A little pot is soon hot.壶小易热。
“壶小易热”只是这谚语的直译,事实上这只是个比喻,真正的意思是“量小易怒”,有时也可解作“人小火气大”:
Short folk are soon angry.
这谚语主要是讽刺那些气量狭窄,常常为区区小事而动怒的人。再者,就是劝说人们要宽宏大量,胸襟开阔,即中国俗语所谓的“宰相肚里好撑船”(A great man is broad minded and magnanimous)。
十九世纪初美国作家W.Irving的著作Knicker bocker's History of New York中引用这谚语说:“It is an old saying that‘a little pot is soon hot',which was the case with William the Testy.Being a little man,he was soon in passion,and once in a passion he soon boiled over.”在这段话中,hot与boil可引申为“发怒”或“激动”之意。
有关意思的谚语还有:
Anger dies quickly with a good man.
好人的愤怒平息得快。
He who slowly gets angry keeps his anger longer.
不易发怒的人,能把怒气积压得很长久。