表达 “a difficult middle child” 指的既不是兄弟姐妹当中的老大，也不是老小，而是那个夹在中间总爱闯祸、难管教的孩子。

人们猜测，“a difficult middle child” 所指的这类孩子因为年龄在兄弟姐妹当中不上不下，既没有老大的姿态，也不像老末那样受尽宠爱，所以他们的不良行为可能是由于感到被人忽视和嫉妒引起的，而惹事也许是想从父母或权威人物那里得到更多关注的一种方式。

例句

Clara has an older and younger sister and always got into loads of trouble at school. Her sisters never behaved badly - she was definitely a difficult middle child!

克莱拉有一个姐姐和一个妹妹，她上学时总是闯祸。她的姐妹们从不调皮捣蛋，她的确是姐妹中间那个难管教的老二！

My parents always said my brother was a difficult middle child because he was so naughty. I thought he was so cool, though!

我父母过去总说我哥哥是夹在兄弟姐妹中间那个难管教的老二，因为他太淘气了。不过那时我倒是觉得他很酷！

I was a really difficult middle child, but now I have children of my own, I feel really bad about how I used to behave!

我小时候是个很难相处的老二，但现在有了自己的孩子后，我对自己过去的行为感到很愧疚！