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(jīng)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(jié)目主持人

唱片騎師，即指“流行音樂節(jié)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(jié)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(shù)甚微的款項

雞飼料，比喻“零錢”、“為數(shù)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。