記得中學時，班里曾有男同學手里拿著粉筆假裝吸煙，還真蒙了不少人。仔細想想，粉筆和香煙還真是張得很像，只不過前者是消耗自己為人類服務，而后者是燃燒自己來危害人類。像這樣外形相似，實質卻大相徑庭的例子無處不在，比如我們今天要說的chalk and cheese。

Cheese is soft and white; chalk is hard and also white. The words chalk and cheese are similar, as they begin with the same sound. Although chalk and cheese have such similarities, they are very different from each other in taste and texture, and this is the point made by this expression.

奶酪和粉筆都是白色的，但奶酪質軟而粉筆質硬。它們的另一個相似點是兩個單詞chalk和cheese的開頭音節都是ch，開頭發音相同。雖然chalk（粉筆）和cheese（奶酪）有上述相似之處，但是它們的構成和味道卻是完全不同的，這也是chalk and cheese這個短語意思的由來。

For example:

Although they are brothers, they are as different as chalk and cheese.

雖然他們是兄弟，但是兩人一點也不一樣。

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（英語點津 Helen 編輯）

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