中国网站品牌栏目（频道）
If she hadn't gone to the mat for me, I wouldn't still be here.
要不是她挺身而出，替我说话，我今天早不在这儿了。不理解，请教点评
My comments:
Going to the mat is originally a sporting term, the mat being a large piece of thick, soft cushion on which players wrestle each other.
If someone is willing to go to the mat for you, it means they’re willing to muck in and fight on your behalf, risking being thrown to the mat.
In our example, “I” wouldn’t be in the good position “I” am in now if she hadn’t gone to the mat for me.
In other words, she gave me all the help she could and “I” could not have achieved anything without it.
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pluck a brand from the burning
本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。
About the author:
Zhang Xin（张欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.
