●Balancing act (compromi in dilemma /deal successfully with two or
more people, groups, or situations that are in opposition to each other ) [The UN must perform a delicate balancing act between the different sides in the conflict. ]
●Hot air (loud and confud empty talks) [No one likes a person
who thinks very highly of his own opinions but is really full of hot air.]
●Go belly-up (collap/to be dead-end) [My brother’s company
went belly-up last month when its revenues were far below its monthly debts, so now he’s looking for a job.]
●Keep the head above water [Earning barely enough to support
the family, father was quite happy only if he could keep his head above water.]
●XYZ (Check your zipper)
●Rome was not built in a day.
●Penny wi and pound foolish.(小事聪明、大事聪明)
●V ariety is the spice of life.
●Honesty is the best policy.
●Bellybutton
●Plain sailing(easy unobstructed progress)
●Flowery language/plain flowery
●Snak e charmer(a performer who us movements and music to
control snakes)
●Snake pit (insane asylum疯人院)
●Snake up/queue up
●Tuck Sb. in (tuck the sheets in firmly for sb.)
●Tuck in (eat up/ usually refers to a considerable quantity of food)
●Spend less and save more
●Exhaust (the exhaust from a car engine)
●Carbon emission
●Selfie /foodie/
●Goo bumps/goo skin/goo flesh
●Chicken-livered
●Chicken liver
●Sandwich (inrt or squeeze tightly between two people or objects) ●Keep sb. In line
●Wipe-out(collap/an event or a result that completely destroys
something) (a fall from a bicycle or while skiing or being capsized on
a surfboard)
●Touch and go
●Nod in sleep
●Turn the head of
●Take French leave 不告而别
●Foot/pay the bill
●Go Dutch/ a Dutch treat/ split 50/50 [ I’d love to go, but I insist we
go Dutch.]
●Rai Cain(fly into a rage/get angry ) [ If i don’t get out of here
now, my boss is going to rai Cain.][ On weekends we wanted to have late ri in the morning, our neighbour started to rai Cain.]
●On/in the cards(adv. Probably ) [An early general election is
certainly on the cards.]
●Cut and run(leave away in a hurry) [If he had cut and run early,
Democrats would have complained about his backbone.][you pick your side and you stick it! Y ou don’t cut and run when things get ugly.]
●In broad daylight(in public/before a big crowd of people) [They
even committed such crimes in broad daylight. ]
●Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.
●Prevention is better than a cure.
●One good turn derves anther.
●Make hay while the sun shines.
●Get over jet-lag
●Cards on the table /put/place one’s cards on the table 摊牌
●I’m flattered./Y ou flatter me.
●Written in water(fleeting)
●Full of beans (talk nonn)
●Not know beans (to be ignorant or uninformed)
●Not worth a hill of beans(to be worthless)
●Spill the beans(tell a cret)
●Dangle a carrot(encourage/incentive)
●Carrot and stick()
●Pea-brained(simple-minded/stupid)
●Pass an olive branch
●As thick as pea soup
●Like two peas in a pod(be very clo with or similar to someone)
●In a pickle
●Hot potato(difficult issue)
●Salad days(youthful period of one’s life)
●Confide in someone吐露、倾诉
●Run deep(if a feeling runs or goes deep, it is very strong and difficult
to change)[the economic ties between China and the US run deep.][it all sounds logical enough, but Europe’s democratic divisions run deep.][but her feeling for him run deep.]
●Turn on a dime(skillful/flexible/talented)
●Penny for your thought[-a penny for your thoughts.--Oh,i was just
thinking about how to tell i’m leaving.]你呆呆的在想什么了
●An eagle eye[a good surgeon must have an eagle’s eye, a lion’s heart,
and a lady’s hand.]
●Be all ears[the children were all ears when the girl told them stories.] ●Come down to earth [he has come down to earth and stopped
dreaming of being rich.][the two lovers are living in a kind of dreamworld; but they’ll come down to earth.]
●Nothing ventured,nothing gained.
●It never rains but it pours.
●Once bitten, twice shy.
● A bad workman blames his tools.
●Play someone at their feet=an eye for eye, a tooth for a tooth
●I’ll live up to my parent’s expectation.
●His name slipped from my memory.
●See eye to eye (be in agreement) [i e eye to eye with you.] [it
is a mere coincidence that they e eye to eye on this point.]
●On the same page( be in agreement) [Can EU member all stay on
the same page and support EU policy of continued expansion?][I just want to make sure we’re all on the same page here.]
●Buy the farm (die)[my uncle was fifty-ven when he bought the
farm in the world war two.]
●Chew the fat (gossip) [It was nice to go out with friends and chew
the fat for a while.][Uncle George likes to come over to chew the fat every Sunday.][the old women meet to chew the fat with their neighbors every morning.]
