大家在碰到忽然的、出人预料以外的事的时候总是会睁大了双眼表示惊奇。中国人对此有个夸张的形容：那个人的眼珠子都快掉出来了。而美国人在形容这种情景时常常说:Somebody's eyes pop out.
1 Somebody's eyes pop out.
比如：My wife's eyes popped out when she saw the necklace I bought her for our twentieth wedding anniversary.
在大家庆祝结婚二十周年时，我给我的老婆买了一条项链。当她看到那条项链时，她双眼睁得可大了。
又如：I hadn't seen my niece since she was a child, so when she visited town the other day my eyes popped out--she's grown into a very beautiful young woman.
我还是在我侄女是个孩子的时候见过她。自从那时起，我一直就没机会见到她。因此，那天她忽然来这儿访问使我感到十分惊奇。她已经长大，变成一个非常好看的年轻少女了。
还有好几个表示忽然、惊奇含义的习惯用语都和eye有关。
2 to hit between the eyes
To hit between the eyes 听起来仿佛是非常痛苦的事，但作为一个俗语，它的意思只是：十分惊奇，很忽然。
比如：When my wife told me we were going to have a baby, it hit me right between the eyes.
当我的老婆告诉我她已经怀孕了的时候，我真是惊奇万分。
又如：I bet I fooled around with these equations1 for ten minutes but then all of a sudden the right answer hit me right between the eyes.
我敢打赌，我在这类方程式上花了总总十分钟还没得出答案。后来，不知什么问题，我忽然想出了正确的答案。
3 eye-opener
Eye-opener是一个字。Eye-opener有两个意思，一个是表示惊奇。
比如：Of course, John and I have had a few problems, just like most married couples. But I always felt we had a good, solid marriage. So it was a terrible eye-opener when I opened the letter hed left on the kitchen table and found out hed run off with his old college sweetheart.
当然，约翰和我是有一些矛盾，就像大部分夫妻一样。但，我一直觉得大家的婚姻是有结实基础的。所以，当我打开他留在厨房桌上的信，了解他和他以前大学里的女友出走了的时候，我真是很惊奇。
Eye-opener的另一意思是：开阔眼界。
比如：Seeing those color films the astronauts took off the earth on their flight to the moon was certainly an eye-opener. I never realized how beautiful and how lonely our planet looks hanging there in space.
看到宇航员在登上月球时拍的那些有关地球的彩色照片真是开了眼界。我从来也不了解大家的地球在空间是这么漂亮、这么孤单。
不过，有些人不管发生什么大事，好像从来也不会惊奇到眼珠子掉出来，他们总能维持镇静，连双眼都不眨一下，这在英文里就是：Not even bat an eye。Bat这个字的一个讲解是眨双眼。可是，在这样的情况下，它常常是以否定的形式出现的。
比如：Bill didn't even bat an eye when they told him he had just won the lottery2. He just shrugged3 and said, Well, I guess I can use the money.
当比尔听到他中了头奖的时候，他连双眼都没眨一下，只不过耸耸肩膀说：行，我想这类钱是会有用的。
中了头奖不表现激动，这已经好不容易了。如果一个人在赌钱的时候输了钱，还要维持镇静的话那就更困难了。比如：
Bill lost five thousand dollars on this one poker4 hand, but he didn't even bat an eye--he just shrugged and said, Easy come, easy go. Come on and deal the next hand!
比尔在仅仅打一付扑克牌游戏的过程中就输了五千USD。可是他双眼都没眨一下。他只不过耸耸肩说：来得容易，去得容易。快，发牌吧。
惊奇时睁大双眼，或者双眼一眨不眨的表达大家都学了。你遇见突发事件会做出哪种表情呢？
