糊涂英語

egg on one‘s face

The Pentagon‘s been left with egg on its face. egg on one‘s face源于人們吃雞蛋或果醬不小心弄到臉上，自己還不知道。人們認為這是丟臉的事，故以此語指“丟臉”、“出丑”。上句可譯為：五角大樓丟盡了臉。

someone‘s face is a picture

Her face was a picture when I told her the news. someone‘s face is a picture，可不是“某人的臉是一幅畫”的意思，而是指“非常震驚或生氣”。上句可譯為：當我把這個消息告訴她時，她非常驚訝。

in the can

The boy already had one success in the can. in the can 原指電影片子已拍攝好，裝進金屬盒內（in the can）待放。后喻指“已完成”、“已同意”、“達成一致”。上句可譯為：這個男孩已經取得過一次成功。

call on the carpet

He was called on the carpet by the boss for failing in his mission. call on the carpet 源自19世紀早期英國英語walk the carpet ，指仆人被叫到客廳里挨訓。此語即指“訓斥（某人）”、“將（某人）叫去訓斥”。上句可譯為：他因未完成任務受到老板訓斥。

go to the dogs

He seems to have gone completely to the dogs and spends all his time in the pub. 人不能吃或沒有用的食物常用來喂狗（to the dogs）。如果某人或東西淪落到像喂狗的食物那樣，那就等于是廢物，完蛋了。因此此語在口語中喻指“墮落”、“完蛋”、“毀滅”、“垮臺”。上句可譯為： 看來他已完全墮落了，整天泡在酒館里。

咬文嚼字

top drawer ：最高地位

最上層抽屜，喻指“（社會地位）最高地位”（the highest social position）。She is rich but she doesn‘t come out of the top drawer. 她富有，但并不是出身名門望族。

egghead：知識分子、學究

禿頂男人，喻指“知識分子”、“學究”，常用于貶義（usu. derog a highly educated person， perhaps too highly educated）What do these eggheads know about practical thing? 這些學者對實際問題懂些什么？

disc/disk jockey：流行音樂節目主持人

唱片騎師，即指“流行音樂節目主持人，尤指在廣播電視上”（person who plays and comments on recorded popular music， especially on radio or TV ）。此詞常簡寫為DJ. That disc jockey plays nothing but oldies. 那個音樂節目主持人除了放一些老唱片外什么都不放。

church-mouse：一貧如洗

教堂老鼠，喻指“一貧如洗”、“窮光蛋”（very poor）。David is as poor as a church-mouse. 戴維是個窮光蛋。

chicken feed/chicken-feed：零錢、為數甚微的款項

雞飼料，比喻“零錢”、“為數甚微的款項”（a small unimportant amount of money）They‘re losing $2000 000 on this deal， but that‘s chicken feed. chicken feed. 這筆買賣他要損失200萬美元，但這只是筆小錢。