1237.He is so arrogant that he believes he is holding all the cards. 他太狂了，以为握有人生的所有的王牌。I am the one with all the cards. 是我在掌控了局面。play your cards right. 不要出错招了。put/lay (one’s) cards on the table,光明正大地做事 He was a tough negotiator who had a number of cards up his sleeve. cards up one’s sleeve 与前一个表达法刚好相反，是“耍手段，搞阴谋”。

　　1238.He appears to know the score on everything. 他好像什么都是行家里手。know the score, 什么都知道，特别是那些不是很好的事。You know the score - no payment until after we receive your product. 你明白规矩：货到才寄款。
　　1239.He is beginning to have second thoughts about the whole thing. 他对这整个局势开始有了不同的想法/看法。这里的想法或看法要用复数。
　　1240.His looks are fading as his waistlines expand. 随着腰围不断地扩张，他那英俊的面孔也日渐衰老。“大肚腩”的表达法曾在513句有详细的解释。另外还有：She has got this bulge just above her waist. “I wasn’t eating more or exercising less,” Sherry says. “It just showed up. And the worst part was, I couldn’t get rid of it.”


日期：2009-1-4　19:46:32

　　对不起，打错了两个地方，
　　“with money that from your parents. 你没有权利把父母的钱去打水漂。”没有that，如果用that，得再加个动词。
　　1233. Teacher X’s writing gives your handy tips and
　　这里应该是gives you handy tips, 不是your.

日期：2009-1-5　17:42:47

　　1241.Everyone has got a weakness. It is just a matter of knowing where to look. 每个人都有弱点，问题是如何找到他的弱点。
　　1242.hold all the aces, 占优势，ace是扑克牌里的A。In the battle between the construction company and environmentalists, the construction company seem to hold all the aces. 在建筑公司与环保人士的博弈中，建筑公司似乎在掌控着局面。hold all the aces 又叫hold all the trumps。Don’t argue with him, he holds all the trumps. 不要跟他争，他牛得很。

　　1243.have an ace up one’s sleeve, have a card up one’s sleeve 最后才使用的绝招，高招。You can count on John to have an ace up his sleeve. 找约会错不了，他总有高招。
　　1244.流星的三个说法：meteor, falling star, shooting star
　　1245.To understand China, three factors are becoming increasingly important- the nation is more and more metro-centric, more and more multi-cultural, and more and more dominated by the Party. 要了解中国，有三个因素至关重要，这个国家越来越城市中心化，文化越来越多元化，共党对社会控制也越来越紧。
　　1246.We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. 车到山前必有路。问题来时再去对付，不要现在无事就去忧虑。“What if the flight is delayed?” “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”如果飞机误点了怎么办呀？到时候总会有办法的。这句话有点类似耶稣说过的一句话：Jesus said, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” 所以不要为明天忧虑。因为明天自有明天的忧虑。一天的难处一天当就够了。马太6：34.

　　1247.When we went to the airport for our vacation, we followed the "hurry up and wait" philosophy, arriving several hours prior to our flight. "hurry up and wait"这里是“赶早不赶晚”之意。我们搭飞机去度假时，都是采取“赶早不赶晚”的哲学，宁愿早几个小时到机场去等候。Air travel seems to be nothing but hurry up and wait — you race to the airport two hours before your flight time, and then depart two hours late. 搭飞机是场“匆匆赶路却要等”的游戏—你提前两小时急匆匆地赶到机场，结果飞机却延误两小时。

　　1248.Wait until your father gets home. 这是当妈妈管不了调皮的儿子所说的话。“等你老爸回来有你的好看。” Don’t wait up.这是在外应酬老公打电话给老婆说的话。“不要等了”（自己早点睡）。
　　1249.I can hardly wait. 我是有点迫不及待了。
　　1250.on one’s last legs, 快要翘脚了，不行了。It looks as if her grandfather’s on his last legs now. 看样子她爷爷很快就不行了。I’d just done fifteen miles and I was on my last legs.我刚刚走了15英里，快累垮了。

日期：2009-1-5　18:06:17

　　1244. 流星的三个说法：meteor, falling star, shooting star。meteor, 是比较正规的用法。falling star and shooting star 比较口语。这是一句优美的歌词：Like a shooting star across the midnight sky. From afar from afar just to be with you tonight. Sometimes when people see a shooting star, they make a wish and hope it comes true. 有时候，当人们看见流星时，就会许个愿，盼望能实现。I am like a falling star who has finally found her place next to another in a lovely constellation, where we will sparkle in the heavens forever. 这是Amy Tan书里的一句话。


日期：2009-1-7　18:34:35

　　1251.Teacher X is miserable. He was downsized/ laid off from his school at 50 because he often made counter-revolutionary comments in his class. 信老师真的可怜，他50岁那年被解雇了，因为他常常在课堂上大放反革命阙词。失业，英文有很多说法：直接的说法是，unemployed, 但讲英语的人要面子，不说unemployed, 或lose one’s job 而说，be downsized, be laid off，或者You will be dismissed. 你会被解雇的。He is made redundant. 他现在是多余的劳动力了。（意思是解雇他了。） re-organized(重组)。“裁员或精减”等词汇听上去比“解雇”要委婉一点。There will be staff reduction. You will be among them. 会要裁员，你是其中一位。口语RIF是Reduction-In-Force(劳力裁员)的缩写，也是“解雇”的意思, My buddy and his department were RIFed today. 我的好友和他所在的整个部门都给砍掉了。俚语解雇的说法：I was pink slipped again! 意思是，I was fired again. 也可以是名词：He was laid off from work today. He received his pink slip.

　　1252.That is the price he has to pay when he doesn’t shut up. The rug can be pulled out from under his feet anytime.这就是他得为不愿闭嘴所必须付出的代价。他的好日子会随时结束。rug是地毯的意思，当有人把你脚下的地毯给抽走时，就是没有人帮助你了，你的日子也就不会那么逍遥了。
　　1253.Nearing five years after losing his job, Teacher X, 55 now, keeps hearing he is overqualified. Actually, that is code for “you are too old.” And people privately told him that he was a big threat. No young people would accept him when he tells people their mnemonics are just nonsense. 信老师今年55了，他失业差不多五年了，常常听人说，他的条件太好了。这句话的意思实际上是，“你太老了”。私下里，别人告诉他，他是一个蛮大的威胁。如果他老是告诉大家，那些年轻人的记忆法都是荒唐至极的东西，他们肯定不会接纳他。near 这里是动词，overqualified 实力太强，是那种有了更好的机会就会跳槽的人。code 或者code language, 代名词，替代语。