大学英语视听说口语期中考试复习资料 谚语.doc

Proverbs
1. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
一鸟在手胜过二鸟在林：珍惜当下。

It means people should value the things we have alreay owned . It is better to take the things that are in front of us than the things that are far away from us. We live in a colorful world, so we often don' t satisfy the current situation. As for English learning, it' s just the same. For example, you can have many vocabulary books, but you never try to remember the words in the books. You just buy English tapes instead of listening to them, just download a lot of English movies without watching them. In my opinion, we should make full use of the things which we have go. We should catch at least one bird in hand instead of just looking at the two in the distance.
2. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
别离情更浓：小别胜新婚。

The proverb means that people will have a better relationship after they were apart from their family, friends or lover. When we leave our parents to go to university and do something alone, we will feel lonely and miss our parents a lot. At this time, we can use it to express the feeling.
3. All that glitters is not gold.
闪光的未必都是金子：人不可以貌相。

It means that just because something glitters, that does not mean it is gold. It could be some other metal that glitters similarly to gold. It is to say that things may not be as it appears to be. In real life, if someone appears to be your friend as they treat you nicely and act favorably to you, this does not necessarily mean that they are really your friend and hold your best interests at heart. You can also apply it to items or products that look or sound valuable, but can be worthless.
4. Birds of a feather flock together. 物以类聚。

It refers to birds of the same kind and color because they are wearing the same type of feathers. When used to describe people, it points to the fact that people of similar hobbies tend
to be attracted by each other. Therefore, people work together, and even play together just because they share the same interests and the mode of thinking. That's why it is often said that you can check out a person by getting to know the kind of friends he keeps. And his opponents also can give you strong evidence of his personality.
5. Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.
蛋尚未孵出，不要先数鸡：不要过早打如意算盘。

It means there is no need to make a conclusion too early or being optimistic too early. Just imagine that there is a basket of eggs in front of you . Until all the eggs are hatched , you will not know exactly how many chickens you will have because We can，t predict what would happen in the future. We can，t imagine getting good scores before we start to study hard. And finally, we know the answer is going to reveal itself in the not too long future.
6. Do not put all your eggs in one basket.
不要把所有鸡蛋都放在一个篮子里：不要孤注一掷。

This means you should not put all of your resources together in one place. Because you can' t risk losing everything at one time. As a undergraduate student, although study is an important part of our life, i t isn，t the whole life. If you spend your all time on it, at last, you may just be a b ookworm. If you take part in many different activities, maybe you will be good at lots of different things. So try to use your time reasonably, don，t put all you time in one basket.
7. Even Homer sometimes nods.
神仙也有打盹的时候：智者千虑，必有一失。

It means everyone can make a mistake. Even if the wisest man, he also can' t succeed all the time. For example, a soldier is very successful in all of the battle. But in one battle, he thought that he has considerate all the questions,but he cannot accurately judge what time will the enemy attacted. So he is likely to fail. In real life, when you do math, you might forget one important step althought you think you already do well enough. And we should forgive these small mistake.
8. Every cloud has a silver lining.
黑暗中总有一线光明：车到山前必有路。

It means there is hope behind every
trouble. Everything there will always be
changed. If God closes a window, he will open another door for you. In real life, when we are in trouble in study, work or interpersonal relationship , we must believe there is always a way to overcome the difficulty. Believ e yourself and never give up easily. One day you will be successful.
9. God helps those who help themselves. 自助者天助。

The saying wants to tell us if we tried our best, if we made great effort, we will stay in positive. Our positive mood together with our hardwork, we might find that we are so close to success like god has helped us.
10. Haste makes waste. 欲速则不达。

It means that acting too quickly may actually slow things down. We can' t succeed without a long time accumulation. If one wants to be president of a country, he should first display his remarkable ability in his routine work so that his ability will be recognized and accepted by others. However, if he is impatient for success, he will never realize his goal. If a man fall in love whith a woman, he should not expect to win her heart within a day, otherwise he will never get true love. In conclusion, one should follow in order and advance step by step,otherwise he will suffer more difficults.
11. Honesty is the best policy. 诚实为上策。

It point to the importance of honesty. Because if you are honest to others, they will be honest to you in return. When you are sad, they will comfort you. When you are in trouble, they will help you. Honesty not only brings us honor and friendship, but also material gains. Many successful people won the material wealth by honest labour. Honesty is also regard as the traditional virtue of our Chinese nation.
12. If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
如果生活给你柠檬，就榨柠檬汁：乐观面对逆境。

It tells us we should always try to make the best of a bad situation. Lemons taste sour, but they make nice juice when you mix their juice with sugar and water. If life gives you sugar, just taste and enjoy it. If life gives you a trouble, check it out and work hard to solve the problem.
Try our best to overcome the difficulties, let the life become beautiful.
13. L et sleeping dogs lie. 不要招惹是非。

Sleeping dogs can' t bit human, so it' s better not disturb them. It means if a matter is settled, there' s no need to bring it up again. For example, we should not force others to do what they don' t want to do. We shouldn' t talk about things which let other people mind. Everything has its own rules, so don' t break it.
14. O nce bitten, twice shy. —朝被蛇咬,十年怕井绳。

If you had been hurt by something or someone before, even just once, you will be afraid every time you think about that thing or person. For example, If you had been bitten by a snake once, then you will be scared every time later you see something looks like snake.
15. O ne man's meat is another man's poison.
一个人的美食，可是另一人的毒药：萝卜青菜，各有所爱。

That means different people like different food materials, in other words, it's very common
to see that the attitudes toward one thing are quite different among those people. For example, some prefers watching sports programmes, others love TV plays. Some are called crazy fans of Michael Jackson, others will choose Lady GaGa. We think about a thing or person depends on our
life styles, hobby, social experience, the scale of knowledge and the way we use our brains. As a matter of fact, you are not likely to change others5 opnions on something and it's not necessary, too.Therefore, you should show respect to other's choices, find out differences, exchange views with each other. Maybe you can explore a new world and make more friends.
16. T here is no such thing as a free lunch.
世上没有免费的午餐。

It tell us it is impossible to gain wealth or success without any work.The farmers harvest
by a year of hard work, scientists gain achiev ements by years of devoted researches. I know
there are always some pe ople who wait for the opportunities falling on them, they may attribute there failures to lack of good chances. Therefore, there are many peopl e gaining nothing at last. Seeing the word 〃free〃 in ads used to exci te us, but now we know it can 't be so nice as we imagine.
Clever men know that the more efforts they make, the bigger chance t hey will have to succeed.
17. There is no use crying over spilled milk.
不要为打翻的牛奶哭泣：既往不咎。

It means when something happened, we could do nothing to change it but to accept it. When we are helpless, we may be told even comforted by that sentence. Sometimes before we are going to begin doing something to make up for mistakes, people around us will warn us that there is no use crying over slipped milk. We should pay more attention into future.
18. Think twice, act wise. 三思而后行。

It means one should not rush ahead
too quickly without having carefully prepared. We should think more instead of acting blindly. Don' t make promise when you' re in joy. Don' t reply when you' re sad. Don' take decisions when you' re angry.
19. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
厨子太多煮坏汤：人多误事。

The meaning of this proverb is that the more people work on a project, the worse it may turn out, or too many people or ideas may prevent from getting things done. Or you can say that too many people working together without a leader can lead to a mass chaos. So people should make a plan and follow it strictly every time they meet. Then they will never divert from the direction of making the u broth. " What, s more, it also tells us that we need to solve this problem ourselves.
20. Two wrongs do not make a right. 两错相加仍是错。

It means dealing with the faults of others in wrong way can' t get better results. If someone had done something wrong, we shouldn，t filled with thoughts of revenge. Although it was clear that someone had been wrong, you shouldn，t hit him. Because punishment doesn' t solve the problem. This method is wrong, too.
21. You are what you eat. 人如其食。

What you eat can reflect on your life and characters. There are some things which you don，t care about can make people know more about how you are. For example,if you observe one 's eating habit we can know where he comes from and his physical condition. From one ' s dress we can judge
one ' s economic condition and style.So it points out that we should care about our normal habit and try our best give other people good impression , The other meaning is what you eat can judge if you are healthy.
22. You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
用蜜比用醋能捉到更多的苍蝇：好话比尖刻言词更管用。

Honey is sweet while vinegar is not. In other words, you can win people to your side easily with gentle persuasion than by hostile actions. It is true in our daily life , comforting someone who makes mistakes instead of critizing him, he will be greatful to you and stands on your side . Congratulating someone who succeeds instead of disdaining his success,he will be happy and make friends with you.
23. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.
牵马到河易，强马饮水难：只可引导，不可强求。

In other words, you can provide a course of action or a direction for somebody, but you can not force that person to accept it. For example, nowadays many parents hope that their children can make a big success or be better than other people. As a result, they began to force their children to join varieties of interest classes and cram school in order tomake them win at the starting line. However, if children are unwilling to join these classes, forcing cant be effective.
24. You can never teach an old dog new tricks.
老狗学不了新把戏：积习难改。

It is difficult to make someone change the way they do something when they have been doing it the same way for a long time. Habits are hard to change. For example, you，re never going to teach your father at the age of eighty to use a computer.
25. You can't have your cake and eat it, too.
鱼与熊掌不可兼得。

Used for expressing the impossibility of having something both ways if those two ways conflict. There are chioces for all of us, and we always can choose only one thing. If we decide to work hard, we will have to give up some leisure time. It's like another famous proverb： You cannot sell the cow and drink the milk.。