题目

crash and
在一篇文章中,我看到：CLODFELTER:"Crash and burn is a good one.Referring to somebody whos very gifted perhaps as an ace."
AA:"Meaning a pilot who shoots down a lot of other planes."
CLODFELTER:"Yeah,but obviously it can refer to an ace corporate executive,ace tennis player,I mean it can refer to many things.The term was first used in a military capacity in World War One."
那说明crash and burn指的是精英者.
又在另一文中看到：No,wait!I didn't mean that literally.When you say that someone is going to
crash and burn,it means that they are going to fail,usually in a very
spectacular or embarrassing way.‘
这里crash and burn又指的失败.
是两者都有,还是什么?
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提问时间：2020-07-24

答案

你说得很对,这个词组的广泛应用是因为一部1977年的加拿大电影《Crash 'n' Burn》（也就是你提问中的对话内容来源）,1990年又被一部科幻片用作片名.后来多次用在歌曲里面广泛流传.
 
就目前看来,crash and burn 的基本意思有两个：
（词面意思）：飞机或汽车的事故现象描述
（引申意思）：场面“壮丽”的一次失败.例：Poor Chuck really crashed and burned when he made his presentation at the sales meeting.（通常反映了描述者的同情和遗憾,带有很强的“出生未捷身先死”和“壮志未酬”的味道.）
其他例子：
- Gil lost his job and his pension when the company crashed and burned.
- She watched her parents' marriage crash and burn.
 
其实,正如你的理解,crash and burn 包含了“勇敢”、“功败垂成”的意思,但事情的结果是一个 failure.