大家知道，眼泪的英文字就是tears。 英文里有一个说法，叫做：crocodile tears。Crocodile就是鳄鱼。Crocodile tears和中国人常说的“猫哭老鼠假慈悲”是一样的意思。Crocodile tears这个俗语来自一个古老的神话，说是鳄鱼往往发出一种哭的声音来引诱那些它们要吃的动物，然后一面吃一面流眼泪。这当然不是事实，但是这个说法已经成常用语。下面我们来举个例子：

"The truth is that Pete never liked his rich Uncle John. But you should have seen his crocodile tears when the old man died and left him a million dollars!"

这句话是说：“皮特从来都不喜欢他那有钱的叔叔约翰，这是事实。可是那老人去世的时候给他留了一百万美元，你可真该看看皮特当时那假流泪的样子。”

下面这个例子说的是一位政客：

"In his speeches the mayor always puts on a big show of crocodile tears for poor and homeless people. But I don't see him doing anything to help them."

这是说：“这位市长在讲话时总是装得好像他对穷人和无家可归的人非常同情。但是，我并没有见到他做些什么来帮助他们。”

crocodile
n.鳄鱼;假慈悲者
The crocodile was crawling along the riverbed.
这条鳄鱼正沿着河床爬行。