1、a bad apple 坏蛋
A:Oh, my God! What happened? Why are you black and blue?
B:I got beaten by Peter’s brother
A:That’s a bad apple! Let’s think up a way and teach him a lesson
甲:噢,天哪!怎么啦?你身上怎么青一块紫一块的?
乙:彼得的弟弟把我给打了。
甲:这坏蛋,咱们来想个法来教训教训他。
2、a dog in the manger 占着茅坑不拉屎的人;占有有利条件却不会利用的人
A:Give the skates to me!
B:You shut up!
A:If you don’t know how to skate, why don’t you give the skates to me? Don’t be a dog in the manger.
甲:把冰鞋给我!
乙:你闭嘴!
甲:你若不知道怎么滑冰,干吗不把冰鞋给我?别占着茅坑不拉屎了!
3、a gay dog 快活的人
A:It’s strange they should get along so well!
B:That’s nothing unusual.
A:You don’t know much about the couple. One likes to be alone, but the other is a bit of a gay dog.
甲:他们居然能处得这么好,太奇怪了。
乙:没什么不寻常的。
甲:你不了解这俩口子,一个喜欢独处,另一个却喜欢热闹。
4、a hard nut 冥顽不化的人;无知无觉的人
A:Bob refused all his classmate’s invitations.
B:I really couldn’t understand him.
A:He’s surely a hard nut, nobody likes approaching him.
B:We’d better also leave him alone.
甲:鲍勃拒绝了班上所有人的邀请。
乙:他这个人我真不明白。
甲:他真是个脑子不开窍的人,没人愿意靠近他。
乙:我们最好也别惹他。
5、a hen-pecked husband 妻管严;怕老婆的男人
A:Aunt is scolding uncle again.
B:Don’t worry. Your uncle won’t utter a word back.
A:I didn’t know my uncle is a hen-pecked husband
B:He isn’t. He thinks it’s not necessary to quarrel with women.
甲:婶婶又在骂叔叔了。
乙:别着急,你叔叔不会还口的。
甲:我还不知道我叔叔是个妻管严。
乙:他不是。他觉得和女人吵架没必要。
6、big shot 要人
A:Do you know Mr. Smith?
B:No, but I know of him. He’s a big shot in the local politics.
A:I’m told he’s only a yes-man.
B:Yes, I hate that. At present, what we want is a strong, independent leader, not a bunch of yes-man.
甲:你认识史密斯先生吗?
乙:不认识,但我知道这人,他在本地政界是个举足轻重的人物。
甲:我听说他是个和事佬。
乙:没错儿,我就恨这个。现在,我们要的是强有力的、有主见的领导人,可不是和事佬儿。
7、fat cat 大款
A:Where’re those popular actresses in our school time?
B:Get into marriage.
A:Can everyone find a fat cat?
B:Everyone wants to, but not everyone succeeds.
甲:咱们上学时的那些女影星都哪去了?
乙:结婚了呗!
甲:人人都能找到大款吗?
乙:人人都想,可并不是人人都能找到。
8、bosom friends 知心朋友
A:Is Jack a friend of yours?
B:Yes. He is one of my bosom friends.
A:He’s a nice guy as far as I know
B:You can be certain of that.
甲:杰克是你的朋友吗?
乙:是,他是我的一个知心朋友。
甲:我也知道他是一个好人。
乙:这点毫无疑问。
9、con artist 大骗子手
A:Is this your first visit to this city?
B:Yes, why?
A:Perhaps I should warn you that this city is full of con artists.
B:Thanks for telling. I’ll take care.
甲:这是你第一次游览这个城市吗?
乙:是呀,怎么了?
甲:也许我该提醒你这座城市有许多骗子手。
乙:谢谢,我会小心的。
10、the long and short of it 概括地说
A:Do you know why John left our company?
B:It’s a complicated story but the long and short of it is that he transferred a large sum of money wrongly.
A:Who should be responsible exactly?
B:A crook took advantage of him. Our boss would never forgive such a stupid act.
甲:你知道为什么约翰离开我们公司了吗?
乙:这事很复杂,但概括地说,他错转了一大笔资金。
甲:确切说谁应负责呢?
乙:一个骗子骗了他。我们的老板永远也不会原谅这样愚蠢的行为。
11、no point 没理由
A:There’s no point in losing temper on me. It’s unfair!
B:What did you do to him?
A:If I did something bad, I wouldn’t blame him for getting angry with me. The point is that I did nothing wrong.
B:Maybe he thought you reported him to the manager.
甲:没理由向我发火。这太不公平了!
乙:你对他怎么了!
甲:如果我做了坏事,我不会怪他生我的气。可事实是,我没做什么错事呀。
乙:说不定他以为是你向经理打了小报告。
12、fat change(反语)微小的机会;极少的可能
A:I think it was Jason who stole my document.
B:Fat chance!
A:He’s the only one who left here late.
B:I know him. He’ll never do that sort of thing.
甲:我觉得是詹森偷了我的文件。
乙:不会的。
甲:他是唯一一个走得晚的人。
乙:我了解他,他决不会干这种事儿。
13、mark time 原地踏步;停顿
A:Why did we stop?
B:No, we didn’t really stop. We just marked time.
A:Marked time?
B:Yeah, we have to pause until we get approval.
甲:我们为什么停下来?
乙:不,我们并没有真的停下来。我们只是原地踏步。
甲:原地踏步?
乙:是的。我们不得不暂时停下待命。
14、have seen better days 有过好曰子
A:Look, Mrs. Thomas is such a beauty in her early eyes.
B:But Mr. Thomas is short, skinny and ugly.
A:Why do you think Mrs. Thomas married him?
B:He’s certainly very poor now, but I think he’s seen better days.
甲:看,托马斯夫人年轻时这么漂亮。
乙:可托马斯先生又矮、又瘦、又丑。
甲:你猜他为什么要嫁给他?
乙:他现在固然很穷,可我想他有过好曰子。
15、a storm in a teacup 风波;小事引起的轩然大波;小题大做
A:The husband can’t understand why his wife got angry so easily.
B:He’s too careless maybe.
A:No, it’s not that. Actually it’s a storm in a teacup. I also thought it’s the women who is to blame.
B:Anyway the man has to consider his wife’s feelings.
甲:丈夫不明白他妻子为什么那么容易生气。
乙:可能他太粗心了。
甲:不是,不是因为这个。实际上她是小题大做,我也觉得是他妻子不对。
乙:不管怎么说男人应该考虑作妻子的情绪。
16、the last straw 忍无可忍
A:That was the last straw!
B:Why did you say that? Did your girlfriend do anything wrong?
A:She refused to see me. She must have fallen in love with another guy.
B:I don’t believe it. Talk with her, will you? There must be some misunderstanding between you.
甲:真是让人忍无可忍!
乙:你为什么这么说?你女朋友做什么错事了吗?
甲:她拒绝见我,她一定是爱上别人了。
乙:我不相信。和她谈谈,好吗?你们之间一定是发生什么误会了。
17、make a clean breast of….忏悔
A:You’re restless. Are you in trouble?
B:I’ve done something I shouldn't
A:Then make a clean breast of it, you will feel released.
B:I’ve not decided yet.
甲:你老是不安?有麻烦吗?
乙:我做了件不该做的事。
甲:那就彻底忏悔一下吧。你会感觉轻松一些的。
乙:我还没决定呢。
18、to my way of thinking 依我看来…..
A:To my way of thinking, I think you behaved rudely before your dad.
B:I couldn’t keep my temper then, poor dad, he must be very sad.
A:How about apologizing now?
B:I hope he can forgive me.
甲:依我看来,你在你父亲面前表现得太无礼了。
乙:当时我控制不住。可怜的爸爸,他一定很难过。
甲:现在去向他道歉怎么样?
乙:我希望他能原谅我。
19、the same… as 同….一样
A:Jim, is this the bike you lost?
B:Let me see. No, mine has a special symbol on it.
A:This is the same bike as yours, I think. I can’t tell the difference.
B:If you were the owner, you could.
甲:吉姆,这是你丢的那辆自行车吗?
乙:让我看看。不是,我的车上面有个特别的标记。
甲:我想这辆车和你的很像。我看不出有什么区别。
乙:如果你是车主,你就能看出区别了。
20、the benefit of doubt (在证据不足情况下)假定某人无辜
A:Who did it?
B:Don’t be so angry, Henry?
A:It must be Robert.
B:Maybe Robert did it, maybe he didn’t. If I were you, I would give him the benefit of the doubt. It’s not so important anyway.
甲:这是谁干的?
乙:亨利,别发那么大的火好不好?
甲:准是罗伯特干的。
乙:也许是罗伯特干的,也许不是。如果我是你,我就先假定不是他干的。不管怎么说这件事也没什么大不了的。
21、right up one’s alley 正合某人的心意或技能
A:David is good at tennis.
B:Speaking of tennis, Daniel is the best.
A:That’s for sure. All sports are right up his alley. Actually, nobody can get a better hand over him yet.
B:He’ll make a successful sportsman, I think.
甲:大卫很擅长网球。
乙:谈到网球,丹尼尔是最棒的了。
甲:那是肯定的。所有运动他都擅长。事实上,还没人能胜过他。
乙:我想他会成为一个成功的运动员的。
22、school of hard knocks 艰苦的磨练
A:My boss is such a shrewd businessman everyone admires him.
B:Which university did he graduate from?
A:He never went to high school. He was educated in the school of hard knocks.
B:That’s incredible.
甲:我的老板是个非常精明的生意人,每个人都很欣赏他。
乙:他是从哪所大学毕业的?
甲:连高中都没上过。他是受了艰苦的磨练而成长起来的。
乙:真是难以置信。
23、something the matter with 出问题
A:Hey, Richard! What’re you doing right here?
B:My recorder has something the matter with its speaker; I want to have it fixed.
A:It broke down again? You really need a new one.
甲:嘿,里查德!你在这儿干什么呢?
乙:我录音机的喇叭坏了。我想找人把它修好。
甲:又坏了?你真该买个新的了。
24、under age 未成年
A:Why not take me to the party, Mom?
B:You’re too young, dear.
A:Oh, I’m really as tall as you.
B:Oh, you’re still under age.
甲:为什么不带我去参加晚会,妈妈?
乙:你还未成年,亲爱的。
甲:不,我都快和您一般高了。
乙:但你还是没长大啊。
25、the matter 麻烦
A:Is the anything matter?
B:I’ve been watching the game on TV. One of our athletes is seriously injured.
A:My goodness! Has she been sent to hospital?
B:Yes, poor girl. She’s only your age.
甲:出什么事了吗?
乙:我一直在看电视上的比赛,我们的一个队员严重受伤了。
甲:天哪!她被送往医院了吗?
乙:送了。可怜孩子,她只有你这么大。 |