go south

1 To escape; to vanish or disappear. (Not necessarily in a southerly direction.)

去逃跑；逃走不见或消失（并不一定是往南逃）

 

例：

 

Everyone in the gang went south when they learned that the police had discovered their hideout.

那帮人听说警察发现了他们的藏身之处，便纷纷逃走不见了。

 

The dog has gone south into the night.

狗已消失在夜色中了。

 

2 To fall or drop; to depreciate¹; to lose quality or value. (Especially related to finances or stock exchanges.)

下降或落下；贬值；失去质量或价值(尤指与金融或股票交易有关的。)

 

这个意思可能和地图上的“上北下南”有关，南方就是下方，往南走就是下降的趋势。

 

例：

 

The company's stock profile continued going south for the third day in a row today.

该公司的股票今天连续第三天下跌。

 

It seems like all our moral standards have just gone south.

看来我们的道德标准都下降了。

 

3 To cease working or functioning; to quit, fail, or fall apart.

停止工作或运作；退出，失败或分崩离析。

 

例：

 

Talks between the labor² union and the construction firm went south yesterday, so it looks like workers will be on strike again soon.

工会和建筑公司昨天谈崩了，所以看起来工人很快就会再次罢工。

 

My computer is only a month old, and it's already gone south.

我的电脑才用了一个月，就已经坏了。

 

总的来说，go south都有一个趋势上的不好，由此我们也可以猜出go north作为它的反方向也就表示了一个好的趋势。

 

例：

 

I hope the talk will go north this time.

我希望这次的会谈取得成功。

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