foot in the door，不是我们想象中的“脚在门里或门里的脚”

在字面意思看似无厘头的很多习语，都有一定的寓意，它们要么拥有一个历史悠久的历史故事，要么拥有模棱两可的来源，但流传至今，很多习语还很流行，有的越用越流行，甚至经久不衰。

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如 foot in the door，它的字面意思是“门里的脚”，可以想象一下人踢破门后脚留在移动门中间的情形，但其实 foot in the door 的本意不是脚在门中间，它描述某人跨过房子的门槛，或者将一只脚伸进房门以阻止它关门，然后继续对话。

其中后者的最早出现的例句是美国诗人和剧作家 George Henry Boker 在1856年的作品《Plays and Poems》中，原话是这样的：

And he sang to his gittern of love and of war with one foot in his stirrup and one in her door.

他一只脚踩在马镫上，一只脚踩在她的门上，对着他的洋溢爱和战争的吉他歌唱。

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现在 foot in the door 多用它的比喻意思，常用于 get/have a/your foot in the door 等搭配中，意为“设法加入，涉足（某组织、行业等）”；早期的引用都来自美国，如1914年8月在奥克兰论坛报的一份公民基金申请报告中：

"All I'm asking is that you authorize the park department to go ahead."

"Yes, but you are trying to commit us to an expenditure of $48,400 or more," said Baccus.

"No. I'm merely asking that the first step be taken," answered Mayor Mott.

"You've got a mighty clever way of getting your foot in the door, and then we can't get it closed until the whole proposition is carried", said Turner.

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现在再来看看关于 foot in the door 的使用例句：

An internship might not sound very interesting, but it's a great way to get a foot in the door at this company.

实习听起来可能不太有趣，但这是进入这家公司的一个好方法。

I always wanted to work in TV but it took me two years to get a foot in the door.

我一直想做电视工作，但花了两年才进了这个圈子。

Making contacts can help you get a foot in the door when it comes to getting a job.

当涉及到找工作时，建立联系可以帮助你迈出第一步。

Foot in the door 跟 foot 的另外一个习语 find one's feet 有点类似，除非是吃饱了撑着，否则我们不要理解为“找自己的脚”，它意为“已适应新环境等”，貌似比 foot in the door 还更近一步，例如：

It took a while, but I've finally found my feet in my job.

花了一段时间，但我终于适应了工作的新环境。

After having worked hard for nearly two years, I am still not able to find my feet in this company.

经过近两年的努力，我仍然无法适应这家公司的环境。

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