為了幫助大家更好的學(xué)習(xí)英語(yǔ)。今天小編給大家?guī)?lái)美國(guó)習(xí)語(yǔ)，希望能夠幫助到大家，下面小編就和大家分享，來(lái)欣賞一下吧。

美國(guó)習(xí)語(yǔ):強(qiáng)迫做事，要價(jià)太高

I didn't want to see that movie about Mozart, but my roommate twisted my arm. I'm glad he did -- it was a great show. My son has been twisting my arm to let him take my car out on a date ever since he got his driver's license. This weekend, I finally let him take it. And now it's in the body shop for a thousand dollars of repairs: he had an accident on the way to pick up his girlfriend. Don't go to that fancy new restaurant. The food isn't very good and they charge you an arm and a leg for it. Say, if you need a dentist, you might want to try my brother. He's fresh out of dental school and trying to set up a practice. He does good work, but he won't charge you an arm and a leg for it like most other dentists.

今天我們要講的兩個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)是由 arm，也就是手臂和leg，也就是腿這兩個(gè)字組成的。我們要介紹的第一個(gè)詞匯是：To twist someone's arm。Twist是擰，用力扭轉(zhuǎn)的意思。一個(gè)人要是給別人把手臂擰到身后去那是很難受的。To twist someone's arm這個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)的意思也正是如此，它是指給某人施加壓力，迫使他做你要他做的事。下面這個(gè)例子是一個(gè)學(xué)生說(shuō)的話： 例句-1: "I didn't want to see that movie about Mozart, but my roomate twisted my arm. I'm glad he did -- it was a great show." 他說(shuō)："我本來(lái)不想去看那個(gè)有關(guān)莫扎特的電影的。可是，我同房間的同學(xué)硬逼著要我去。不過(guò)，看了電影后我倒很高興，因?yàn)槟莻€(gè)電影太好了。" 這個(gè)學(xué)生還算運(yùn)氣，盡管他本來(lái)不愿意，可是結(jié)果還不錯(cuò)。但是，被迫做的事往往會(huì)產(chǎn)生不愉快的結(jié)局。請(qǐng)聽(tīng)下面這位爸爸說(shuō)的話： 例句-2:"My son has been twisting my arm to let him take my car out on a date ever since he got his driver's license. This weekend, I finally let him take it. And now it's in the body shop for a thousand dallars of repairs: he had an accident on the way to pick up his girlfriend." 他說(shuō)："自從我兒子拿到駕駛執(zhí)照以來(lái)，他一直鬧著要開(kāi)我的車(chē)去赴約會(huì)。這個(gè)周末，我終于答應(yīng)了?？墒牵谌ソ优笥训穆飞铣隽塑?chē)禍，現(xiàn)在我的車(chē)正在車(chē)庫(kù)里修，要花一千美元呢。" 下面我們要講的一個(gè)俗語(yǔ)里既有 arm 也有 leg：To charge someone an arm and a leg。Charge就是要多少價(jià)錢(qián)的意思。任何東西要你付出一只手臂，還加上一條腿恐怕要價(jià)也太高了一點(diǎn)，很不值得。很明顯，to charge someone an arm and a leg的意思就是要價(jià)太高。下面這句話就是一個(gè)例子： 例句-3: "Don't go to that fancy new restaurant. The food isn't very good and they charge you an arm and a leg for it!" 這個(gè)人說(shuō)："別上那個(gè)新開(kāi)的高級(jí)飯館去。他們的菜并不好，而價(jià)錢(qián)倒貴得要命。" 在美國(guó)，一般人都很怕去看牙大夫。這不僅是為了怕痛，而是他們要價(jià)都很高，動(dòng)一點(diǎn)小手術(shù)就是好幾百美元，有的甚至要幾千美元。下面這句話就反應(yīng)了這個(gè)情況： 例句-4: "Say, if you need a dentist, you might want to try my brother. He's fresh out of dental school and trying to set up a practice. But he does good work, and he won't charge you an arm and a leg for it like most other dentists." 這個(gè)人說(shuō)："喂，要是你想找牙大夫，你可以上我弟弟那里去試一下。他剛畢業(yè)，正在設(shè)法開(kāi)業(yè)?？墒牵夹g(shù)很好，也不會(huì)像其他許多牙大夫那樣收費(fèi)很高。" 現(xiàn)在我們來(lái)復(fù)習(xí)一下今天講的兩個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)。 第一個(gè)是 to twist someone's arm，那是強(qiáng)迫某人做你要他做的事。 第二個(gè)是 to charge someone an arm and a leg，這是指要價(jià)太高。

美國(guó)習(xí)語(yǔ):高度警覺(jué)，很忙

Every two weeks while the Congress is in session, I try to get back home to California to talk to the people. This doesn't give me much time to relax with my family, but I have to keep an ear to the ground and hear what voters are thinking about. I try to keep an ear to the ground and what I hear these days is that most people think we spend too much money on building roads and not enough on our schools. Half the people in my office are home sick, so I'm up to my ears. Gee, honey, you know I'd like to help you paint the kitchen tonight, but I'm up to my ears in paper work I had to bring home from the office. The mayor says that he didn't know people on his staff were taking bribes. But my guess is he's up to his ears in it.

大約一百五十年前，美國(guó)一些開(kāi)荒的人逐步地到西部的荒野去開(kāi)拓。這些拓荒者從當(dāng)?shù)赜〉诎踩四抢飳W(xué)到了一個(gè)訣竅，那就是躺下身來(lái)把耳朵貼在地上，就可以聽(tīng)到幾英里以外野獸奔跑的蹄聲。這對(duì)于那些拓荒者來(lái)說(shuō)是非常重要的，因?yàn)樗麄兟?tīng)到的蹄聲也許是印第安人騎著馬來(lái)攻打他們的馬群奔跑聲，也可能是幾千頭受驚的野牛正向他們奔馳而來(lái)。如果不及時(shí)躲避，他們會(huì)被這些野獸踐踏成泥的。現(xiàn)在，印第安人和野牛群的威脅已經(jīng)沒(méi)有了?？墒?，把耳朵貼在地上這個(gè)訣竅已經(jīng)成為一個(gè)俗語(yǔ)，在英文里也就是 to keep an ear to the ground。 To keep an ear to the ground，它的意思就是保持高度警覺(jué)，及早發(fā)現(xiàn)那些即將會(huì)發(fā)生的事情的預(yù)兆。比如說(shuō)，一個(gè)精明的政客對(duì)選民的想法總是很警覺(jué)的，有時(shí)候，一些選民還沒(méi)有想到的事，他們倒已經(jīng)想到了。下面一位國(guó)會(huì)議員說(shuō)的話正好說(shuō)明了這一點(diǎn)： 例句-1:"Every two weeks while the Congress is in session, I try to get back home to California to talk to people. This doesn't give me much time to relax with my family, but I have to keep an ear to the ground and hear what voters are thinking about." 這位議員說(shuō)："當(dāng)國(guó)會(huì)舉行會(huì)議的時(shí)候我每?jī)蓚€(gè)星期設(shè)法抽空回加州一次去和當(dāng)?shù)氐娜诉M(jìn)行交談。我沒(méi)有多少時(shí)間可以和家人在一起，但是我得及時(shí)了解選民的想法。" 下面我們?cè)俾?tīng)聽(tīng)另外一個(gè)議員說(shuō)的話： 例句-2:"I try to keep an ear to the ground and what I hear these days is that most people think we spend too much money on building roads and not enough on our schools." 這個(gè)議員說(shuō)："我總是設(shè)法注意人們的想法。最近我聽(tīng)說(shuō)，大多數(shù)人認(rèn)為我們?cè)谥贩矫婊ㄥX(qián)太多，而用在學(xué)校方面的錢(qián)卻不足。" 下面我們要講的一個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)也是和耳朵，也就是ear有關(guān)的。它是 up to one's ears。 Up to one's ears有好幾個(gè)意思。首先，它可以解釋成"很忙"的意思。比如說(shuō)： 例句-3: "Half the people in my office are home sick, so I'm up to my ears!" 這個(gè)人說(shuō)："我辦公室里有一半的人有病請(qǐng)假，所以我簡(jiǎn)直忙得不得了。" 下面這個(gè)例子是一個(gè)丈夫?yàn)榱颂颖艿綇N房去幫他太太的忙正在找借口： 例句-4:"Gee, honey, you know I'd like to help you paint the kitchen tonight, but I'm up to my ears in paper work I had to bring home from the office. " 這個(gè)丈夫說(shuō)："親愛(ài)的，你知道我很愿意今晚幫你把廚房上油漆?？墒俏覐霓k公室?guī)Щ貋?lái)好些要做的事。" Up to one's ears這個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)在下面這句句子里的意思就不同了： 例句-5:"The mayor says he didn't know people on his staff were taking bribes. But my guess is he's up to his ears in it." 這句話的意思是："市長(zhǎng)說(shuō)他不知道他手下的工作人員接受賄賂?？墒?，我猜想他完全是介入這些事的。" 今天我們講了兩個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)，第一個(gè)是 to keep an ear to the ground，意思是保持高度警覺(jué)。另一個(gè)是 up to one's ears，這是指很忙，或者是完全介入某件事的意思。

美國(guó)習(xí)語(yǔ):美國(guó)派，燙山芋

So many Asian restaurants have opened up in Washington that a writer on a daily paper here jokes that dim sum, Japanese sushi and Vietnamese spring rolls have become as American as apple pie. Football and baseball are as American as apple pie.These two games were invented by Americans and they're played and watched everywhere in this country. Many people sit glued to their TV sets whenever there are major competitions. The question of whether to raise taxes to cut the budget deficit is a real hot potato for a lot of politicians. If I were you, I'd drop that client like a hot potato; he's always suing somebody for something, but he usually loses and doesn't pay his lawyer's bills.

as American as apple pie hot potato 美國(guó)人很喜歡吃 apple pie。 Apple pie是一種用烤箱制作的甜點(diǎn)心，它的外面是一層面粉，里面是用蘋(píng)果做的餡兒。中文有時(shí)把 apple pie翻成"蘋(píng)果排"。美國(guó)人喜愛(ài)吃 apple pie 是他們剛從歐洲移居到美洲來(lái)以后就開(kāi)始了。每個(gè)家庭主婦都經(jīng)常做蘋(píng)果排。為了說(shuō)明 apple pie 是美國(guó)生活的一個(gè)特點(diǎn)，人們常說(shuō): "As American as apple pie." 這句話的意思是：就像蘋(píng)果排一樣具有美國(guó)特色。下面就是一個(gè)例子： "So many Asian restaurants have opened up in Washington that a writer on a daily paper here jokes that dim sum, Japanese sushi and Vietnamese spring rolls have become as American as applie pie." 這句話的意思是："華盛頓開(kāi)了那末多亞洲飯館，一家報(bào)紙的記者開(kāi)玩笑地說(shuō)，廣東點(diǎn)心、日本生魚(yú)片加飯團(tuán)和越南春卷都已經(jīng)變成像蘋(píng)果排一樣的美國(guó)食品了。" 美國(guó)人和其他各民族一樣具有很多特色。除了愛(ài)吃applie pie以外，美國(guó)人有一個(gè)很突出的特點(diǎn)就是，他們非常喜愛(ài)運(yùn)動(dòng)，特別是球賽。許多大學(xué)都愿意錄取好的運(yùn)動(dòng)員，給他們獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金，但是他們得在念書(shū)的同時(shí)花好多時(shí)間練球，參加比賽，為學(xué)校爭(zhēng)光。美國(guó)人喜愛(ài)球賽是有歷史根源的，因?yàn)橛行┣蝾愡\(yùn)動(dòng)都是起源于美國(guó)。下面這個(gè)例子就說(shuō)明了這一點(diǎn)： "Football and baseball are as American as apple pie.These two games were invented by Americans and played and watched everywhere in this country. Many people sit glue to their TV sets whenever there are major competitions." 他說(shuō)："橄欖球和棒球是美國(guó)式的運(yùn)動(dòng)，因?yàn)樗鼈兪敲绹?guó)人發(fā)明的，全國(guó)各地都有人打這種球或看這類球賽。每當(dāng)有重大比賽時(shí)，許多人就坐在電視機(jī)前不肯動(dòng)了。" 美國(guó)人也很喜歡吃土豆，特別是剛從烤箱里拿出來(lái)的一個(gè)個(gè)熱氣騰騰的土豆。下面我們要介紹的一個(gè)俗語(yǔ)是: hot potato。大家都知道 hot 的意思是熱或燙。 Potato就是土豆。熱的土豆固然好吃，但是它會(huì)燙你的手，你會(huì)想法馬上甩掉的。 Hot potato作為俗語(yǔ)，它的意思就是一個(gè)爭(zhēng)論很激烈的問(wèn)題，沒(méi)有一個(gè)人愿意為它承擔(dān)責(zé)任。例如： "The question of whether to raise taxes to cut the budget deficit is a real hot potato for a lot of politicians." 這個(gè)人說(shuō)："是否用增加稅收的方法來(lái)減少預(yù)算赤字的問(wèn)題對(duì)于許多政客來(lái)說(shuō)是一個(gè)棘手的問(wèn)題。" 下面這個(gè)例子是一位律師在給另一位律師提供建議： "If I were you, I'd drop that client like a hot potato; he's always suing somebody for something, but he usually loses and he doesn't pay his lawyer's bills." 這個(gè)律師說(shuō)："要是我是你的話，我就把你那個(gè)顧客馬上甩掉。他老是為了什么事去告別人，可是他總是輸給別人，他還往往不付律師費(fèi)。" 今天我們講了兩個(gè)和美國(guó)人的特色有關(guān)的俗語(yǔ)。第一個(gè)是 as American as apple pie，這個(gè)俗語(yǔ)的意思是：和蘋(píng)果排一樣具有美國(guó)特色。我們講的第二個(gè)俗語(yǔ)是 hot potato，hot potato是指難解決的問(wèn)題。

美國(guó)習(xí)語(yǔ): 胡說(shuō)，回扣

Honey, the old man told me what a great job I'm doing and how I am so valuable to the company. But he said the company isn't making enough money right now to give anybody a raise, he thinks he may be able to do something about it a year from now. But I'm afraid all he gave me was a lot of baloney. Baloney ! That's all it is when my opponent keeps saying that my voting record always favors big business over the average citizen. Let me say it again: that's nothing but baloney ! John Doe, the former head of the City Public Works Department, went on trial today in the district court. He is charged with taking a 50,000-dollar kickback from the Blank Construction Company after giving them a 3 million dollars contract to repair the city streets. We thought our congressman was a sure bet to be re-elected. But he's in real trouble -- his opponent charges him with getting kickbacks for voting a certain way and seems to have some evidence to prove it.

baloney kickback 各位肯定碰到過(guò)那種會(huì)胡說(shuō)八道的人，他們不是說(shuō)謊，就是在形容某些事物的時(shí)候夸大其詞。美國(guó)人在日常談話中有好幾種說(shuō)法是指那些胡言亂語(yǔ)的。今天我們先給大家介紹一個(gè)經(jīng)常能聽(tīng)到的說(shuō)法：baloney。Baloney這個(gè)字是來(lái)自意大利地名Bologna，那里出一種很便宜的香腸，里面放的是一些質(zhì)量不太好的肉末。Bologna是怎么變成baloney的，這就不太清楚了?？墒牵藗冎饾u用baloney這個(gè)字來(lái)形容某些人說(shuō)的話一錢(qián)不值。比如說(shuō)，有一個(gè)叫瓊斯的人向老板提出要求加工資。老板說(shuō)了些好聽(tīng)的話就把他打發(fā)走了?；氐郊依?，當(dāng)瓊斯太太問(wèn)起這件事時(shí)，瓊斯說(shuō)： "Honey, the old man told me what a great job I'm doing and how I am so valuable to the company. But he said the company isn't making enough money right now to give anybody a raise, he thinks he may be able to do something about it a year from now. But I'm afraid all he gave me was a lot of baloney." 瓊斯對(duì)他太太說(shuō)："親愛(ài)的，那老頭說(shuō)我工作做得如何好，我對(duì)公司來(lái)說(shuō)又是如何重要。但是，他說(shuō)，當(dāng)前公司沒(méi)有足夠的收入來(lái)給任何人加工資。他說(shuō)明年他也許能想辦法給我加工資。不過(guò)，他說(shuō)的那些話恐怕多半都是空話。" 政客們?cè)诟?jìng)選的時(shí)候經(jīng)常會(huì)遭到對(duì)方的攻擊，他們也經(jīng)常用baloney這個(gè)字來(lái)回?fù)魧?duì)方。例如，一個(gè)參加競(jìng)選的議員看到對(duì)方在電視和報(bào)上指責(zé)他和一些大企業(yè)的關(guān)系太密切。然后，他就在記者會(huì)上說(shuō)： "Baloney ! That's all it is when my opponent keeps saying that my voting record always favors big business over the average citizen. Let me say it again: that's nothing but baloney !" 這個(gè)議員說(shuō)："胡說(shuō)!我的對(duì)立面說(shuō)我在投票時(shí)老是從大企業(yè)的利益出發(fā)，而不考慮一般老百姓。讓我再重復(fù)一遍：他們的這些話純屬一派胡言。" 可是，在現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中我們也確實(shí)看到有的政客老是維護(hù)有錢(qián)人的利益，有的還甚至接受賄賂。美國(guó)人把那些政府官員接受的賄賂稱為：kickback。政府官員接受賄賂是違反美國(guó)聯(lián)邦、州和其他地方法律的，可能會(huì)受到嚴(yán)厲的懲罰。請(qǐng)聽(tīng)一位之聲記者廣播的一則新聞： "John Doe, the former head of the City Public Works Department, went on trial today in the district court. He is charged with taking a 50,000-dollar kickback from the Blank Construction Company after giving them a 3 million dollars contract to repair the city streets." 這句話的意思是："以前市政工程部的頭頭約翰多伊今天在地區(qū)法院受審。他的罪名是接受布蘭克建筑公司給他的五萬(wàn)美元賄賂，以換取他給該公司一項(xiàng)價(jià)值三百萬(wàn)美元修理街道的合同。" 下面是一個(gè)選民在講他們地區(qū)的一位議員： "We thought our congressman was a sure bet to be re-elected. But he's in real trouble--his opponent charges him with getting kickbacks for voting a certain way and seems to have some evidence to prove it." 他說(shuō)："大家都以為我們的議員肯定會(huì)再次當(dāng)選的，但是他現(xiàn)在可碰到麻煩事了，他的對(duì)手指責(zé)他在對(duì)某項(xiàng)提案進(jìn)行投票方面接受賄賂，而且他們好像還有證據(jù)。" 今天我們講了兩個(gè)美國(guó)人常用的俗語(yǔ)，它們是：baloney和kickback。Baloney是指胡說(shuō)八道，kickback是指官員接受賄賂。

美國(guó)習(xí)語(yǔ):辦事容易，容易辦事

Getting grandmother to loan me the money was as easy as taking candy from a baby. Louey told us that robbing this bank would be as easy as taking candy from a baby. But somebody told the police and they were waiting for us. We had no choice but to throw down our guns and surrender. Honey, I finally asked Old Man Jones for my raise. And it was a piece of cake. At the briefing before we took off to bomb the Germans, our commander told us it would probably be a tough flight. But it turned out to be a piece of cake: no anti-aircraft fire and no enemy fighters.

一般人在做任何事情的時(shí)候總是想找捷徑，越容易越好，這似乎是人的本性。因此，在英語(yǔ)里有不少成語(yǔ)和俗語(yǔ)是形容辦事很容易的。其中之一就是：To take candy from a baby。Candy就是吃的糖，baby在中文里就是小孩。To take candy from a baby的意思就是：某件事情很容易辦成，就像把孩子手里的糖拿來(lái)一樣。請(qǐng)聽(tīng)下面這個(gè)例子： 例句-1: "Getting grandmother to loan me the money was as easy as taking candy from a baby." 這個(gè)人說(shuō)："要我祖母借我那筆錢(qián)那簡(jiǎn)直是太容易了。" 我們?cè)賮?lái)舉一個(gè)例子吧。這是一個(gè)被關(guān)在監(jiān)獄里的犯人在和牢房里另一個(gè)犯人說(shuō)話： 例句-2: "Louey told us that robbing this bank would be as easy as taking candy from a baby. But somebody told the police and they were waiting for us. We had no choice but to throw down our guns and surrender." 這個(gè)犯人說(shuō)："洛伊對(duì)我們說(shuō)，要搶那個(gè)銀行簡(jiǎn)直太容易了?？墒?，不知誰(shuí)去報(bào)告了警察。到我們?nèi)屻y行時(shí)，警察在那里等著我們。我們沒(méi)辦法，只好放下槍投降。" To take candy from a baby，欺負(fù)小孩，從小孩手里拿糖，在想象當(dāng)中是很容易的。但是，實(shí)際情況恐怕并不見(jiàn)得如此。發(fā)明這個(gè)成語(yǔ)的人也許從來(lái)也沒(méi)有設(shè)法把嬰兒的小拳頭扒開(kāi)，然后把那小手里的糖拿來(lái)。任何做過(guò)父母的人都會(huì)告訴你孩子一般都會(huì)緊握著手里的糖不放，要是你硬是要拿，他就會(huì)大聲哭叫?？墒?，盡管如此，to take candy from a baby已經(jīng)成為美國(guó)人經(jīng)常用來(lái)形容辦事容易的詞匯了。 另外一個(gè)形容事情很容易辦的俗語(yǔ)也是和食品有聯(lián)系的，這就是：A piece of cake。Piece 是指一片，或一塊;cake就是蛋糕。A piece of cake的意思當(dāng)然可以是指一塊蛋糕?？墒?，作為俗語(yǔ)，它的意思就成了：這件事太容易了。例如，一個(gè)工作人員，猶豫了好久，最后終于鼓足了勇氣去和老板提出增加工資的要求。他原來(lái)以為要和老板進(jìn)行一番爭(zhēng)論?？墒?，出乎他的意料，老板馬上同意了，還說(shuō)，他確實(shí)應(yīng)該增加工資了。這樣，他喜笑顏開(kāi)地回到家里對(duì)太太說(shuō)： 例句-3: "Honey, I finally asked Old Man Jones for my raise. And it was a piece of cake!" 他說(shuō)："親愛(ài)的，我終于對(duì)老瓊斯提了要求增加工資的事。我沒(méi)有費(fèi)吹灰之力他一口答應(yīng)了。" 首先使用 A piece of cake 這個(gè)俗語(yǔ)的是二次世界大戰(zhàn)期間聯(lián)軍的飛行員。那時(shí)，他們往往是這樣說(shuō)的： 例句-4: "At the briefing before we took off to bomb the Germans, our commander told us it would probably be a tough flight. But it turned out to be a piece of cake: no anti-aircraft fire and no enemy fighters." 這句話的意思是："在我們起飛去轟炸德國(guó)人之前舉行的情況介紹會(huì)上，我們的司令官告訴我們這次飛行任務(wù)可能很艱巨。但是，結(jié)果倒是非常容易，既沒(méi)有高射炮射擊，也沒(méi)有敵機(jī)來(lái)干擾。" 上面我們講了兩個(gè)形容事情很容易辦的俗語(yǔ)。一個(gè)是To take candy from a baby;第二個(gè)俗語(yǔ)是A piece of cake。

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