正往上拱, 说来就来, 争金夺银

[Fred0]

等她们感觉到凉爽的时候，乌云一团一团地，正往上拱一来不及了，实在来不及了，大暴雨说来就来，用的是争金夺银的速度。

 

This interesting sentence provokes three questions for  me:

 

1. Does "正往上拱一来不及了" mean "it was too late even to salute?" Is 正往上拱 a fixed phrase, and if so what does it mean?

 

2. I understand 说来就来 to mean "(it could) come at any moment; it could happen at the drop of a hat. Is this correct?

 

3. I understand that 争金夺银 literally means "strive for gold; seize silver," but what is it's figurative meaning?

[Publius]

1. Where did 'salute' come from? 拱 is a verb that means 'to arch'.

This is 拱手

This is 拱橋

Notice the similarity in shape?

And the '一' really should be a punctuation mark, the Chinese dash '——', used the same way as the English em dash.

 

2. I remember you have asked about '說走就走'. It means something happens/will happen/happened faster than you can say ____ (insert joke here).

 

3. The gold and silver in 爭金奪銀 refer to gold and silver medals, like in a sports event. Makes sense?

[Fred0]

Yes, it makes sense. It all makes sense, as your replies always do, Publius. Thank you!