Mexican standoff 是什么

Mexican standoff 是什么

翻译成“墨西哥对峙”好么？对峙倒是一眼就能看出这个说法的意思。但没有了standoff这层最初的意思。

简单说就是电影中常见的相互制约：多个人，多种势力，拿枪互相对着。谁也不想开枪因为一旦一个开枪，就破坏了对峙的平衡，而且你开枪打别人时不能防止令一个人开枪打你（这点和两个人对峙谁先开枪击毙对方就安全了不一样），所以一旦动火，都是已的大家都玩完告终。当然，英雄人物总是能活下来。：）

本词条从19世纪晚期开始使用，最初是形容墨西哥人在政治上做决定摇摆不定，很难下决心，贬义，且有侮辱墨西哥人的口气。

下面是wikipedia上更具体的解释。

Mexican standoff

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Mexican standoff is a strategic deadlock or impasse, in which no party can act in a way that ensures victory.
Contents

Origins

The phrase came into usage during the late 19th century. Originally a derogatory reference to perceived Mexican political indecision,[1] it has come to refer to any impasse, regardless of the participants or the presence of arms.

In popular culture

In popular culture, the Mexican standoff is often portrayed as multiple opponents with weapons aimed at each other,[2] such that each opponent feels equally threatened and does not believe they can strike first without endangering their own life; not only does any initial shot decisively destroy the unstable equilibrium of multiple deterrence, shooting any one person takes one's aim away from the other opponent. [3][4] The Mexican standoff is now largely considered a movie cliché due to its frequent use in spaghetti westerns and action films.[citation needed]

来源：wikiepdia， http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_standoff