而粉笔质硬。它们的另一个相似点是两个单词chalk和cheese的开头音节都是ch，开头发音相同。虽然chalk（粉笔）和cheese（奶酪）有上述相似之处，但它们的构成和味道却是完全不一样的，这也是chalk and cheese这个短语意思的起源。

For example:

Although they are brothers, they are as different as chalk and cheese.

虽然他们是兄弟，但两人一点也不同。