The woman at the front of the picture should watch her back.

Sun Chen: Hello, I’m Sun Chen.

Jo: Today we’re going to look at words and phrases that you might not find in your dictionary.

Sun Chen: 地道英语和大家一起学习现代英式英语中最新出现的流行词汇和新鲜表达。那Jo,今天给我们带来的新词是什么呢？

Jo: Today’s phrase is watch…your…back. Watch your back.

Sun Chen: 看你的后背，watch your back. What does it mean?

Jo: It means to be careful, to be alert of someone or something that might hurt you.

Sun Chen: I see, watch your back 是一个比喻，意思就是要当心有人或者是什么事情可能会对你不利。

Jo: Yes, it’s usually given as a warning to others, alerting them to certain danger they may face.

Sun Chen: 那这个比喻平时是怎么用的呢？

Jo: Here’s an example.

Example

A: I think you should make sure that you’ve kept notes from that meeting with Alan.

B: Yeah, you’re probably right.

A: I mean someone might say you said something you didn’t – you need to watch your back.

Sun Chen: 听起来好像很紧张。单位里某一个人可能会对另一个人不利。

Jo: Well, if you think someone needs a bit of warning, then you can tell them to watch their back. But sometimes, it has a much more straightforward meaning.

Sun Chen: 还有一个非常简单的意思， 那是什么呢？

Jo: It could simply mean be careful of your back as in our body part.

Sun Chen: 这回可就是实实在在的人的身体了，当心自己的腰，别伤了。

Jo: We should all watch our back. Back pain is one of the biggest health problems people experience in life.

Sun Chen: 好了，我们今天学的这个短语 watch your back 有两个含义，一个是警告别人要当心背后有人会捣鬼, 还有就是注意腰部的保养。

Jo: You’ve been listening to Real English from BBC Learning English. Join us next time.

Sun Chen: 我们下次节目再会。