Can’t hold a candle to字面翻译就是“不能给......拿蜡烛”。这是什么意思呢？请看对话：

    A: I’m considering buying a sports car. How about Corvette?

    B: When it comes to performance, Corvette can’t hold a candle to Porsche.

    A: But, when it comes to price, it’s much cheaper too.

    Note: Before electric lights, someone performing a task in the dark needed a helper to hold a candle to provide light while the task was performed. Holding the candle is of course the less challenging role. Someone who is not even qualified to hold the candle is much less competent than the person performing the actual task. So the phrase means “not nearly as good as.” In Chinese, there is a similar saying that literally translates as “not good enough to carry shoes for.”