kick/hit sb. when he/she is down用法

“kick/hit sb. when he is down”字面意为“在某人倒下时踢/打他”，喻指“趁他人陷入困境、无力反抗时，进一步施加打击或伤害” 。其核心是“利用对方弱势进行主动额外攻击”，含强烈贬义，强调行为的不道德性——并非单纯“add insult to injury雪上加霜”，而是主动对困境中的人“落井下石”，突出主观上的恶意与行为的乘人之危。常译为：趁人之危、落井下石、伤口撒盐。如：

Some banks hit small businesses when they’re down by raising loan interest rates just after those businesses suffered losses.

一些银行在小企业出现亏损后，通过提高贷款利率对其落井下石。

After she broke up with him, he didn’t comfort her—instead, he kicked her when she was down by saying she’d never find anyone better.

她和他分手后，他非但没安慰她，反而落井下石，说她再也找不到比他更好的人了。

He felt betrayed because his ex-girlfriend kicked him when he was down—he’d just lost his job, and she laughed at his failure.

他觉得被背叛了，因为前女友在他落难时落井下石——他刚失业，她却嘲笑他的失败。

She regretted dating him because he always kicked her when she was down—once she failed her exam, he said she was “too stupid to study”.

她后悔和他约会，因为他总在她失意时落井下石——有一次她考试不及格，他说她“笨得根本不适合读书”。

The enemy kicked our troops when they were down, launching another attack just after our soldiers ran out of supplies.

敌人在我方军队弹尽粮绝后发动又一次进攻，对我们落井下石。

Their marriage ended because he kept hitting her when she was down—when she was sick, he complained about her “being a burden”.

他们的婚姻走到了尽头，因为他总在她困境时落井下石——她生病时，他还抱怨她“是个累赘”。