英语口语：生活中常见的8个习俗精讲

 　　You’re talking to your native English-speaking friend about your recent breakup and how depressed¹ you are when suddenly he turns toward you and says “Don’t worry about it man, girls like that are a dime² a dozen!” You then stare at your friend in confusion. You simply don’t understand why your good friend is comparing the girl that was once the love of your life to $1.20.

　　某天，你跟一个老外朋友说起自己刚跟女友分手，现在很难过。就在此时，对方突然拍了拍你的肩膀对你说：“Don't worry about it man, girls like that are a dime a dozen!”你不解的盯着对方。你很难理解老外怎么会把你曾经深爱的女友说成只值一块二毛钱!

　　Actually “a dime a dozen” doesn’t mean anything even remotely close to what the individual words in the phrase implies. For native speakers of English, a dime a dozen simply means that something is common and easy to obtain. Because we cannot figure out the meaning by examining the phrase alone, “dime a dozen” is what we call an idiom. As a non-native speaker of English, the best way to understand idioms is to memorize their meanings from the standpoint of a native speaker. We’ve listed the 10 most common idioms in English and their actual meanings.

　　其实，“a dime a dozen”跟“一块二毛钱”没有半点关系。对于母语为英文的人来说，它指的是某事物多的很不值钱，想要得到它也不是很难(天涯何处无芳草)。由于单看字面意思我们很难明白其中的真正含义，”a dime a dozen”其实就是一句习语(和中文的成语一样)，作为非英语母语人士，想要记住习语最好的办法就是站在native speaker的角度来理解记忆习语。下面我们就一起来看看英文中最常用、最有趣的几个习语：

　　1. A Piece of cake 小菜一碟

　　No, when someone says that the assignment they just finished was a piece of cake, it does not mean that their professor gave them a red velvet³ cupcake for their midterm paper, what a piece of cake actually means is that something is very easy to complete.

　　不，当某人说他们刚刚完成的任务就像一块蛋糕，那么它并不是说教授因为他们的期中考试成绩奖励他们一份红丝绒蛋糕，“a piece of cake”实际是指某事很简单很容易完成。

　　2. Costs an arm and a leg 花了我一大笔钱

　　It would be a strange world we lived in if buying that fancy shiny purse literally⁴ required us to chop off our body parts to give as tribute to the Louis Vuitton gods. When something costs an arm and a leg it actually means that something is very expensive.

　　如果为了买我们心爱的闪亮的包包，比如LV，却要让我们砍掉手脚以示敬意，那这个世界未免太奇葩了吧。当某物花掉你的胳膊和腿时，它实际是指这个东西超级贵。

　　3. Break a leg 祝你好运

　　Oh, look, another idiom about legs. You’re about to take your dreaded⁵ calculus⁶ final and before you head into your classroom your roommate texts you, “Break a Leg!” Why, you think in your head, would he ever wish that upon me? I thought we were cool with each other. Well, your roommate surely doesn’t want your bones to break while walking to your seat in the exam room that’s for sure. Break a leg actually means good luck!

　　哦，快看，又一个与腿有关的习语。你马上要参加你最害怕的微积分期末考试了，在你进入考场教室前你的室友给你发来了一条短信：”Break a Leg!” 什么，你在脑中暗暗的想，难道他希望我断胳膊断腿?我一直以为我们关系很好呢。那么，事实上你的室友并不是希望你在走入考场位置时摔断骨头，这是肯定的。Break a leg实际上就是“祝你好运”的意思!

　　4. Hit the books 用功读书

　　If you’re a student in an English speaking environment you’re probably going to be hearing this phrase a lot. Before you imagine students running into their campus library and punching, kicking and wrestling apart the complete works of Shakespeare, we would just like to say that hit the books actually means to study. There there, you can still punch books in your spare time if you want, we won’t judge you.

　　如果你是一个生活在英语环境下的学生，你肯定会经常听到这句话。当你脑子里在歪歪各种学生冲进校园图书馆拳打脚踢撕扯莎士比亚著作的画面时，我要告诉你hit the books实际上指的是去学习(用功)。当然当然，如果你想，你还是可以在闲暇时间猛捶你的书，我们不做评论。

　　5. Hit the nail on the head 恰到好处，一针见血

　　This idiom has to do with doing or saying something that is precisely⁷ right. If you don’t understand this, just think about that sweet feeling you get when you swing a hammer at a nail and hit it perfectly⁸.

　　这个习语表示做某事或说某事恰到好处。如果你还是不懂，那么就想象一下当你挥舞着铁锤恰到好处地正中要害，一锤定音，那种感觉有多美妙。

　　6. You can’t judge a book by its cover 不要以貌取人

　　How many awesome⁹ books do you think you’ve never read in your life just because the cover did not catch your eye? This idiom does not only apply to books however, but can be used for everything in general. Essentially¹⁰ it means that you should not decide upon something based just on outward appearances.

　　你能想象下仅仅由于封面不够吸引眼球，你错失了多少本好书吗?这个习语不仅仅适用于书，还可以广泛的应用于很多场合。总体而言，它是指不要光从事物的表面现象来做决定。

　　7. Bite off more than you can chew 贪多嚼不烂，自不量力

　　Imagine your waiter brings you the biggest juiciest hamburger from your favorite American restaurant. In your hunger, you grab it quickly and take a giant bite out of it. Unfortunately, the bite you’ve taken is too big, and you end up looking like an idiot trying to shove this bite down your throat while drinking water and trying not to choke. That is the most literal sense of the meaning, but in general it just means to attempt to take on a task that is too much for you to handle.

　　想象一下在你最喜欢的美国餐厅，服务员为你带来最大最美味的汉堡包。饥肠辘辘的你，抓起汉堡狠狠地咬了一大口。很不幸，你咬的这一口太大了，以至于你最终的结局是一边想要艰难努力的咽下这一大口食物，一边又喝水以防呛到自己，场面是不是像个白痴一样很傻很可笑。

　　8. Scratch someone’s back 投之以桃，报之以李

　　We all know how difficult it is to scratch that itch¹¹ on your back that your hand just aren’t flexible enough to reach, so why would you want to scratch some random¹² person’s smelly back? Because if you do, they may eventually be willing to scratch your own smelly back when you need it! What this idiom means is to help someone out with the assumption that they will return the favor in the future!

　　我们都知道想要给后背挠痒是件很麻烦的事，因为手臂没有那么灵活，那么你为什么还要偶尔给别人的后背挠痒呢?答案是，如果今天你帮了别人，那么某一天也会有人愿意帮你的后背挠痒!这句习语的意思就是预支自己对他人的帮忙，以防日后自己不时之需时可以有人情债可收。

1 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

2 dime   

n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角

参考例句：

• A dime is a tenth of a dollar.一角银币是十分之一美元。
• The liberty torch is on the back of the dime.自由火炬在一角硬币的反面。

3 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

4 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

5 dreaded   

adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The dreaded moment had finally arrived. 可怕的时刻终于来到了。
• He dreaded having to spend Christmas in hospital. 他害怕非得在医院过圣诞节不可。 来自《用法词典》

6 calculus   

n.微积分；结石

参考例句：

• This is a problem where calculus won't help at all.对于这一题，微积分一点也用不上。
• After studying differential calculus you will be able to solve these mathematical problems.学了微积分之后，你们就能够解这些数学题了。

7 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

8 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

9 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

10 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

11 itch   

n.痒，渴望，疥癣；vi.发痒，渴望

参考例句：

• Shylock has an itch for money.夏洛克渴望发财。
• He had an itch on his back.他背部发痒。

12 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。