中文说－－The world is my oyster

2007年7月9日，在美国康涅狄格州的Deep River, 一叫Devin Gaines 的大学生溺水而亡。尽管才22岁，但在年初就已从The University of Connecticut拿到5个degrees.

校方称：He made the university his oyster. You crave kids like that.

此时，oyster不是我们餐桌上的’生猛海鲜‘牡蛎，而是指one rules the world /one is in charge of everything.

oyster解为此意时，常以 The world is one's oyster 的固定形式出现。

If the world is your oyster, everything is going well for you （ 你一切顺心如意）,and you have the ability and the freedom to do anything , are able to enjoy all the pleasures and opportunities that life has to offer（有能力和时机尽情享受生活中的一切快乐与机遇）or go anywhere. You're young and healthy and you've got no commitments（负担，承诺）, so the world is your oyster.

This metaphor, alluding to the world as a place from which to extract profit, just as one takes pearls from oysters.

它最早出自莎士比亚的喜剧《温莎的风流娘儿》（The Merry Wives of Winsor)第二幕第二场。毕斯托尔是个靠偷吃扒拿过日子的无赖。一次他向福斯塔夫爵士借钱不成，他恼怒地说：“那么，世界是我的牡蛎，我要用剑剖开吃（Why, the world is mine oyster----which I with sword will open）。”

于是，人们用world is one's oyster 表示“世上一切都在掌握之中，什么都能做到”

When John won the scholarship, he felt as though the world was his oyster.
获得奖学金时，约翰简直觉得世界就是他的。

Then I was a young single woman and the world was my oyster.
那时我是个年轻的单身女子，真是想干什么就可以干什么。

She left school feeling that the world was her oyster.
她毕业了，感到前途无限美好。

The world is my oyster. I'm in love.
世界是我的了。我恋爱啦。

I was young once and the world was my oyster; now that I'm older my ambitions are few.
我年轻时对人生充满着美好的憧憬；现在我老了，已没有什么雄心壮志了。