这个短语的字面解释是“一条船上的人”。这是什么意思呢？请看对话：

    A: Why do you look so unhappy?

    B: The stock market plunged again, and I have suffered a 10 percent loss on my investment.

    A: We’re all in the same boat, so stop complaining.

    B: Perhaps it’s time to seek out less risky investments.

    Note: The idiom means to be “in the same unpleasant situation as other people.” Some say it was first used by the ancient Greeks, referring to the risks that are shared by all the passengers in a small boat at sea. Over the centuries the meaning came to include all people in similar, unpleasant circumstances. Some other people say the idiom comes from the sinking of the Titanic, when people from all classes were in the same situation after the ship struck the iceberg.