摘要：短语 “muddy the waters（把水搅浑、在水里搅起泥浆）” 的实际意思是 “搞乱某个状况，使事情或问题变得更复杂或不清楚，故意使坏，混淆视听, 搅浑水；添乱，添堵”。

muddy the water(s)

muddy/ˈmʌdi/

vt.使变得泥泞；使浑浊

adj.泥泞的；浑浊的；多泥的；含泥的；灰暗的；暗淡的

短语 “muddy the waters（把水搅浑、在水里搅起泥浆）” 的实际意思是 “搞乱某个状况，使事情或问题变得更复杂或不清楚，故意使坏，混淆视听, 搅浑水；添乱，添堵”。

其实这个习惯用语对中国听众说来是耳熟能详的，因为中文里也有“把水搅混”一说。当然muddy the water跟中文的“把水搅混”一样，是作比喻意义的。它的意思是搬出细枝末节或捏造歪曲一些事实来混淆视听，搅乱局面，添乱，添堵，使人搞不清楚问题症结所在，而且往往是故意这样做的。

to make a simple situation confused and more complicated than it really is

例句：

Don’t believe that gossip, someone just want to muddy the waters.
别相信那些流言，那只是有些人想混淆视听罢了。

The defense is trying to muddy the water by painting the wife as bad.

被告企图通过往妻子脸上抹黑来混淆视听。

The defendant is trying to muddy the waters by saying something doesn’t matter with the case.
被告说这些与本案无关的话，只是试图在混淆视听。

Don’t muddy the waters with unrelated issues --- we need to focus on this one problem.

不要用无关的事情来混绕视听，我们要专注在这一个问题上。

In trying to fix the problem, Roy's advice just muddied the waters.
本想解决问题，但罗伊的建议反倒把事情越搞越乱。

We need to focus on this task so please don't bring in other issues to muddy the waters.
我们得专注做这项任务，所以请不要引入其它问题来搅乱现状。

Having two managers working on the project just muddied the waters – we only need one person to take charge.
让两名经理来参与这个项目，只会越搞越乱 —— 我们只需要一个人来负责。

Having two managers working on the project just muddied the waters – we only need one person to take charge.
让两名经理来参与这个项目，只会越搞越乱 —— 我们只需要一个人来负责。

We need to focus on this task so please don't bring in other issues to muddy the waters.
我们得专注做这项任务，所以请不要引入其它问题来搅乱现状。

来源：翅膀英语一点号