hair-raising 毛骨悚然

Hair-raising和中国俗语“寒毛直竖”很相像。据说巨大的恐惧能使人体的毛发或者猫身上的毛往上竖立起来。这也许就是这个习惯用语的出典。我们听个例子，但是先得学个生词: cub。 Cub是食肉动物的幼仔。在我们的例子里指小熊仔。

My daughter and her boyfriend had a hair-raising time hiking in the mountains -- they met a black bear with her cub. But they stopped， stayed quiet and finally the bears went away slowly without bothering them.

我女儿和男朋友在山里徒步旅行时跟带小熊的黑熊狭路相逢。这可真是段令人毛骨悚然的经历。他们当时停下脚步，屏息静气，黑熊终于慢步走开了，没打扰他们。

可以想象他俩和熊对峙的那段经历有多可怕，所以这段话里的hair-raising就是令人毛骨悚然的。

Hair-raising常用来描绘万分惊险的处境。我们再看个例子，这回说的是遇上龙卷风时的险境。当龙卷风刮起的时候，会有漏斗状乌云直压地面。乌云随即挟带着旋风横扫大地，风速高达每小时二百公里，所到之处危及生命财产。

It was hair-raising! There was a terrible rushing sound，the windows blew in and I saw tree-limbs sailing by. I heard loud bangs and crashes -- I thought my house would blow away!

这真是惊险万分。随着那可怕的冲击声，窗户都被刮下来掉进屋里。我看到屋外飞过的树干，又听到震耳欲聋的碰撞击毁的声音。我想我那房子也要被刮走了。