be in a jam 陷入困境
a country mile 一段很长的距离
A: Is the house close to the central city? 那房子靠着市中心吗？
B: It is a country mile from the Central Park. But it won’t be a problem
since you drive. 离中央公园远着呢。可既然你开车这就不成问题了。
A: The distance is not really a problem. The real problem is whether I can
afford it. 远近到不是问题，问题是我是不是买得起。
B: Don’t worry about it. It’s a real bargain. 不用担心，很便宜的。
a drug on the market 滞销商品，滞销货，供应过剩的商品
a fair shake 公平的待遇
a fat chance 微小的机会
fat本是“很多”的意思，但在这里用了反意，表示“微小的机会”；表示同样意义
的短语还有a fat lot，指“很少”。
A: What do you think of his plan? 你觉得他的方案如何？
B: I have a feeling that is it doomed to fail. 我感觉它注定要失败。
A: Why don’t you vote against him? 干吗不投票否决他的提议？
B: It’s a fat chance of voting out his suggestion. 这不大可能。
a going concern 赢利企业
a leap in the dark 冒险举动
a mare’s net 海市蜃楼的东西；镜花水月
a month of Sundays 很久，很长时间
a red carpet welcome 隆重的欢迎
A: How can they be so cold to me? 他们怎么能对我这么冷淡！
B: Then what are you expecting? A red carpet welcome? 那你还想怎么着？让
他们列队欢迎你？
A: Not exactly, but at least they should be friendly to me. 倒也不是，至
少他们得对我友好一点儿吧。
B: Don’t take it too much to heart. You will find them very helpful when
you need them. 别太放在心上。你会发现用得着他们的时候他们还是挺帮忙的。
a rule of thumb 单靠经验或实践的方法；粗略而简便的方法
A: Do you think it’s a good idea to buy some traveler’s checks? 你认为买旅行支票是个好办法吗？
B: Definitely! Don’t carry large amounts of cash with you when you’re
traveling. We have a rule of thumb: never carry around any more cash than
you can afford to have stolen. To be on the safe side, you’d better ask for
smaller denominations: $20 or $50. 没错。旅行时不要随身带大额现金。我们有个经验之法：随身携带的钱要适量，丢了不要紧。为了稳妥起见，你最好要小面额的：20或者60元。
A: I was told that if you use traveler’s checks, you don’t countersign the
check until the clerk in the store is watching you. 我听说在使用旅行支票时，要当着商店售货员的面签字。
B: Yes, you’ve got it. 你说得对。
across the board 全面地
add up to 合计达；总括起来意味着
A: I just wonder …我只是奇怪…
B: What do you think it all adds up to? 你想这一切意味着什么？
A: It adds up to the fact that we have been cheated. 意味着我们被骗了。
add up 把…加起来；言之有理，说得通
The facts just don’t add up.（这些事情合计起来不对头。）
agree to differ 求同存异；各自保留不同意见（不再说服对方）
all told 合计；总之 = in all
all wet 搞错了
an easy digging 轻而易举的事
A: Do you think we can nurse our business back to life? 你说我们能让生意
起死回生吗？
B: It’s not an easy digging. We’ll have to rack our brain and think of some effective measures. 这可不是件容易事。我们得绞尽脑汁想出一些行之有效的办
法。
A: I seem to be at the end of my wits. I have got lost and don’t know where
I’m going. 我可是黔驴技穷了。我有点茫然，不知道该干什么才好。
B: Never say die. The darkest hour is the nearest dawn.别这么说，现在只
是黎明前的黑暗。
as easy as one’s eye/anything/falling off a log/winkling 很容易
as sure as eggs is eggs 毫无疑问，千真万确
ask for it 自找麻烦，自找苦吃
A: Do you know what happened? 你猜怎么着？
B: Not an inkling. What’s happened? 猜不着，怎么了？
A: My girlfriend gave her boss a good piece of her mind. 我女朋友狠狠教训
了她老板一顿。
B: He asked for it, I suppose. 我猜他是自找的。
A: Yeah. She is really something. 可不是么，她真了不起。
ask no odds 不要求特殊照顾
at a loose end 无所事事，无所适从
at one’s wits end 智穷计尽
at sixes and sevens 乱七八糟；意见不一
A: You have loused up the whole business; it’s at sixes and sevens. 整个
买卖让你弄得乱七八糟。
B: The dice is cast. It’s incurable. 一切都成了定局，没救了。
A: I feel so terrible. 糟透了。
B: Me too. We just went to a lot of trouble for nothing. 我也这么想，一切
都白忙了。
back to square one 退回起点；从头再来
back to the drawing board 从头开始，失败后另起炉灶
A: How is Jim recently? 吉姆近况如何？
B: Very well. Since he was back to the drawing board, he’s been very successful. 非常好。自从他失败以后另起炉灶，就一直很成功。
A: I know he will get back on his feet sooner or later. 我知道他迟早会东
山再起的。
ballpark figure 近似数，大致正确的估计
bang for the buck 货真价实
be brassed off doing 厌烦干…，对…满腹牢骚
be catty 爱搬弄是非的；爱诽谤人的
A: I thought you would cooperate. 我原以为你会跟我合作呢。
B: Well, I’m too busy to be catty and poke my nose into things that do not
matter much to me. 我可不愿意搬弄是非去管那些跟我没关系的闲事。
A: How do you know that he won’t do something against yourself? 你怎么知
道他不会做出什么对你不利的事呢？
B: You do seem to have a glib tongue. 你真能胡搅蛮缠。
be down in the dumps 垂头丧气，神情沮丧
A: You’re down in the dumps. What’s happened? 你看上去沮丧不堪。出什么事了？
B: I had a quarrel with our boss’s secretary. She’s been on her high horse
these days. 我和老板的秘书吵了一架。这几天她总是盛气凌人。
A: Maybe she was only taking it out on you. Secretaries have a lot of pressure,too. 也许她仅仅是向你发泄。秘书的压力也很大。
B: But she jumped down my throat for no reason at all. I could not put up
with her. 但她无理由地斥责我，我无法容忍。
be in full swing 正在全力进行，处于活跃阶段
be in high gear 全力进行
be itching for a chance to do 很想找个机会试一试
be of one mind 意见一致，看法相同
be of two minds 拿不定主意
A: Are you ready to take the plunge and pound the pavements for new one? 你
是否准备大胆采取措施，排除障碍，重新再来？
B: I’m still of two minds. But I do seem to like to quit my present job. 我依然犹疑不决。我确实想放弃现在的工作。
be on a gravy train 走运，有赚钱的机会
A: John seems to be on the gravy train these days. 约翰最近看起来很走运。
B: Yeah. He got a chance of going abroad to arrange an exhibition. 是啊。他得到了一个出国去办展览的机会。
A: I don’t know why the sun is not shining on me. 我不明白为什么我的运气总是不佳。
B: Don’t worry. You’ll be in the chips sooner or later. 别着急，总有一天你也会很富裕的。
be on cloud nine 高兴得飘飘然
A: You seem to be on cloud nine these days. How is your restaurant business?
你近来有些高兴得飘飘然。餐馆的生意怎么样？
B: How is my business? It’s none of your business! 我的生意怎么样？这不关你的事。
A: It’s rude of you to talk to me like this. 你这样跟我说话太粗鲁了。
B: I was only teasing you. You see, we have our clients eating out of our
hands now. Both Mark and I are feeling on the top of the world. 我只是在逗你玩儿。你看，我们现在已经有了许多回头客了。马克和我都感到很高兴。
be on pins and needles 坐立不安
A: It seems you’re on pins and needles today. Anything troubling you? 你今天似乎坐立不安。有什么事吗？
B: Yeah. I don’t know why bad things keep happening to me. You see, my car
was stolen and the warehouse had been broken into. I can’t put my finger on the causes of this damned thing. 是的。我不知道坏事为什么总是找上我。你看，我的汽车被偷了，货仓也被盗了。我弄不明白怎么会发生这些倒霉事。
A: There must be someone who had planned that. He threatened to show you the
color when you refused to give him a promotion. 也许这是有人精心策划的。因为你没有提升他，他要给你点颜色看看。
be over the hump 已度过难关
be saddled with 把任务或责任强加在某人身上
posted @ 2008-03-16 20:46
exeggcute 阅读(80)
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