英语词源
Topsy (like Topsy, it just growed )出身不明，自生自长
something is like Topsy, it just grew指某人或某物出身不明、自生自长。该表达出自斯陀夫人（Harriet Beecher Stowe）的小说《汤姆叔叔的小屋》（Uncle Tom’s Cabin ，1852）中的一段对话：
“Where were you born?”
“Never was born!” persisted Topsy …
“Do you know who made you?”
“Nobody, as I knows on,” said the child, with a short laugh … “I
spect I grow’d. Don’t think nobody ever made me.”
“你在哪儿出生的？”
“我不是生下来的！”……托普西坚持说。
“你知道谁生了你吗？”
“就我所知，没谁生了我。”小孩干笑了一声……“我想我是‘长’出来的。没人生了我。”
——摘自《单词的历史：英语词源漫谈》
