英语俚语解释及用法英文

●Balancing act (compromise 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 confused 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 (collapse/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 wise 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 uses 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/
●Goose bumps/goose skin/goose flesh
●Chicken-livered
●Chicken liver
●Sandwich (insert or squeeze tightly between two people or objects) ●Keep sb. In line
●Wipe-out(collapse/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.]
●Raise Cain(fly into a rage/get angry ) [ If i don’t get out of here
now, my boss is going to raise Cain.][ On weekends we wanted to have late rise in the morning, our neighbour started to raise 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 deserves 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 nonsense)
●Not know beans (to be ignorant or uninformed)
●Not worth a hill of beans(to be worthless)
●Spill the beans(tell a secret)
●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 close 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 see eye to eye with you.] [it
is a mere coincidence that they see 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-seven 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.]
●Dead on one’s feet ( feel tired, exhausted)[i’m really dead on my
feet tonight:we had the big year-end sale on and i was so busy i didn’t even have time for lunch.]
●Too many cooks spoil the broth.
●It’s no use crying over split milk.
●Pride goes before a fall.
●Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
●Give and take/balance act [A willing to give and take is important
for success in marriage.][A happy marriage depends largely on give and take.]
●Have a go at someone (have a go means try something but have a
go at something means to aggressively attack someone physically or verbally) [i don’t know why you are having a go at me. I didn’t do anything wrong.][you should walk away before he has a go at you.
Y ou know how aggressive he can be.]
●Try your hand at something （give something a try /a shoot）
●At six and sevens[i’m all at six and sevens about to do.][i’don’t want
to go his home because his house is always at six and sevens.]
●Four-star abilities with five-star ambitions
●Actions speak louder words.
●Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth
●When the Rome, do as the Romes.
●Blood is thicker than water.
●Queue jumping/ queue-jumper 插队
● A to Z [She knows the A to Z of cooking.][Steven knows Chinese
history from A to Z.]
●the ins and outs （all details）
●The jewel in one’s crown
●Go for the jugular/vein
●Get a jump on someone/have an edge on something
●Lead someone by nose
●Break the ice
●Skate on the ice
●Keep up with the Joneses
● A home away from home
●Make oneself at home
●Make a killing [Investors are set to (seize the opportunity to) make a
killing from the sell-off. ]
●The kiss of death 祸根、致命伤(something be certain to trigger a
failure or a disaster) [A award can be the kiss of death for a writer.][Y our poor English was the kiss of death for the failure in getting that job.][Trying to please an audience is the kiss of death for an artist.][Polite but lukewarm reviews are the kiss of death for a commercial.]
●Dressed to kill[She came to the party dressed to kill and she was the
spot-light/ center of attention.]
●Know something inside out (to be very familiar with something/to
know something extremely well )[they know the sport inside out, and we treat them with the respect they deserve.][we know each other inside out.]
●Have the last laugh [Who can have the last laugh after the season, one
is more likely winners.][When the electric revolution final comes,China’s e-bike makers could have the last laugh.]
●Out of the blue
●In the same boat
●Call a spade a spade
●Leave no stone unturned
●Out on a limb [By speaking up against her boss, she’s put herself
out on a limb.][with our supplies cut off, we were out on a limb.][the candidate went out on a limb on the budget issue.][maybe i’m out on
a limb, but i think we still have to invest it.]
●Go the extra mile[in the case, you have to go the extra mile to prove
your credibility.][to do your duty is not enough. Y ou must go the extra mile.]
●Greek to me [perking opera is all Greek to me.]
●Shot/kill the messenger(the act of lashing out at the blameless bearer
of bad news. )
●Stick your neck out冒险[i think my boss is dead wrong about hiring
his son-in-law, but i’m not going to stick my neck out and tell him.] ●Have one’s hands full.
●Things are really humming.
●Turn over a new leaf.
●Put and two together.
●How i met your mother
●Long hand
●Plum blossom
●Hit the wall（someone reach a situation where you cannot make any
more progress.）
●Hang-over
●Watch paint dry/boring
●In a nutshell (in a word/in short)[In a nutshell, it was not my cup of
tea.][he had put the whole situation in a nutshell.]
●Get on my nerves.[you are getting on my nerves.]
●Play hard ball[somethings you have to play hard ball in a business
negotiation.][the next Irish government may look at Iceland and decide to play hardball with Europe.]
●Put something on ice(to delay something until a later date.)[we really
wanted to complete the project but we ran out of money so we put it
on ice for a while.]
●Green hand(freshmen/newbie)
●Kill two birds with one stone
●With a heavy heart
●In seventh heaven
●On the spur of the moment
● A tall order. A tough work
●At odds with sb.
●May the odds be ever in your favor
●Wet caution
● A nest egg
●Hit pay dirt[they hit pay dirt on the fourth day.][after years of
experimentation they finally hit pay dirt.][the author believes if he writes a good book he will finally hit pay dirt.]
●Call it quits/stop/
●Take a rain check[thanks for the invitation, but i’ll have to take a rain
ckeck on it.][Can i take a rain check on that?]
●Take the rap[When these things go wrong, the government tends to
take the rap.][i’m not going to take the rap for you.]
●Behind the scenes[Everything had been done behind the scenes,
hush-hush, without any leaks to the media.][the deal was closed behind the scenes.][They influence, but do not control the US
government--neither openly nor behind the scenes.]
●Better have it than hear of it.
●Love and cough cannot be hid.
●Haste makes waste.
●Watch before you leap.
●oranges and apples
●call it a day
●/Roll up our sleeves
●From the scratch (from the beginning/ from rags to riches )
[Hong Kong’s manufacturing industry did not start from scratch in the post-war period.][One can hardly believe that this paper mill was started from scratch only a few years ago.][The Autonomous Region has built up its infrastructure from scratch.][there were so many spelling mistakes, i had to write the letter out again from scratch.]
●Keep tabs on something ( make sure where he is and what he is doing
in order to control)[]
●Not for all the tea in China（definitely don’t want to do it/ all the tea
in China: fortune）
●Up-and-coming(working hard to promote an enterprise likely to be
successful in the future) [many up-and coming young players have trails for the national football team.]
●Speak volumes(reveal or imply a lot) [His donations to charity
speak volumes for his generosity.]
●Subtlety is be batter than force.
●Everyone thinks he knows much.
●High winds blow on high hills.
●As you sow so will you reap.
●Make or mar
●Hustle and bustle
● A good face is a letter of recommendation.
●There is falsehood in packing.
●Like father, like son.
● A fault is sooner found than mended.
●Have a bone to pick with someone
●Make or break
●Once in a blue moon
● A chip off the old block
●Keep it under one’s hat
●Straight as an arrow
● A wild goose chase
●Fear gives wings
●Good fences make good neighbors. Better a finger off than always aching.
●Fire drives out fire.。