我们常说“细如发丝”，头发在日常所见各物中也许算是最细的了，所以你一定能想象如发丝那点宽度有多么细微。习语win by a hair就出自这里。

我们来看一个例子体会一下win by a hair含义是什么。这段话在说州长职位的竞选，其中的对手势均力敌，票数非常接近。

It was as close as an election could be. A million people voted and the candidate I voted for won by only 350 votes. She only won by a hair but that still makes her our new governor. 这次选举竞争空前激烈，有一百多万人投票。她选的候选人仅仅领先350票而赢得胜利，当上了州长。

领先350票和总票数一百多万相比是微乎其微的，所以他说，won by a hair，意思是以毫厘之差取得险胜。

既然有人以毫厘之差取胜，就必然有人失之毫厘。这就是我们要学的第二个习惯用语：lose by a hair。我们来看个例子。说话人的女儿Nancy在全州中学田径锦标赛中参加400米赛跑。我们来看看比赛的结果是什么。

Nancy ran faster than ever before but she lost by a hair. She and the other runner had the same time， but the judges thought the other girl was just a hair in front. Nancy比以往任何时候都跑得更快，但是她以毫厘之差败北。她和另一名选手跑完全程的时间完全相同，但是裁判认为那个人比Nancy领先一线的距离。   更多信息请访问：http://www.engbus.cn/

Nancy仅仅比对手落后了一丝一毫，所以lose by a hair意思是以毫厘之差失败。有好几个习惯用语都表示类似的意思。例如: lose by a whisker。 Whisker是胡须，胡须和头发相比所差无几，可想而知lose by a whisker和lose by a hair意思一样。

还有两个来自赛马的习惯用语也有同样的意义。它们是lose by a nose和photo finish。 Lose by a nose原指赛马到达终点线时仅以一鼻之差而失利。Photo finish原来是赛马前后不分上下，肉眼难以判断，所以裁判必须根据马匹跑完全程那一霎那间摄下的照片才能决定胜负。