【英语习语】
Even a worm will turn.
【习语注释】
worm表示“虫子”，但在中世纪英语里，worm是指snake，所以该习语的字面意思是“即便是蛇（如果被踩踏）也会反过来咬一口”，用来喻指“Even the humblest and weakest will retaliate if provoked sufficiently”，即“即使是最卑微和最弱小的人，如果受到足够的挑衅，也会报复”，即“狗急了也会跳墙”。该习语也常出现变体用法，如：The worm has turned。
【习语运用】
It seems the worm has turned - after years of silence local people are beginning to protest about waste emissions from the factory.
看来老实人被逼急了也要反抗——经过多年的沉默之后，当地的人们开始抗议那家工厂的废物排放了。
He used to bully his secretary without mercy, but even a worm will turn and one day she walked out and left her job without even saying goodbye.
他过去毫不留情地欺侮他的秘书，但是如被逼太甚，最温顺者也会反抗的，结果有一天她不辞而别了。
Then my mother came home and started bossing us around. She said, 'The worm has turned.Things are going to be different around here.'
然后我妈妈回到家，开始对我们颐指气使。她说，“我受够了。一切都将不一样了。”
【闲话习语】
该习语最早见于英国的诗人和剧作家John Heywood所编写的《A Dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the Prouerbes in the Englishe tongue》（1546）：
Treade a worme on the tayle, and it must turne agayne.
之后莎士比亚在他的剧作《亨利六世》（Part III，1592）中也引用了该习语：
Who 'scapes the lurking serpent's mortal sting?
Not he that sets his foot upon her back.
The smallest worm will turn being trodden on,
And doves will peck in safeguard of their brood.
那么，你还知道英语里“狗急跳墙”的其它说法吗？欢迎留言探讨。
