osmosis:不費力而自然吸收(技術,知識)
EX:The little gril learned
to play the piano by osmosis. She's a real music genius
bring to mind 想起
Ex:This film has brought to mind a
story I once heard from my professor.
the last thing to crsoss sb's mind 做夢都想不到
Ex:It was
the last thing to cross my mind that he would cheat in the
test.
basket case失魂落魄的人
Ex:After he lost his job, Bob
became a real basket case, drinking and messing around every
day.
loony (or looney) 瘋狂的;無厘頭的
Ex:Sometimes he is
really loony enough to crack everybody up.
pull sb's leg; jerk sb. around 開玩笑
Ex:My buddy
always enjoys pulling my leg in front of my girlfriend.
primp:(花時間)打扮,梳妝
Ex:She has been primping for hours
for her frist date.
savvy 機伶,對···瞭若指掌
Ex:I'm the one in charge, savvy?
Ex:You have to be street savvy to keep yourself from
being held up.
scope out 瞧瞧
Ex:"Why do we go to the beach?"
"Dummy,to scope out some girls, of course."
spin-off 翻版
Ex:Your marriage is exactly a spin-off
of the soap opera.
spit it out 說出來
Ex:Don't be afraid of telling the
truth. No one is gonna hurt you. Just spit it out.
spread the word about 替…作宣傳
Ex:We would like to
spread the word about our club to catch people's attention.
in stitches呵呵大笑
Ex:His talk show kept me in
stitches for 30 minutes.
hold water 站得住腳
Ex: Did you check my hypothesis?
Yeah, but I don't think it holds water. Your data are
not sufficient.
hold on to 留著;保有
Ex: Can I hold on to the paper
fill next Friday?
bring down the house 贏得滿堂采,叫好叫座
Ex: The actress
brought down the house with her act in this movie.
hard to face 難以忍受
Ex: I think the manager's
sarcastic tone is really hard to take. Yeah, you can say that
again.
hash out 費力地做出來
Ex: The administration office is
hashing out a new policy to increase the budget.
crop up 突然出現;發生 (pop up)
Ex: There are usually
problems cropping up with the intallation of the new software.
crack-pot 神經病,腦筋〝秀逗〞
Ex: Valerie is sure a
crack-pot. She thinks she is haunted by a ghost from the
Computer.
iffy 不確定
Ex: How much budget we can get is still
iffy because the board hasn't made the final decision.
huff and puff 氣喘吁吁
Ex: He was huffing and puffing
while walking all the way up to the 10th floow.
low-key 隨和的
Ex: He owns many famous organizationgs,
but he always gives people a low-key impression.
loophole 漏洞
Ex: There are some loopholes in his
testmony.
much-touted 議論紛紛的
Ex: The much-touted murder was
still suspended, and there were a lot of speculations going
around.
shrug off 一笑置之 (shrug 聳肩)
Ex:The neurologist's
opinion should not have been shrugged off.
a laundry list of… 一長串的
Ex:My nephew always asks
for a laundry list of gifts when he has a chance.
a hole in the wall不起眼的地方
Ex:This cafe is a hole in
the wall, but it has a very nice selection of salads.
high on… 沉迷,熱衷於…
Ex:I don't need drugs because I'm
high on my life.
all hell will break loose 鬧得不可收拾
Ex:If you don't
apologize for what you have done to her, all hell will break
loose.
hefty 發福,變胖
Ex:John has gotten a little hefty since
he began working in the restaurant.
sell oneself short 妄自菲薄
Ex:You're capable of much
more, Tommy. Don't sell yourself short.
hoax 騙局
Ex:He said that the health food could do
wonders, but we just found that it was a hoax.
set in 開始
Ex:The freezing weather won't set in
until next week.
rig 動手腳(V.)
Ex:They rigged the raffle so nobody
would win.
rain on one's parade 掃…的興致
Ex:I'm really sorry to
rain on your parade, but the funding for your research project
has been canceled.
mudsling(V.)抹黑
Ex:That politician's specialty is
mudslinging his campaign opponents.
fall flat:不能引起興趣;完全失敗
Ex:His jokes fell flat
because no one could catch on to them.
Ex:Far from being
received with the enthusiasm that he had expected, his speech
fell flat.
for the birds:沒趣的,乏味(常用作補語)
Ex:I saw the movie
you've been raving about. It's just for the birds.
get one's own back on a person報復某人(報仇)
Ex:He has
cheated me this time, but I'll get my own back on him one day.
get one's money's worth:得到所花錢的價值
Ex:We enjoyed the
film so much that we felt we'd got our money's worth.
hang by the wall:指擱置不用;被遺忘
Ex:He has hundreds of
books but most of them hang by the wall.
Ex:Most of the
problems were solved at the meeting, but two were left hanging
by the wall.
have a bone to pick with sb.:與某人有爭論;對某人有意見
Ex:I've
got a bone to pick with you. How about the two hundred dollars
you promised to pay me back today?
have a thin skin:指臉皮薄,對批評十分敏感
Ex:He has a thin skin
and doesn't take kidding very well.
have an ear to the ground:注意,留心可能發生的事
Ex:The city
manager kept an ear to the ground for a while before deciding
to raise the city employees' pay.
have sb. in one's pocket:可任意支配別人
Ex:If you want to
get something out of the chief, just get his secretary on your
side, and it'll be done. She has got him right in her pocket.
hit below the belt:用不正當的手段打人,暗中傷人
Ex:Most of the
criticism of his new book hit below the belt.