读Speak English like an American学习语|第二课

重点idiom

原文：susan, I got canned today at work.

看到这个词，应该能马上想到上一个单元咱们学习过的be given the ax，它也表达相同的意思。

表示相近含义的还有sack ，lay sb off, 以及更长的一个词组make sb redundant. 

比如新冠疫情导致很多公司倒闭，工人失业，我们就可以用到上面介绍的词组来描述这个场景。

Due to covid 19, many companies went bankrupt and throughout the world, millions of workers got canned/ got sacked/were laid off/were made redundant. 

原文：Bob，you were Peter’s right-hand man！

这个词很好理解，我们来看一个例句加强理解。

E.g. Heinrich Himmler, the right-hand man of Hitler, was hanged to death after World War II. 

当你的朋友家人遭遇挫折，灰心丧气的时候，你就可以对他说keep your chin up! 一切都会好起来的。

原句：I told him off.

咱们做错事儿被责骂，就可以用这个be told off这个词组。

如果要表达因为某件事被责骂就说be told off for doing sth

比如你和朋友吐槽说，我考试没考好，昨天被父母责骂了。就可以说：

I was told off by my parents last night for scoring poorly in tests.

原文：look on the bright side: you won’t have to set eyes on Peter ever again.

这个词组也是用于劝导经历挫折的人。

比如当你的同学考差了，你想安慰他们: 这事儿不见得是坏事儿，咱们从好的一面来看待这件事。就可以说

Don’t be so upset about your score . Just look on the bright side: this failure may motivate you to work harder.

原文：hang in there. I’m sure you won’t be out of work for long.

当别人碰到困难了，你鼓励他们坚持住，就可以对他们说hang in there 。

咱们多看两个场景，加深印象；

e.g. I know things are tough, John, but hang in there.

e.g. I know if I hang in there, things will come out okay.

原文：Don’t get too stressed out, Bob. We’ll make ends meet.

一场重大考试考试前，或者即将要发表一场重要的演讲，这时候我们的心情就可以用stressed out精确地表达出来。

Actually, most students are stressed out the night before college entrance examination. 

原文：in the meantime, we’ll have to live from hand to mouth.

当我们想说自己的日子过得紧巴巴的，吃了上顿没下顿我们就可以说：We lived from hand to mouth, never knowing where the next meal was coming from.

再多看两个场景加深印象：

e.g. When both my parents were out of work, we lived from hand to mouth.

e.g. We lived from hand to mouth during the war.

原文： 

Bob: if worse comes to worst, we can sell our home and move into a tent. 

Susan: Let’s think big! Maybe you can start your own business.

如果你鼓励自己的朋友，要想成功必须立远大的志向，你可以说You need to think big if you want to succeed.