今天放学后，Alice和陆明不期而遇走到了一起，看到了Dick。由于Dick家中富裕，要什么就有什么，挥金如土。像这样富贵弟子学习就更别提了。Alice评论Dick时，说了一个词，这个词是关于动物的，这让陆明纳闷许久。陆明心想自己听说过黑马，黑马就是藏在人群中要成大器的人。可从来也没听说过Alice提到的这个黑色的动物，那么Alice提到的是什么黑色的动物呢?我们不妨先来听听陆明和Alice在放学的路上的谈话内容。

Alice : Dick is a black sheep.

迪克是black sheep.

Luming : Black sheep? What's that, Alice? Black sheep?

(难道是黑羊不成?)Alice，那时什么意思呀?

Alice : The black sheep means the " bad person " in the family.

这里的“黑羊”就是你们汉语中的害群之马，家中的败家子。

Luming : Very bad.

真不好。

Alice : As far as I am concerned, Dick is always bringing trouble to his family. All he does is drinking, gambling, and chasing foxy girls, let alone his study how terrible it is.

据我所知，他老是给家人带来麻烦。他成天就是吃喝嫖赌，甭提他的学习有多糟糕了。

陆明现在知道了“black sheep”的字面意思是“黑羊”，实际上就是我们中文中经常讲到的“败家子”“害群之马”“不肖子孙”，指家中的一类。 正如Alice所言, it means " a person who is different, in a bad sense, from the rest of his family"那么，我们在来看几个例子来熟悉Black Sheep这个习语的意思。

Eg. After he had been in prison Peter was regarded as the black sheep of the family.彼得坐过牢之后，被看作是家庭中的不肖子孙。

Eg. Perhaps every profession has got its black sheep.也许每个行业都有害群之马。

Eg. He was the black sheep of the family after he had got involved in the bank robbery.在他被牵累进银行抢劫案后，就成了全家的败家子。

Eg. It is a small flock that has not black sheep.〔谚语〕人多必有败类。

Eg. There are black sheep in nearly every large family and these two were the Gerard's black brothers.几乎在每个大家庭里都有孬种，而这两个就是杰勒德家的孬弟兄。

Eg. They are rather ashamed of George; he is the black sheep of the family.他们为乔治而害臊,他是家里的害群之马。