Proverbs and Idiomatic Expressions Lecture 13

Make a long story short  Anyway to cut a long story short, we left at midnight and James left somewhat later.

Be at loose ends  If you find yourself at a loose end over the weekend, you could always clean out the garden shed.

Go under the knife  To have a medical operation  More and more women are choosing to go under the knife just to improve their appearance.

Go (all) round the houses  To waste time saying a lot of things that are not important before you get to the subject you want to talk about  There’s no need to go all round the houses, just tell me straight out what’s wrong.

Eat like a horse She eats like a horse, so I don’t know how she manages to stay so thin.

Bring sth home to sb  Make someone understand sth much more clearly than they did before, especially sth unpleasant  These photographs finally brought home to us the terrible realities.  It took an international crisis to bring it home to British politicians that they desperately needed allies in Europe.

Put in a good word for sb  I’m applying for a job in your office. Could you put in a good word for me with your boss?

A strong stomach  The ability to watch very unpleasant things without getting upset or feeling ill  Some of the war scenes are fairly horrific – you need to have a strong stomach to watch them.

Take the long view  If you take the long view, of course, you can regard staff training as an investment for the company.

Make sb’s toes curl  Feel extremely embarrassed and ashamed for someone else  The very thought of what she said makes my toes curl.  She gave a toe-curling performance on the guitar.

Go up in smoke  (A plan or some work) be spoiled or waste  Then his business went bankrupt and 20 years of hard work went up in smoke.

Roll your sleeves up  To prepare for hard work  Our local team need to roll their sleeves up and put a bit more effort into their football.

Sell sb/sth short  To not value sb or sth as much as they deserve to be valued  I’m fed up with people selling this country short.  Who’d employ me at my age?  Don’t sell yourself short. You’re intelligent and you’ve got loads of experience.

Be nothing to shout about  Not be especially good or exciting  The pay rise wasn’t much to shout about, but I suppose it’s better than nothing.

Proverbs  Absence makes the heart grow fonder. 久 别情深。  All good things must come to an end. 好 景无常。  All things are difficult before they are easy. 万事开头难。  All your swans are geese. 希望成为泡影。  The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. 苹 果落地，离树不远。

 A beggar’s purse is bottomless. 乞丐的口袋 填不满。  Care kills a cat. 忧虑伤身。  Better be the head of an ass than the tail of a horse. 宁为鸡口，无为牛后。  A close mouth catches no flies. 口紧不招祸。  Don’t try to run before you can walk.  Enough is enough. 适可而止。