1、a bad apple 坏蛋
A：Oh, my God! What happened? Why are you black and blue?
B：I got beaten by Peter’s brother
A：That’s a bad apple! Let’s think up a way and teach him a lesson
甲：噢，天哪！怎么啦？你身上怎么青一块紫一块的？
乙：彼得的弟弟把我给打了。
甲：这坏蛋，咱们来想个法来教训教训他。
2、a dog in the manger 占着茅坑不拉屎的人；占有有利条件却不会利用的人
A：Give the skates to me!
B：You shut up!
A：If you don’t know how to skate, why don’t you give the skates to me? Don’t be a dog in the manger.
甲：把冰鞋给我！
乙：你闭嘴！
甲：你若不知道怎么滑冰，干吗不把冰鞋给我？别占着茅坑不拉屎了！
3、a gay dog 快活的人
A：It’s strange they should get along so well!
B：That’s nothing unusual.
A：You don’t know much about the couple. One likes to be alone, but the other is a bit of a gay dog.
甲：他们居然能处得这么好，太奇怪了。
乙：没什么不寻常的。
甲：你不了解这俩口子，一个喜欢独处，另一个却喜欢热闹。
4、a hard nut 冥顽不化的人；无知无觉的人
A：Bob refused all his classmate’s invitations.
B：I really couldn’t understand him.
A：He’s surely a hard nut, nobody likes approaching him.
B：We’d better also leave him alone.
甲：鲍勃拒绝了班上所有人的邀请。
乙：他这个人我真不明白。
甲：他真是个脑子不开窍的人，没人愿意靠近他。
乙：我们最好也别惹他。
5、a hen-pecked husband 妻管严；怕老婆的男人
A：Aunt is scolding uncle again.
B：Don’t worry. Your uncle won’t utter a word back.
A：I didn’t know my uncle is a hen-pecked husband
B：He isn’t. He thinks it’s not necessary to quarrel with women.
甲：婶婶又在骂叔叔了。
乙：别着急，你叔叔不会还口的。
甲：我还不知道我叔叔是个妻管严。
乙：他不是。他觉得和女人吵架没必要。
6、big shot 要人
A：Do you know Mr. Smith?
B：No, but I know of him. He’s a big shot in the local politics.
A：I’m told he’s only a yes-man.
B：Yes, I hate that. At present, what we want is a strong, independent leader, not a bunch of yes-man.
甲：你认识史密斯先生吗？
乙：不认识，但我知道这人，他在本地政界是个举足轻重的人物。
甲：我听说他是个和事佬。
乙：没错儿，我就恨这个。现在，我们要的是强有力的、有主见的领导人，可不是和事佬儿。
7、fat cat 大款
A：Where’re those popular actresses in our school time?
B：Get into marriage.
A：Can everyone find a fat cat?
B：Everyone wants to, but not everyone succeeds.
甲：咱们上学时的那些女影星都哪去了？
乙：结婚了呗！
甲：人人都能找到大款吗？
乙：人人都想，可并不是人人都能找到。
8、bosom friends 知心朋友
A：Is Jack a friend of yours?
B：Yes. He is one of my bosom friends.
A：He’s a nice guy as far as I know
B：You can be certain of that.
甲：杰克是你的朋友吗？
乙：是，他是我的一个知心朋友。
甲：我也知道他是一个好人。
乙：这点毫无疑问。
9、con artist 大骗子手
A：Is this your first visit to this city?
B：Yes, why?
A：Perhaps I should warn you that this city is full of con artists.
B：Thanks for telling. I’ll take care.
甲：这是你第一次游览这个城市吗？
乙：是呀，怎么了？
甲：也许我该提醒你这座城市有许多骗子手。
乙：谢谢，我会小心的。
10、the long and short of it 概括地说
A：Do you know why John left our company?
B：It’s a complicated story but the long and short of it is that he transferred a large sum of money wrongly.
A：Who should be responsible exactly?
B：A crook took advantage of him. Our boss would never forgive such a stupid act.
甲：你知道为什么约翰离开我们公司了吗？
乙：这事很复杂，但概括地说，他错转了一大笔资金。
甲：确切说谁应负责呢？
乙：一个骗子骗了他。我们的老板永远也不会原谅这样愚蠢的行为。
11、no point 没理由
A：There’s no point in losing temper on me. It’s unfair!
B：What did you do to him?
A：If I did something bad, I wouldn’t blame him for getting angry with me. The point is that I did nothing wrong.
B：Maybe he thought you reported him to the manager.
甲：没理由向我发火。这太不公平了！
乙：你对他怎么了！
甲：如果我做了坏事，我不会怪他生我的气。可事实是，我没做什么错事呀。
乙：说不定他以为是你向经理打了小报告。
12、fat change（反语）微小的机会；极少的可能
A：I think it was Jason who stole my document.
B：Fat chance!
A：He’s the only one who left here late.
B：I know him. He’ll never do that sort of thing.
甲：我觉得是詹森偷了我的文件。
乙：不会的。
甲：他是唯一一个走得晚的人。
乙：我了解他，他决不会干这种事儿。
13、mark time 原地踏步；停顿
A：Why did we stop?
B：No, we didn’t really stop. We just marked time.
A：Marked time?
B：Yeah, we have to pause until we get approval.
甲：我们为什么停下来？
乙：不，我们并没有真的停下来。我们只是原地踏步。
甲：原地踏步？
乙：是的。我们不得不暂时停下待命。
14、have seen better days 有过好日子
A：Look, Mrs. Thomas is such a beauty in her early eyes.
B：But Mr. Thomas is short, skinny and ugly.
A：Why do you think Mrs. Thomas married him?
B：He’s certainly very poor now, but I think he’s seen better days.
甲：看，托马斯夫人年轻时这么漂亮。
乙：可托马斯先生又矮、又瘦、又丑。
甲：你猜他为什么要嫁给他？
乙：他现在固然很穷，可我想他有过好日子。
15、a storm in a teacup 风波；小事引起的轩然大波；小题大做
A：The husband can’t understand why his wife got angry so easily.
B：He’s too careless maybe.
A：No, it’s not that. Actually it’s a storm in a teacup. I also thought it’s the women who is to blame.
B：Anyway the man has to consider his wife’s feelings.
甲：丈夫不明白他妻子为什么那么容易生气。
乙：可能他太粗心了。
甲：不是，不是因为这个。实际上她是小题大做，我也觉得是他妻子不对。
乙：不管怎么说男人应该考虑作妻子的情绪。
16、the last straw 忍无可忍
A：That was the last straw!
B：Why did you say that? Did your girlfriend do anything wrong?
A：She refused to see me. She must have fallen in love with another guy.
B：I don’t believe it. Talk with her, will you? There must be some misunderstanding between you.
甲：真是让人忍无可忍！
乙：你为什么这么说？你女朋友做什么错事了吗？
甲：她拒绝见我，她一定是爱上别人了。
乙：我不相信。和她谈谈，好吗？你们之间一定是发生什么误会了。
17、make a clean breast of….忏悔
A：You’re restless. Are you in trouble?
B：I’ve done something I shouldn't
A：Then make a clean breast of it, you will feel released.
B：I’ve not decided yet.
甲：你老是不安？有麻烦吗？
乙：我做了件不该做的事。
甲：那就彻底忏悔一下吧。你会感觉轻松一些的。
乙：我还没决定呢。
18、to my way of thinking 依我看来…..
A：To my way of thinking, I think you behaved rudely before your dad.
B：I couldn’t keep my temper then, poor dad, he must be very sad.
A：How about apologizing now?
B：I hope he can forgive me.
甲：依我看来，你在你父亲面前表现得太无礼了。
乙：当时我控制不住。可怜的爸爸，他一定很难过。
甲：现在去向他道歉怎么样？
乙：我希望他能原谅我。
19、the same… as 同….一样
A：Jim, is this the bike you lost?
B：Let me see. No, mine has a special symbol on it.
A：This is the same bike as yours, I think. I can’t tell the difference.
B：If you were the owner, you could.
甲：吉姆，这是你丢的那辆自行车吗？
乙：让我看看。不是，我的车上面有个特别的标记。
甲：我想这辆车和你的很像。我看不出有什么区别。
乙：如果你是车主，你就能看出区别了。
20、the benefit of doubt (在证据不足情况下)假定某人无辜
A：Who did it?
B：Don’t be so angry, Henry?
A：It must be Robert.
B：Maybe Robert did it, maybe he didn’t. If I were you, I would give him the benefit of the doubt. It’s not so important anyway.
甲：这是谁干的？
乙：亨利，别发那么大的火好不好？
甲：准是罗伯特干的。
乙：也许是罗伯特干的，也许不是。如果我是你，我就先假定不是他干的。不管怎么说这件事也没什么大不了的。