5.Give it a good push/pull.用力拉（推）一下。（例如关门时）good有时候的意思是表示程度，有“很”的意思。I rode my bike from Gongzhufen to Bawangfen. That is a good ride.我从公主坟骑车骑到了八王坟。那骑了不少路呀。

　　6.Don’t push me, OK?不要强迫我做这事，好不好？She is pushing me around, I really doesn’t like that. 她老是对我指手划脚地，我很不爽。
　　7.You know what. 你知道吗。这是口语里常用的句子，主要是一种“过渡语气”。
　　8.We are well-positioned for the challenge in the near future. 我们为即将到来的挑战已经作好了充分准备。He is the best positioned for this job. 他是这个职位的最好人选。
　　9.Fuel prices fatten up airfares again. Fatten 使 肥胖，这里是“加价”的意思。My friends all call me a walking stick, I want to be fattened up.我的朋友们都称我瘦如竹竿，我得增加点体重了。
　　10.He naively put his hopes in an imperfect vessel. 他把所有的希望都投入到这个残缺的计划之中，真是十分幼稚

日期：2008-7-3　18:19:10

　　11.The rewards have come in spades.回报无疑十分丰厚。 in spades 毫无疑问地，大量的，They are having money problems, in spades. 毫无疑问，他们遭遇到了巨大的财务困难。
　　12.They had words. 他们吵架了。注意word在这里要用复数，就像name在call someone names时要用复数一样。
　　13.in name 名义上a democracy in name, a police state in fact 名义上是民主国家，实际上是个丨警丨察国家。There are 70 million Communist Party members in this country, but majority of them are communist believers in name only. 这个国家号称有七千万党员，但绝大多数多不过是名义上的共产主义分子。
　　14.make hay：利用，大做文章，The candidate’s opponents made hay of the scandal. 反对该候选人的势力在这个丑闻上大做文章。Farmers are making hay out of trash, a contribution to pollution prevention.农民将垃圾废物利用，对控制污染是个很大的贡献。
　　15.Some people believe that education is cure-all for social problems. 有人以为教育是包治一切社会问题的灵丹妙药。Cure-all 包治一切

　　16.confess与admit：中国学生常常搞不清楚这两个词的区别，其实区别很简单，confess是“承认罪或错误”，而admit只是“承认一个事实”，而这个事实通常并不是“罪或错”。He sheepishly admits that he doesn’t know the name of Shanghai mayor. 他不好意思地承认，他不知道谁是上海市市长。（讲老实话，我也不知道。）He confessed his sins before God.他在神面前认罪悔改。

　　17.We can dig it out some place. 我们总会找到这东西的。（有人在找东西总也找不到，这时你可以说这句话。）
　　18.He got hooked on the stamps. 他以前集邮很上瘾。
　　19.After his retirement, he devoted his time to relic hunting. Relic hunting 收藏古董。古董收藏家：relic hunter，或relic collector
　　20.The school is tightening its belt.I’ve had to tighten my belt since I stopped working full time.to tighten one’s belt, 勒紧裤带，表示要减少开支。也有人用形容词结构：A tight belt is no fun. I paid my credit card bill and boy I have about nothing left. It is very scary for me as I almost always have a cushion of some sort. 口袋里没有钱真不是滋味。我付了信用卡账单后，老天，我是所剩无几了。真是吓人，因为我以前口袋里总是有些备用钱的。a cushion of some sort, 软垫，可起缓冲用途。


日期：2008-8-5　18:06:53

　　21.My hope is that common people such as myself will reject the red herring excuses of the government and stop shooting themselves in the foot. 我希望像我这样的普通人会拒绝政府的这些障眼法，不再做这些于己无益的事。red herring 转移目标，声东击西，障眼法。shoot oneself in the foot 干伤害自己利益的事

　　22.I am busy today, and I have a bunch of odds and ends that I have to do before noon. 我有好些零碎活要赶，得在中午前做完，因此忙得很。
　　23.When you bring up these hot-bottom issues, tempers are already frayed. Hot-bottom 引起争议性的，热点。
　　24.She just doesn"t have enough straws left to clutch. 她剩下的救命稻草不多了。They are grasping at straws. 他们在捞救命稻草。Straw还有一个常用的词组是：The last straw breaks the camel’s back. 压垮骆驼的最后一根稻草。This is the absolute last straw for me. I"m done with this ridiculous, pandering, untruthful dope.我绝对是无法再忍受他了，我完全放弃了这个荒唐透顶、拉政治皮条、谎话连篇的小丑。有人不用straw, 而用feather,是一个意思。

　　25.A lot of people plunked 300 Yuan down to reserve the Olympic tickets. 很多人毫不犹豫地掏出300元定奥林匹克的票。He plunked onto the couch with a sigh of relief. 他倒在沙发上，舒适地出了口气。
　　26.They showed guts, intelligence, and sheer elbow grease on issues that mean a lot to ordinary people.对于这些民众所关心的事物，他们展现出来了勇气、智慧以及实干精神。Sheer elbow grease，直译是“满手臂都是油垢”，意思是不是那种“光说不练”的人。
　　27.My small business operates on a razor-thin profit margin. 我的生意属小本经营，利润微薄。
　　28.But more important than head-of-a-pin arguments over patriotism, we need to focus on the real issues such as human rights. Head-of-a-pin arguments 钻牛角尖的辩论。不要去就爱国主义进行钻牛角尖一样的辩了，我们更应该关注像人权一样的实质性问题。
　　29.anybody’s guess 结果无法预料 How it will turn out is anybody’s guess.结果最后如何实在难以预料。

　　30.Recovery from inflation is nowhere in sight. 根本就看不到近期有可能从通货膨胀中恢复过来。The end is nowhere in sight.根本就看不到头。
　　31.plop down 把….放在一个地方，坐下。A lot of parents will plop down their children in front of the TV so that they can finish their task. 很多父母要赶着做些事，就把小孩往电视机前一扔了事。He plopped down on the bed and went straight to sleep.他往床上一倒便睡了。
　　32.We are just laboratory rats in the national reform in education system. 在这场全国教育体制改革中，我们了实验品。laboratory rats 或简称lab rats
　　33.be deep knee in 直译是“深到膝盖”，转意为“太深了，太多了”，I"m knee-deep in work at the moment, so I"m not stopping for lunch. 我现在忙得不可开交，就不去吃中饭了。
　　34.Joining the family business is a tall order. 投入到家族的生意是件很难得决定。a tall order 很难的，艰巨的挑战。To finish the task in time was a tall order but we did it. 要按时完成这项工作是个艰巨的挑战，但是我们完成了。To stop corruption is a tall order for the communist Party.