现代口语表示法500例（一）

　　* One's brain child某人的主意，某人想出来的

　　等同于one's original idea

　　one's brain children复数)

　　The new ways of teaching which have been proved very effective are brain children of all teaching staff of our department.

　　* Have a chip on one's shoulder叫阵，叫板

　　He is not popular among his peers. He always seems ti have a chip on his shoulder.

　　此外该语还有;不满;，;对抗;的意思

　　Mary has got a chip on her shoulder about not having obtained the scholarship.

　　* Clam up守口如瓶，拒不开口，沉默不语

　　I don't understand why my students are quite talkative during the break but all clam up in class.

　　* Take someone to the cleaners使人囊中如洗，一贫如洗

　　Don't ask me to play in a crap game. I don't want to be the cleaners.

　　* A cliff-hanger扣人心玄的事情

　　Peter was nearly involved in a car accident. He called it a narrow escape. But it was really a cliff-hanger.

　　* Fight the clock争分夺秒，与时间赛跑

　　等同于work against the clock

　　If you don't fight the clock to enrich yourself, you will surely be lagged behind soon.

　　* A clotheshorse讲究穿戴的人

　　Princess Diana was a real clotheshorse. It's hard to imagine how much she had spent on clothes.

　　* Get hot under the collar发怒，怒气冲天

　　Make someone hot under the collar

　　He got hot under the collar when he found his bicycle was missing.

　　* Come through with flying colors干得出色，大获成功

　　In the 13th Asian Games, Chinese athletic team came through with flying colors

　　* Show reveal) one's true colors原形毕露

　　He always appears polite and gentle. But his quarrelling with others in dirty words show his true colors.

　　* Come up with找出，想出，弄出，提出

　　等同于to produce, to find out, to think out

　　After three days' of deep thinking, the manager came up with an idea of promoting the products.

　　* Jump to conclusions仓促的下结论

　　Being a teacher, he shouldn't jump to conclusions that a student is not worth teaching simply because he fails one exam.

　　* To one's heart's content心满意足

　　Today is weekend. The lights won't go off after 11 o'clock. We can chat to our heart's content.

　　此外该语还有;随心所欲;的意思

　　Mary loves keeping diary. She can express her emotion to her heart's content.

　　* Lose one's cool沉不住气

　　反义词keep one's cool

　　In the boxing match. Tyson lost his cool and bit Hollyfield's ear.

　　* Play it cool不露声色，沉着冷静

　　Sampras, the No. 1 tennis player in the world, always plays it cool when he wins in the match.

　　* e rotten to the core坏透了、烂透了#p#分页标题#e#

　　Keep away from that boy. He is rotten to the core.

　　* cut corners偷工减料、走捷径、图省事、节约

　　Student is a serious thing. You can't expect to cut corners.

　　cut corners并不是都是贬义的，还表示节约，节省

　　With only $100 left, he had to cut corners to make his journey back home.

　　* have a crush on someone迷恋某人

　　Some teenager girls got a crush on the film star

　　* be a far cry from...与;;相差甚远一般用来表示水平或程度等的差距)

　　Though Dick has tried hard, it is still a far cry from what his father expects of him.

　　* chew the cud好好琢磨琢磨

　　I don't want to jump to conclusions, I have to chew the cud on it for a few days.

　　* be cut out for...天生适合于;;用于否定句中)

　　Thank you for your kindness, but I can't accept it. You know, I'm not cut for a manager.

　　* be completely in the dark一无所知，仍蒙在鼓里

　　keep someone in the dark; be leftkept) in the dark

　　He is a dictator. Though I'm the production manager, I'm completely in the dark as what to do next.

　　* a blind date初次约会

　　James was too excited to have dinner. He was having a blind date with Sue in the evening.

　　* have seen better days今非昔比

　　Look at our dean, He has seen better days.

　　* be out of one's depth力所不及

　　Liu was extremely happy to have been admitted to Oxford, but soon he found he was out of his depth in his major.

　　* give someone a dose of his own medicine以其人之道还制其人之身

　　On April Fool's Day, my classmates made me an April Fool. Next year, I'll give him a dose of his own medicine.

　　* a drop in the bucket沧海一粟

　　He has suffered a lot in his life. Losing his job this time was only a drop in the bucket.