apple of one’s eye掌上明珠
该短语指被视作掌上明珠的人。这一表达源自于英王詹姆斯一世下令翻译的“钦定版”《圣经》中《申命记》(Deuteronomy )第32章第10节。文中如此形容上帝对其子民的关爱:
“He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.”
“耶和华在荒凉旷野、在野兽吼叫之地遇见他,就环绕他,看顾他,保护他,如同保护眼中的瞳孔。”
由于苹果和瞳孔都是圆的,所以瞳孔最初被比喻成苹果。后来人们用这一表达形容极为珍爱之人,因为他们就像自己的眼睛一样珍贵。