英语地道的习惯用语

heads up

例句-1：I want to give you all a heads up that some big shots from New York will be here next Monday to see how we're doing. So let's make sure our desks are clean and that we show them what we're doing - we want to put on a good show for them.

face time

例句-2：This guy Joe is the best salesman I ever saw. If he can get 20 minutes of face time with a buyer for a department store he'll walk out with a nice big fat order. I'll bet Joe could sell bathing suits at the North Pole.

Think outside the box

：例句-3：A lot of everyday things we take for granted. Take windshield wipers on cars for example. The earliest autos didn't have wipers cleaning rain off so drivers could see. But somebody happened to think outside the box and now all cars have them.

bait and switch

例句-1：The ad claimed the shop was selling the videos at a price so low it was hard to believe. So I hurried there but it was a case of bait and switch - the clerk said the cheap ones were all sold out and he tried to sell me other videos at a much higher price.

strictly from hunger

例句-2：My sister told me the music was good but the guys who were there were strictly from hunger. She said she didn't meet a single guy she would ever want to date.

like gangbusters

例句-3：Mr. Martin came in like gangbusters - he fired half our people and organized the rest of us into work teams with longer hours than before. We had a hard time for a while but at least these days the firm is making money for a change.

rhubarb

例句-1：When I talked to the neighbor about his dogs, we got into a nasty rhubarb and ended up yelling at each other. But I guess it did some good - since we had the rhubarb he's done a better job of keeping his dogs away from our yard.

hassle

例句-2：It was a real hassle. The stores were jammed, the sales clerks were overworked and

short-tempered and most of the best items were already sold. Next year I won't wait until the day before Christmas to shop for presents.

donnybrook

例句-3：Our two schools don't like each other. It was a very close game but we finally won at the last minute, and students from both sides poured out of their seats and got into a real donnybrook until the police got there and started arresting people.

今天我们要讲的三个习惯用语都是在过去十年内先后出现的。现在美国人在日常生活中经常用这几个习惯用语。

我们先来讲第一个：heads up。Head就是头，是人身体上很重要的一部分。在这个习惯用语里，head是多数，所以在head后面要加s, heads. Heads up就是在一件事发生前先告诉某人，或者是先警告某人。

比如说，纽约一家大公司在旧金山有个分公司。分公司的经理听说纽约总部的总裁和总经理要来旧金山检查工作。于是，旧金山分公司的经理就召开了一个职工会议，他对工作人员说：这位经理说：我要预先告诉你们，纽约的几位重要人物星期一要到这儿来检查我们的工作。所以，我们一定要把桌子弄干净，让他们看看我们在做什么- 我们要做得好一点给他们看看。

这位经理一开始说：I want to give you all a heads up. A-heads-up，在heads up前面有一个不定冠词a，所以很明显，heads up在这里是用做一个名词。

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现在我们来讲第二个习惯用语：face time。这两个单词都很简单，face就是脸，time就是时间。那么，这两个词合在一起又是什么意思呢？Face time的意思是面对面跟一个人谈话，因为你有求与他，例如你要他同意和你签订一个商业合同，或者是要他给你一份工作，或者其他任何他能帮你忙的事。

下面是一个人在说他非常羡慕他的一个朋友。这个朋友是一家服装公司的推销员，由于他很能干，所以赚了不少钱，生活得很舒适。你听听他是怎么说他的朋友的。

这句话的中文意思是：我从来还没有见到过象Joe那么好的销售员。要是他能够和一个百货公司的采购员面谈二十分钟，他一定会得到一大笔订货。我可以打赌，Joe即便到北极去都能推销游泳衣。

这最后一句话当然是有点过份，只是为了强调而已。在北极穿游泳衣的人恐怕不多。

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现在我们来讲最后一个习惯用语。Think outside the box。Think就是想；box就是一个盒子。Think outside the box按字面解释就是：在盒子外面想。

这好象没有什么意思。但是，别忘了，我们讲的是习惯用语。Think outside the box作为一个习惯用语，它的意思是一个人富有想象力，他能超越一般的范围提出崭新的想法。

我们都知道达尔文和爱因斯坦等伟大科学家。他们都是因为有特殊的创新而闻名世界。但是，还有许多没有名气的人也利用他们的想象力创造出一些几乎每个人都需要用的东西。下面就是一个例子这句话的意思是：我们对许多日常用的东西都已经习以为常。汽车上的挡风玻璃刮水器就是一个例子。最早的汽车上没有那能够刮掉雨水，让司机能看清楚的刮水器。但是某一个人发挥了创新精神，现在所有汽车上都有刮水器。

今天我们要讲的第一个习惯用语是：bait and switch。Bait就是钓鱼时用的鱼饵，或者是一种引诱。在这个习惯用语里，bait就是引诱一个顾客上圈套，付高价来买不值这个价钱的东西。Switch就是很快用一样东西来替代另一样东西。

把这两个词合在一起，bait and switch就成了一个习惯用语，意思是用欺骗的方法来高价出售货物。例如，一个商店做广告说他们正在出售许多价钱特别便宜的货品。可是当顾客来买的时候，他们就说那样东西已经卖完，他们建议顾客买别的，价钱很高的东西。

下面例句里讲话的人告诉我们，他在报上看到广告说一家店里在出售最新电影的录像带，价钱非常便宜。结果怎么样呢？