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地道英文写作进阶

1. Change beyond (all) recognition

1) To experience great change
描述事物发生了巨大的改变以至于难以辨认时可以使用。
2) The telephone has changed beyond all recognition since its invention in 1876, and is both the most
personal, most social and most rapidly evolving technological device.

2. Be all the rage; be in/the vogue; gain/grow/increase in popularity

1) Be very popular and fashionable
形容事物非常流行，风靡一时。
2) In the 1960s and 1970s, the idea of mining the ocean floor was all the rage. But despite millions
of dollars of investment, the commercial extraction of manganese nodules never become reality.
3) Pale colors are much more in vogue than autumnal bronzes and coppers.

3. Be a thing of the past; out-of-date/outdated

1) To no longer exist or happen.
形容某事物成为历史，不复存在。
2) Cheap computers, faxes and phone calls will make commuting to work a thing of the past.
3) A job for life is a thing of the past for people of all ages—robots will replace you or your whole
industry could move overseas.

4. State-of-the-art; world-beating; cutting-edge

1) Very modern and using the recent methods, technologies and ideas.
形容技术设备的先进。
2) To ensure our children to compete and succeed in this new economy, we will renovate and
modernize 10000 schools, building state-of-the-art classrooms, labs and libraries to improve
learning for over five hundred million students.

5. Be here to stay
1) Likely to last or be present for a long time.
某事物已经广泛流行，被大众普遍接受。
2) After many false starts, battery-powered cars seem here to stay. Are they just an interesting niche
product, or will they turn the motoring upside down?

6. Put something to good use; make the most of something

1) To use something such as knowledge and skills for a particular purpose.
充分利用某事物。
2) Public and private programs are working to put excess food to good use, often returning it to the
earth as the compost.

7. Throw/shed/cast light on

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1) To provide new information that make a difficult or subject easier to understand.

提供新信息以便更容易理解某事物；阐释，阐明
2) The discovery of 100-million-year-old fossils in outback Queensland has shed new light on
creatures from Australia’s ancient inland sea.

8. Live/match up to something
1) To be as good as something
达到标准；不辜负他人的期望、标准等。
2) Apple’s shareholders are no doubt hoping that the iPad will live up to its billing as a seminal device
in the history of computing.
3) There was so much hype beforehand that it would have been difficult for the film to match up to
our expectations.

9. Turn something upside down/on its head

1) To completely change the way that something is done, thought about or organized.
彻底改变；颠覆。
2) Unless things change, some in the industry predict that publishers will suffer a similar fate to that
of music companies, whose fortunes faded when Apple turned the industries upside down by
selling individual songs cheaply online.

10. Be the mainstay/backbone of something

1) The most important part of something; providing support for everything else.
…是某事物的主要支柱/依靠
2) Pearls were the mainstay of Qatar’s economy before the discovery of big reserves of oil and gas.

11. Make inroads into/on something

1) To start to have a direct and noticeable effect on something.
某事取得进展，产生效果。
2) Alibaba, which Mr. Ma and a handful of collaborators started in a cramped apartment in Hangzhou
in 1999, is now one of the world’s biggest internet companies. It utterly dominates e-commerce in
China, and has also made deep inroads into internet finance, logistics and cloud computing.

12. The ins and outs of something

1) The detailed and complicated facts of something.
事物的详情、细节。
2) The company also redesigned its marketing, promoting the new phones during bus tours for
pensioners and providing classes in shops to explain the ins and outs of apps.

13. In the vanguard/van of something; at the forefront of something

1) In the most advanced position of development.
处在发展的前沿。
2) Britain is in the vanguard of genetics research and the government wants to put this to practical
use.
3) Such thinking puts Kodak in the vanguard of a movement reshaping the computer industry.

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14. Keep track of something/somebody

1) To have information about what is happening.
跟上进展；掌握最新消息。（反义词：）
2) America’s armed forces use radar and telescopes to keep track of everything bigger than about
10cm across, and provide warnings when a bit of junk is going to come close to a functioning
satellite.

15. Make light work of something

1) To do something quickly and easily.
物作主语：让人迅速轻松地完成。（反义词：make hard work of）
2) Bone’s, a revered steakhouse, now greets its diners with iPads whose touch screen makes light
work of searching for varietals, vintages vintners and not least prices.

16. Give way to

1) To be replaced by something; to allow yourself to be very strongly affected by something.
被替代；向…妥协
2) In some areas, modern intensive farming is giving way to the re-introduction of traditional
methods.

17. Beyond somebody’s wildest dreams

1) Beyond anything that someone can imagine or hope for.
出乎意料；超出想象
2) As their creation expands beyond their wildest dreams, they are courted by the silver-tongue
venture capitalists.

18. On the horizon

1) To seem likely to happen in the future.
重要的事情即将发生。
2) Egypt’s tourism is reeling but hope is on the horizon.
3) There is no drug on the horizon that will make this disease easier to treat.

19. Fall into the wrong hands

1) To come to be held or possessed by the wrong people.
物作主语：落入敌人之手；被错误的人使用。
2) In 2007 armed gunmen attacked the nuclear facility in South Africa, breaching heavy security
before they were chased off. The incident illustrated that the possibility of nuclear materials falling
into the wrong hands is far from an abstract one.

20. Be in harmony with

1) To agree with another idea and feeling or look good with other things.
和…相一致、协调。（反义词：out of tune with）
2) We must ensure that tourism develops in harmony with the environment.
3) He has a vision of progressive urbanism: a city where most people cycle or ride the streetcar,

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recycle what they consume, exist in harmony with nature and live in communities rather than the
suburban sprawl of cities like Los Angeles.

21. Have something at your fingertips

1) To have knowledge and information ready and available to use easily.
手头有某物随时可以使用；对…了如指掌，精通。
2) With such technology virtually at policemen’s fingertips, crooks are well advised to keep their
hands clean.

22. Bring something in its train

1) To have something as a result.
引发，带来后果。
2) The cars have brought in their train a host of other problems.
3) It so beyond the argument that digital media—long unchallenged as a boon to mankind—has
brought real evils in its train, including the persistent anonymous harassment of public figures.

23. By/through trial and error

1) To test many different methods of doing something in order to find the best.
试错法：反复试验以得到最佳效果。
2) There will be a lot of trial and error in the process of creating new organisms.

24. Break new ground

1) To do something completely different from what has been done before.
在某个领域取得新突破。
2) He may have broken new ground when he his first report on the Spanish Civil War.

25. Have huge implications for somebody/something

1) To have a profound impact on something.
造成巨大影响。
2) Building traceability into internet and creating robust biometric authentication have huge
implications for privacy that requires vigorous debate.

26. Have a knock-on/ripple effect on

1) To start a process in which everything that happens causes something else to happen.
连锁反应。
2) But it is increasingly clear that higher undergraduate fees may also have a knock-on effect on
postgraduate study, in terms of the fee levels for the courses and, as importantly, the ability of
debt-burdened students to carry on to do postgraduate study at all.

27. Bear fruit; come/bring to fruition

1) To produce a desired reward or result.
（计划、决定等等）在长时间以后开花结果、取得成功。
2) Since many oil-exploration projects take longer than the six-year presidential term to bear fruit,
the politicians have a powerful incentive to spend oil revenues rather than reinvest them.

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28. In the wake of

1) Happening after an event or as a result of it.\
随着…而来；作为…的结果（不好的结果）。
2) American and foreign firms alike see this law, which was passed in the wake of the scandal, as
intrusive, expensive and heavy-handed.
3) Airport security was extra tight in the wake of bomb attacks.

29. Ascribe something to something

1) To believe that something is caused by something else.
归因于
2) That said, it would be a mistake to ascribe all of Germany’s renewed economic strength to export
competitiveness created by wage restraint.

30. Reap the benefits/reward of

1) To get something a s a result of what you have done.
得到收益回报。
2) The company is poised to reap the benefits of this investment.

31. The cradle of

1) The place where something important begin.
摇篮；发源地。
2) Fossil records indicate that Africa was the cradle of early human evolution.

32. Awaken somebody to something

1) To make somebody aware something and its possible effects.
使…意识到
2) As opposition leader, he recalled Churchill’s effects to awaken the world to the danger of Nazi
Germany.

33. Stand the test of time

1) To continue to be effective, successful and popular for a long time.
经得起时间的检验。
2) Whether this new technology will stand the test of time remains to be seen.
3) It says a lot for her culinary skills that so many of her recipes have stood the test of time.

34. The advent of

1) The introduction of a new product, idea and custom.
某事物的突然出现，流行，到来。
2) Up to now, historians have assumed that calendars came into being with the advent of agriculture,
for the man was faced with a real need to understand something about seasons.
3) Life in Britain was transformed by the advent of steam engine.

35. Move/keep up with the times

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1) To change the way you think and behave as society develops.

顺应潮流，与时俱进。
2) Finally, the lesson of recent decades is that technology monopolists (think of IBM in mainframes
or Microsoft in PC operating systems) may be dominant for a while, but they are eventually
toppled when they fail to move with the times, or when new technologies expand the market in
unexpected ways, exposing them to new rivals.

36. A double-edged sword/weapon; a mixed blessing

1) Something that seems to be good, but that can have a bad effect.
双刃剑；好坏兼有之事。
2) As is so often pointed out, knowledge is a two-edged weapon which can be used equally for good
or evil.
3) Share buybacks are a double-edged sword, however; they add to the buoyant mood when profits
are rising but are inclined to dry up when earnings are under pressure.

37. Ahead of your/its time

1) Having the most advanced ideas, methods, technologies and designs.
思想先进；技术有前瞻性。
2) He was far ahead of his time in his understanding of the unconscious.

38. Tried and tested/trusted

1) Used many times before and proved to be successful.
（方法、经验）经过考验、屡试不爽。
2) The upgrading and refining facilities required to turn tar to oil cost billions of dollars, but the
technology is tried and tested.

39. Marry something to/with something

1) To combine two different ideas, designs and tastes together.
结合。
2) It is technology married with liberal arts, married with humanities, that yields the results that make
our hearts sing.

40. Be awake to
1) To understand a situation and its possible effects.
理解、意识到。
2) The biggest danger may lie in refusing to acknowledge the scale of the problem. Some countries
are awake to this: in Britain, where prices have fallen by nearly half in real terms, big property
groups have raised equity to shore up their balance-sheets, and reduced prices are attracting
foreign buyers to London.

41. Nip something in the bud

1) To prevent something from becoming a problem by stopping it as soon as it starts.
扼杀于摇篮中。
2) Officials have a list of officers suspected plotting the coup but fail to nip it in the bud.

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42. A shot in the arm/give someone a leg-up

1) Something that quickly makes a bad situation much better.
强心剂；逆境中鼓舞人心的事情。
2) The factory will give the local economy a much-needed shot in the arm.
3) The upward revision to America’s GDP provided a shot in the arm to global stock markets, which
have endured their most volatile week of trading in years.

43. By/in leaps and bounds

1) Very quickly and greatly.
事物发展迅速，突飞猛进。常常搭配 grow/advance/progress。
2) From 1945 to 1989 the number of civil wars rose by leaps and bounds, as America and the Soviet
Union fueled internecine fighting in weak young states, either to gain advantage or to stop the
other doing so.

44. Be on the threshold of

1) At a beginning of a new and important event
在（重要事件）的开端起点。
2) He proposed that we are on the threshold of what he called “the experience economy”, a new
economy era in which businesses will have to orchestrate memorable events for their customers.

45. Grind to a halt/be at a standstill

1) To stop working or moving forward.
逐渐陷入停顿；慢慢停下来。
2) The peace process has ground to a halt while Israel struggles to form a new government.
3) Although the development of steam locomotion has largely ground to a halt in recent years, some
aspects of the technology have continued to advance.

46. Go from bad to worse

1) To become even more unpleasant or difficult.
每况愈下；不断恶化。反义词：go from strength to strength
2) For most of the year the news from him ranged from bad to worse.

47. Set the pace/lead the way

1) Lead the way in doing or achieving something.
（企业与机构）处于领先地位；起带头作用。
2) In November Dubai threatened to default on a 4.05 million sukuk, or Islamic bond, issued by
Nakheel, a troubled property developer belonging to Dubai world, one of the three government-
owned conglomerates that set the pace for Dubai’s development.
3) For many years the company has set the pace in the communications industry.

48. Steal a march on somebody

1) To gain an advantage over somebody by doing something before them.
抢占先机。

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2) Our rival companies managed to steal a march on us by bringing out the software ahead of us.
3) In return, Japan wants Mr. Modi to say, or hint, that Japanese firms will build India’s first high-
speed rail line, stealing a march on cheaper Chinese rivals.

49. Be detrimental to/to the detriment of

1) Causing harm or damage.
对…有害。
2) Resources do not guarantee prosperity, and may prove detrimental to it if mismanaged.
3) She was very involved with sports at college, to the detriment of (harming) her study.

50. Be on the right/wrong track

1) To think in a way that is likely to lead to a correct or incorrect result.
处在正确/错误的道路上。
2) Although their research is far from complete, the scientists are convinced that they are on the right
track.

51. There’s room for improvement/something leaves much to be desired

1) Something is not perfect and needs to be improved.
仍有改进空间。
2) Even now, the interiors of homes and workplaces are typically lit at a tenth of the brightness of
the outdoors on an overcast day, so there is plenty of room for improvement.

52. Give rise to

1) To cause and produce something.
引发导致。
2) Although aircraft lack the resonance of the cultural treasures which have given rise to some famous
disputes over looting, some of the legal arguments are similar.

53. Prepare the way/ground for/set the scene or stage for

1) To make it possible for something to be achieved.
为…创造条件、打好基础。
2) The interim government has worked hard and effectively to repair the country’s battered
institutions and prepare the way for elections.

54. Somebody’s/something’s days are numbered

1) Something or somebody cannot live or continue for much longer.
剩下的日子所剩无几。
2) Those in the field may disagree about the prospect of OLEDs, but they do seem to agree on one
thing: the days of the incandescent bulb are numbered.
3) Critics believe his days are numbered for audiences are tired of watching him.

55. Get off the ground

1) To begin to proceed or operate in a successful way.
开始获得成功、取得进展。

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2) Due to the legal difficulties, the project never got off the ground.

56. Do wonders for

1) To have a good effect on somebody/something.
对…产生奇妙的效果。
2) He passionately wants to bring the Olympic games back to Tokyo in 2016, arguing that they will
do wonders for the city’s infrastructure, prosperity and international reputation.

57. The dawn of something

1) The time when something such as a period of history begins.
…的开始、曙光。
2) The fall of the Berlin Wall marked the dawn of a new era in European history.

58. Make great strides in doing something

1) Make great progress in doing something.
取得重要进展。
2) Spurred by Apple’s iPhone, smartphone developers have made great strides over the last 3 years.

59. Keep/stay abreast of

1) To make sure you know all the most recent facts about a subject or situation.
跟上…进展；了解…最新情况。
2) He, meanwhile, is kept abreast of the plans, people within the organization said, but no longer is
a key member of discussion meetings.

60. Be ripe for something

1) To be ready for something, especially a change.
做…的时机成熟；适宜做…
2) He told the reporters that he thought the time was ripe for a normalization of relations.
3) All of which suggests that the situation is ripe for change. For much of its history, the industry has
focused chiefly on the diseases that afflict people in rich countries, while largely neglecting
research in diseases of the poor.

61. Be around the corner

1) Not far away or going to happen very soon.
某事即将发生。
2) Everything is a bit depressing at the moment, but I carry on in the belief that good times are just
around the corner.

62. Buck/reverse the trend

1) Do something that is not what id generally happening.
扭转趋势，逆流而上。
2) One region is attempting to buck the trend of economic decline.

63. Have seen better days

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1) To be old and bad in condition.

某事物曾经辉煌过，但是如今风光不再，今不如昔。
2) That jacket has seen better days. Why don’t you get a new one?

64. Swim with the tide/follow one’s lead/follow suit

1) To follow what everyone else is doing.
随大流，跟随别人的脚步。反义词：swim against the tide。
2) Mr. Murphy suggests that a reason for Britain’s volte-face: now that transparency is being forced
on tax havens worldwide, the British government may as well swim with the tide and at least
collect some revenue.

65. Punch above your weight

1) To be more successful than others in doing something that is normally requires more skill,
experience than you have.
表现超常，超出预期。
2) Despite its terrible weather and creaking transport infrastructure, London has continued to punch
above Britain’s economic weight as a financial center.

66. Be a catalyst for

1) Something or someone that causes an important change to happen.
催化剂；引发变化的因素；促成变化的事物。
2) The high suicide rate acted as a catalyst for change in prison system.

67. Be out of step with

1) Having ideas or actions that are different from those of other people.
（想法，意见）与…不一致。反义词：be in step with。
2) Believing that its current systems of laws is out of step with life in today’s Florida, a growing
chorus of lawmakers in the state are arguing for a measure that would eliminate laws together.
3) The type of training is out of step with changes in the industry.

68. Turn the corner/be back on one’s feet

1) To begin to be very healthy or successful again after a difficult period.
渡过难关，情况好转。
2) The improvement in export performance seen in June would have to be carried into July and
August before Romanian exports can be considered to have turned the corner.

69. Bode well/ill for

1) To be a good sign for the future.
…对…是好/坏兆头。
2) But even if mobile TV does prove successful in South Korea, it does not necessarily bode well for
similar services elsewhere.

70. A new lease of life

1) A chance to continue living or to become popular and successful again.

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事物焕发生机，重获新生。
2) Historic buildings can enjoy a new lease of life through conversion.
3) The operation has given me a new lease of life.

71. Take the lead in doing something

1) To be the first t start doing something or be most active in doing something.
带头、率先做某事。
2) The American and Japanese navies took the lead in the development of naval aviation.
3) He contrasts Britain’s centralized and relatively efficient public-health system with America’s
underfunded and chaotic set-up, in which states take the lead in counting the cases and vary widely
in the quality of information they manage to collect.

72. Jaw-dropping
1) So large or good that it amazes you.
印象非常深刻的，令人震惊的。
2) The jaw-dropping scale of the project has not defeated those involved.
3) Dependent on steel, fertilizer and chemical exports, Ukraine has been hit hard by the global slump
in commodity prices. Officials say that industrial output crashed by a jaw-dropping 34% in January
year-on-year.

73. Put something into reverse/go into reverse

1) Make something happen in an opposite way.
使…发生逆转。
2) The incident threatened to put the peace process into reverse.
3) The surge in China’s foreign-exchange reserves suggests that the yuan is being held down, but this
largely reflects short-term capital inflows from investors speculating on a revaluation; these flows
could go into reverse.

74. Go against the grain

1) To be or do something that is different from what is normal or natural.
违反常理；与…格格不入。
2) Allice is always honest and it went against the grain to tell lies.
3) In an age when publishers are going for quantity rather than quality, one man has gone against the
grain and produced the most expensive sports book ever.
4) Privatization goes against the grain of their principle of opposition of private ownership of industry.

75. Run out of steam

1) To lose energy, enthusiasm or importance.
失去动力；泄气。
2) Yet infrastructure spending alone is not a long-term solution. This sort of stimulus will sooner or
later become unaffordable, and growth based on it will run out of steam.

76. Could go either way

1) Both possible results are equally likely.

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两种结果都可能发生。
2) The latest opinion poll suggests that the vote could go either way.

77. Set the stage/scene for

1) To prepare for something.
为…铺平了道路。
2) The search for foreign investment opportunities engendered imperialism and set the stage for war.

78. Stepping stone

1) Something that helps you to progress towards achieving something.
垫脚石；能让人取得成功的方法。
2) Many students see university as a stepping stone to a good job.
3) She is an articulate, ambitious and near straight-A student, planning to use a college law degree as
a stepping stone to politics.

79. Sail through

1) To succeed very easily in something.
顺利通过（考试、面试）。
2) More broadly, Indonesia’s global status is rising. The public finances are sound and the economy
has sailed through the financial crisis.

80. Burn the midnight oil

1) To work or study until very late at night.
挑灯夜战。
2) In retrospect, it was probably always likely that the leaders would have to burn the midnight oil to
get Britain’s deal.

81. Page-turner
1) A book that is very interesting and exciting.
形容书的可读性高、引人入胜。
2) During the class, Jack will share the secrets of writing a page-turner—from crafting an irresistible
plot to writing dialogue that drives a story forward.

82. Get the hang of

1) To learn how to do or use something,
学会做、使用…
2) It seemed difficult at first, but you will soon get the hang of it.

83. Follow in somebody’s footsteps; follow one’s lead

1) To do the same thing as someone else did previously.
效仿…；追随…的脚步。
2) He never had any intention of following in the footsteps of his father, who was a photographer.

84. Be married to; dedicate oneself to

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1) To give most of your time and attention to your job or activity.

专心致志于…
2) To say someone’s “married to the job” is no compliment, conjuring up images of lonely
workaholics cowering at their desks into the small hours so as not to have to go home to face the
emptiness of their resistance.

85. Be conductive to
1) Providing the right conditions for something good to happen.
有助于、有益于…
2) The National Weather Service warns conditions conductive to fire are forecast to occur in both
states through Wednesday.

86. Fly/leave the nest

1) To move away from your parents’ home because you are an adult.
成年子女搬出父母家，生活独立。
2) When their children had flown the nest, he and his wife moved to a thatched cottage in Dorset.
3) Allocating housing more efficiently—encouraging elderly couples to downsize after their children
fly the nest, for instance—would free up some of these 16m or so rooms.

87. Have a passing/nodding acquaintance with something

1) To have very little knowledge or experience of a subject.
…对某事物一知半解。
2) I’m afraid I have only a nodding acquaintance with his works.

88. Fall short of

1) To be less than the amount or standard that is needed or that you want.
达不到（目的，期望，标准）。
2) Facilities in the school falls far short of the standards required.
3) He would sack any of his staff who fell short of his high standards.

89. Develop/acquire a taste for; something grows on somebody

1) Start to like something.
对…产生了兴趣；开始喜欢…
2) She developed a taste for journeys to isolated hazardous regions in north America.
3) This formulation is a certified medicine in Europe, but has not been much used there because
doctors developed a taste for prescribing conventional antibiotics.

90. Turn a blind eye/deaf ear to

1) To deliberately ignore something that you know should not be happening.
熟视无睹；对…（不好的现象）睁一只眼闭一只眼。
2) Teachers turned a blind eye to smoking in school.
3) As president, he failed to break the nexus between politics and business and turned a blind eye to
the murky brokering of Russian gas to Ukraine.

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91. Be a passport to
1) A certain way of getting something you want.
获取…的通行证。
2) Many students opt for business studies simply because it sounds like a passport to a good job.
3) She saw a good diet as a passport to good health.
4) While an MBA has always been viewed as a passport to success in the corporate world in terms
of rank and salary, the trend among many business schools has been to include teaching on softer
issues such as business ethics, morality, sustainability and emotional intelligence.

92. Think outside the box

1) To find new ways of doing something, especially of solving problems.
用新的眼光看问题。
2) Employees are encouraged to think outside the box and develop creative solutions.

93. A working knowledge of

1) Enough knowledge of a system, subject, language and such likes to be able to use it or to do a
particular job.
足以应付某工作的知识技能。
2) The book was designed to provide a working knowledge of accounts and finance.
3) She is fluent in French and has a working knowledge of Spanish.
4) A working knowledge of English could be made compulsory for people applying for British
citizenship.

94. Be a tribute to something/somebody

1) To show clearly how good or effective something or someone is.
是…优良品质的体现。
2) It was a tribute to her teaching methods that so many children passed the test.
3) The gargantuan statue of a dining-room chairs that graces the center of the city is a tribute to the
legacy of the local furniture-marketing industry.

95. Keep a tight rein on

1) To have a lot of control.
对…严格控制。反义词：give full/free rein to
2) Her parents kept her on a tight rein with their inflexible and narrow views.
3) The young film-makers were given free rein to experiment with new themes and techniques.
4) Although some stores reported a last-minute rush just before Christmas, the ONS data suggests
hard-pressed consumers kept a tight rein on their spending.

96. End/wind up (doing) something

1) To finally be in a particular place or situation.
以…告终；最终…处于…
2) After working her way around the world, she ended up teaching English as a foreign language.

97. Light at the end of the tunnel

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1) Something that gives you hope for the future after a long and difficult period of time.
局势出现好转；艰苦任务即将完成。
2) As the exams approached, she felt that at last she could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
3) Agriculture has collapsed since the confiscation of more than 90%of the farms owned by whites
in the past 15 years, and with it the manufacturing that largely depended on it. Yet a light may at
last be flickering at the end of the tunnel.

98. Draw a line between

1) To think or show that one thing is different from another.
与…划清界限；加以区别。
2) It is, however, not possible to draw a line between the two categories.
3) Adolescents often use drugs simply to try to draw a line between their parents’ way of life.
4) He has earned a high profile from his public condemnations of Israeli assaults on Palestinians and
from the exchanges he has initiated between Arab artists and his own dance company, but he has
always drawn a line between these activities and his motivation as an artist.

99. Poverty-stricken
1) Be extremely poor.
一贫如洗。
2) There are few jobs for that peasants who have flooded into the cities from the poverty-stricken
countryside in search of work.
3) 拓展：贫穷、贫困
Impoverished, down-and-out (n./adj.), destitute, disadvantaged

100. Be a prerequisite for

1) Something that must exist or happen before something else is possible.
先决条件。
2) While urban planning used to be exclusive realm of specialized experts, today public participation
is understood as a prerequisite in transformation processes.
3) A reasonable proficiency in English is a prerequisite for the course.

101. Cut oneself loose from

1) To free yourself from someone or something, or their influence.
摆脱….的束缚、影响。
2) Vote Leave campaigners frequently paint themselves as making a patriotic argument for a
buccaneering, free-trading Britain to cut itself loose from the ties of the EU.
3) He cut himself loose from the constraints of the family life.

102. Make (some) sense of something

1) To understand something that is especially complicated and difficult.
理解、弄懂某事。
2) This is to help her to come to terms with her early upbringing and make sense of past experience.
3) Tom, the archaeologist leading the excavations in Trentino, often wonders how those young
soldiers made sense of the war.

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103. A good grasp of/know something inside out

1) A good understanding of something.
对…有很好的理解。
2) Despite having a good grasp of the vocabulary and grammar, he found few understood him when
he spoke Spanish.

104. The nuts and bolts of

1) The practical facts about a particular thing, rather than theorical ideas about it
某事的基本、实质性内容。
2) When it comes to the nuts and bolts of running a business, he was clearly unable to cope.
3) The nuts and bolts of the EU are hardly riveting, but a basic knowledge of its institutions is
essential to understanding how it works, so here is a quick reminder.

105. Scrape through

1) To succeed in doing something but with a lot of difficulty.
勉强应付、通过。反义词：sail through
2) Both my brothers have university degrees. I just scrape through a couple of A-levels.

106. Draw on/upon

1) To use information or experience for a particular purpose.
利用、依赖（资讯、经验、知识等等）
2) In a fascinating research, Tom, an economist at Princeton, draws upon more than a million data
points collected during daily telephone surveys of a representative sample of adult Americans.

107. Under the banner of

1) Claiming to support a specified cause or set of ideas.
打着…的旗号；以…的名义。
2) Under the banner of education, we herd our children from ballet to basketball and back again.
3) Russia’s large-scale military manoeuvers were held under the banner of fighting terrorism.

108. Lead somebody astray

1) Make someone go in the wrong direction or to have the wrong result.
误导、将…引入歧途。
2) Her parents worried that she might be led astray by her unsuitable friends.
3) Most fantasies lead us astray, and most of the consequences of imagination for individuals and
individual organizations are disastrous.

109. Have/lead a sheltered life

1) To have a life in which you are protected too much and experience very little danger, excitement
or change.
过着备受呵护的生活。
2) Until going to university, she had led a very sheltered life.

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110. Kindred spirit/like-minded people

1) Someone who likes or cares about the same things as you do.
志趣相投的人。
2) Never underestimate what you can learn from a group of like-minded people.
3) The sight of left-wing activists rallying to defend the Journal is amusing. But Mr. Murdoch has
also received criticism from an unfamiliar quarter: his fellow conservatives. Conservatives have
long celebrated him as a kindred spirit and business buccaneer.

111. Stand somebody in good stead

1) To be very useful to someone when needed.
对…很有用、有利。
2) Your languages will stand you in good stead when it comes to finding a job.
3) An academic background stood the chairman of the Federal Reserve in good stead during his first
term. Political skills may be more important in his second.

112. Get/find one’s bearings

1) To succeed in becoming familiar with a new situation.
摸清自己的方向；适应新情况。反义词：lose one’s bearings
2) An introduction session may help students get their bearings.
3) It takes a while to get your bearings when you start a new job.
4) The oil markets have usually been volatile this year, as they struggle to find their bearings in a
new landscape, marked by slower global growth, resilient shale producers and the return of the
Iran.

113. Carrot and stick

1) A system in which you are rewarded for some actions and threatened with punishment for others.
软硬兼施的办法。
2) Sometimes I have to resort to carrot and stick approach with my children.
3) Ever since George Bush senior launched “the war on drags” two decades ago, Latin American
governments have been more or less willing to belligerents. That was partly because of the carrot
and stick of American aid and bullying, but mainly because they suffer the brunt of the violence
and corruption inflicted by trafficking mafias.

114. Intimate knowledge of

1) Very detailed knowledge of something.
某人因为悉心研究或者经验丰富而对某事精通。
2) She has an intimate knowledge of Tuscany, where she has lived for 20 years.
3) He surprised me with his intimate knowledge of Schopenhauer.
4) When you first move to London it is very common to quickly gain very detailed, even intimate
knowledge of two or three locales, but not know how they are connected geographically.

115. Make/carve a niche

1) To create a special position for oneself.
Niche 可以表示合适的工作或者市场定位或者针对小群体的产品。

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2) He has made a niche for himself as a professional tennis player.

3) The new superconductors look set to carve themselves a niche in the world’s electrical industry.
4) Become an expert in an area you are interested or passionate about, be it sports, movies, music or
culture. Start writing about this in a way you can, and try to carve yourself a niche as an expert so
people want to hear what you have to say.

116. Condemn somebody/something to something

1) Make someone/something suffer in a particular way.
使…陷入…（不愉快的境地）。
2) At the same time the financial-services industry is condemned to suffer a horrible contraction.
3) Their lack of qualifications condemned him to a lifetime of boring and usually poorly-paid work.

117. Be an advertisement for

1) To be a good example of something or show how effective it can be.
…是…的典范、活广告。
2) Dirty streets and homelessness are no advertisement for a prosperous society.
3) Successful graduates are a good advertisement for a school.
4) Russia may have a huge cash pile, but its record on modernization of infrastructure and public
services, let alone n corruption, is hardly an advertisement for putinomics.

118. Keep a weather eye on; pay heed to; take heed of
1) To watch something or somebody carefully in case you need to take action
保持警惕；密切关注。
2) Street committees keep a weather eye on the families in their district.

119. Hoover up
1) To get or collect something in large quantities.
大量吸收人才、资金、技术等等。
2) The US usually hoovers up most of the gold medals.
3) DeepMind’s most immediate benefit to google is the advantage it gives in the strategic battle that
technology companies are waging over AI. It hoovers up talent, keeping researchers away from
competitors like Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon.

120. Make a job/position redundant

1) Make someone leave their job because they are no longer needed.
裁剪工作岗位。
2) 拓展：裁员
Lay somebody off; ease somebody out; relieve somebody of their position/post/command
3) It is hard to imagine a worse time to be entering a world of work. Youngsters leaving school and
university this autumn will face competition from a good part of the class of 2008, who are still
searching for jobs, as well as from more experienced workers who have recently been redundant.

121. Strengthen something’s ties/bonds/links with something

1) To establish a close connection with something.

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与…建立紧密联系。
2) The organization’s aim is to strengthen the cultural ties between Britain and Germany.

122. From every walk of life/all walks of life

1) People who have many different jobs or positions in society.
各行各业的人，各界人士。
2) While “quality of life” is a phrase generally associated with higher income brackers, people from
all walks of life seek a quality of life that ensures health, comfort, happiness and opportunity.

123. Be the height of fashion

1) To be extremely fashionable.
非常流行；是时尚的极致。
2) Flared trousers were considered to be the height of fashion in those days.
3) Facelessness—or at least humility—is also height of fashion among management consultants and
business gurus. Jim, one of the most popular gurus, argues that the best chief executives are not
flamboyant visionaries but humble, self-effacing, diligent and resolute souls.

124. For (the) want of

1) Because of a lack of something; because something is not available.
由于缺少、没有…
2) The refugees are suffering for want of food and medical supplies.
3) Many of them have gone into teaching for want of anything better to do.
4) No one should die for want of the basic healthcare that many in the rest of the world take for
granted.

125. Be blessed with

1) To be lucky in having a particular thing.
被赋予某物；有幸拥有某物。
2) The monsoon brings Nepal’s annual cow festival, a chance for ordinary people to mock their rulers
in traditional street performances. This year the comedians were blessed with plenty of material.
3) I have been blessed with good health and a wonderful life.

126. Wear thin

1) To become ineffective or uninteresting because of being too familiar or used too often.
因为出现太多而失去吸引力。
2) The film begins well but jokes wear thin after about ten minutes.
3) Even among new NATO members where voters are broadly pro-American, affection is wearing
thin, and the Iraq war’s toxic effect is being felt.

127. A reminder of
1) A person or thing which makes you remember a particular situation.
使人想起…的东西；提醒人们…的事物。
2) The incident served as a timely reminder of just how dangerous mountaineering can be.
3) The earthquake that struck the Abruzzo region at 3 am. was another grim reminder of how

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vulnerable Italy is to natural disasters.

128. In place of
1) Instead of someone or something else.
代替、取代。
2) In place of our advertisement program, we will have live coverage of the special memorial services.

129. Lavish something on somebody/something

1) To give something or someone a lot of love, praise and money, etc.
为…挥霍；为…提供大量…
2) Prince lavished praise on Britain’s contributions to world diplomacy.
3) In Renaissance Florence greed was good. The rich lavished their wealth on luxury goods for their
palazzos, and on shameless dressing up.

130. Against a backdrop of

1) In a particular situation in which something happens.
在…的背景下。
2) The conference took place against a backdrop of increasing diplomatic activity.
3) It was against this backdrop of racial tension that the civil began.

131. Become/grow/get accustomed to

1) To be familiar with something and accept it as normal.
习惯于…
2) We have grown accustomed to having our ears assailed by mindless cursing and profanities.

132. Hustle and bustle

1) All the noise and activities.
喧闹嘈杂、熙熙攘攘的气氛。
2) Shell cottage provides the perfect retreat from the hustle and bustle of London.
3) His Song ceramics, some of them dating back to the eighth centuries, had a quiet elegance that
contrasted sharply with the hustle and bustle outside.

133. The common good; in the public interest

1) The benefit of everyone.
公众、集体的利益。
2) Many of them placed self-interest before the common good.
3) By contrast, he has always worked to bring people together to fight for the common good.

134 Be teeming with

1) Full of people or animals that are all moving around.
充满、充斥（人、动物）。
2) The 6km lake shores are teeming with human activities, its frozen waters providing temporary
public space during the winter months.
3) 拓展：充满、充斥

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Filled with something/be bursting with：充满、塞满某物。

Stuffed full of something: （容器）塞满某物。
Packed with something：充满某物、富含某物。
Crammed with something：填满、塞满…

135. By/from all accounts

1) According to all of the different descriptions of something.
根据各方面的说法。
2) By all accounts, San Francisco is a city that is easy to fall in love with.
3) By all accounts, he shared the president’s instinct to draw a line under the Afghan war so that
America can concentrate on economic reconstruction and the emerging competition with China.

136. Be endowed with

1) To naturally have a good feature or quality.
天生具备、生来就有（特性、品质）。
2) Classroom heroes like Robin Williams in “Dead Poets Society” or Michelle Pfeiffer in “Dangerous
Minds” are endowed with exceptional and innate inspirational powers.
3) Duck, and like them the pigeons, are endowed with steel-like muscles, that are a good part of the
weight of the bird, and these will ply the short wings with such irresistible power that they can
bore for long distances through an opposing gale before exhaustion follows.

137. Do something with much fanfare

1) With a lot of activity, advertising or discussion relating to an event.
对…大张旗鼓地宣传；高调做…
2) The deal was announced with much fanfare.
3) After launching with much fanfare in 2013, the i3 has changed little and there are few plans for
further development of the brand,

138. Extol the virtues/benefits of

1) To praise someone or something very much.
赞扬…的优点。
2) Though they extol the virtues of the peaceful life, only one of them has gone to live in the country
and he was back in town within 6 months.

139. Not to be outdone

1) Not wanting someone else to do something better than you.
为了不让别人超过自己；不甘示弱。
2) Not to be outdone, other computer manufacturers are also donating machines to schools.
3) COCA-COLA once famously defined its market as “throat share”, meaning its stake in the entire
liquid intake of all humanity. Not to be outdone, Nooyi, the boss of Coke’s arch-rival, PepsiCo,
wants her firm to be seen as one of the defining companies of the first half of the 21th century, a
model of how to conduct business in the modern world.

140. In all probability/likelihood

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1) Very probably.
十有八九。
2) The Prime Minister is now 65 years old and in all probability this will be the election that he is
likely to contest.
3) Today’s announcement confirmed he will in all probability lose his estimated 1.5m investment in
the company.

141. Have a bearing on

1) To have an influence on something or a relation to something.
与…有关系；对…有影响。
2) Chuseok is a rare link between modern Korea and a pre-industrial, agrarian culture which no
longer has any bearing on most South Korea’s lives.
3) Experts generally argues that diet has an important bearing on your general health.

142. Be off the mark

1) Not to be accurate in a guess or statement.
（猜测、陈述）不准确，相去甚远；离题。反义词：close to the mark
2) He was probably not far off the mark in his analysis.
3) Yet such predictions may be a little off the mark. Largely because of that nationalism, the semi-
conductor industry is unlikely to end up as a bunch of near-monopolies.

143. Living proof

1) Someone who is living proof of something is an example that proves it to be true.
典型的例证；活生生的例子。
2) I am living proof that you do not need a college degree to be successful.
3) Third, the city is living proof that clustehrs work in the way that economists claim. Capital can
move like mercury. The main reason why international finance has made London its home is that
everyone is there, making it easier to do complicated deals and to trade quickly in large quantities.

144. A hostage to fortune

1) An action or statement that is risky because it could cause you trouble later.
冒险行为；将来可能引起麻烦的言行。
2) Lofty words are always a hostage to fortune. The Olympic movement boasts that the Games have
always brought people together in peace to respect universal moral principles. Yet history suggests
otherwise.
3) He was extremely cautious, saying nothing inflammatory and giving no hostages to fortune.
4) The golden rule here is spread you risk—if you put all of your money into Periwigs International,
you are setting yourself up as a hostage to fortune.

145. Go hand in hand with

1) Be closely related to something and happens at the same time or as a result of it.
与…关系密切。
2) Wealth and power go hand in hand in most societies.
3) FDI flows go hand in hand with the economic clout.

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146. Self-perpetuating
1) Continuing without any outside influence.
长存不变的，自我持续的。
2) The fighting between the different social groups has become a self-perpetuating spiral of death
and hatred.
3) Most leading companies are run by a self-perpetuating elite of middle-aged white man who recruit
in their own image and find women—not to mention ethnic minorities—an exotic choice of
colleague.

147. Crystal clear

1) Very clearly stated and easy to understand.
浅显易懂，显而易见。
2) Make your investment crystal clear and make sure you are comfortable with how the adviser plans
to help you reach those goals.

148. Be part and parcel of

1) To be a necessary feature of something.
…是…的本质特征。
2) Payment was part and parcel of carrying on insurance business within UK.
3) Working irregular hours is all part and parcel of being a journalist.
4) Talking about death does not come easy if you are British. When broached, the topic seems to
make people feel uncomfortable and even be judged as a morbid subject. But death is part and
parcel of what it means to live.

149. Vote with your feet

1) To show your dislike of a particular place or a situation by leaving and going somewhere else.
以退出表示反对；不再使用某产品。
2) When the price of skating doubled, tourists voted with their feet and just stopped going.

150. Off the beaten track/path

1) Far away from the places that people usually visit.
非常偏僻，人迹罕至。
2) The restaurant s a little off the beaten track, so it won’t be crowded.
3) Here is my list of off-the-beaten path attractions, plus some of the unmissable and historic sites,
that make Dallas such a fun city to visit.

151. Within walking distance; in the vicinity of

1) Near enough for you to reach in a reasonable time.
距离…很近。
2) Some parking will be eventually built within waling distance of the new beach so that not all
tourists would have to be shuttled.

152. Household name

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1) A famous person that most people know.

很有名，人尽皆知。
2) The company, a household name in the states, has a form foot hold in the Chinese market,
3) Unless you work in the telecoms industry, you are unlikely to have heard of Marty Cooper. He is
hardly a household name, but his influence has been felt across the world.

153. A blessing in disguise

1) Something that seems to cause problems, but that you later realize is a good thing.
因祸得福的事情；塞翁失马，焉知非福。
2) Not getting that job turned out to be a blessing in disguise, since she got a much better job soon
afterward.

154. Be few and far between; be a rarity

1) Not happening or existing very often.
某事物很稀少，不常见。
2) Flats which are both comfortable and reasonably priced are few and far between.
3) At a time when new investment opportunities are few and far between, the arrival of an entire
industry on Japanese stock markets has attracted lots of attention.

155. Backbreaking work

1) Backbreaking work is physically difficult and makes you very tired.
非常繁重、令人疲惫不堪的工作任务。
2) They were made to perform backbreaking work for poverty pay, and subjected to imprisonment
without trial for assaulting staff or attempting to escape.

156. Be the envy of somebody

1) To be something that other people admire and want to have very much.
成为某人羡慕嫉妒的对象。
2) Their new pool made them the envy of their neighbors.
3) America’s National Football League is the envy of sports leagues around the world.

157. Be at the mercy of

1) Be in a situation where someone or something has complete power over you.
任由…的摆布；完全按…支配。
2) After the boat’s motor failed, they are at the mercy of the weather.

158. Breathe life into

1) To change a situation so that people feel more excited and interested.
给…注入新生命。
2) He points out that the entrepreneurial spirit is beginning to breathe new life into India’s public
sector.

159. Put flesh on

1) To give more details about something so that people can have a clearer knowledge of it.

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充实某事物；增加某事物的细节。
2) The strength of the book s that it puts flesh on the bare bones of this argument.
3) This is an attempt to put flesh on what has been a bare skeleton plan up to now.
4) Brexit backers must put flesh on the bones of their post-EU plans, including new arrangements
for trade.

160. Come to grief

1) To experience failure, disaster, etc.
（因为事故等原因）惨遭失败、不幸。
2) Their plan to open a restaurant came to grief when they failed to get a loan.
3) Charity workers were on hand when crowed migrant boats came to grief off last week.

161. Be a pillar of strength

1) Someone or something that gives support or help during difficult times.
成为某人的精神支柱；给予某人帮助。
2) Although Brando comes across on firm as a pillar of strength, a brooding and confident presence,
his childhood was far from happy.
3) She was a pillar of strength to us when our situation seemed hopeless.

162. Around/round the clock

1) All day and all night without stop.
日夜不停，夜以继日。
2) Technology, the mobility of capital and the spread of deregulation around the globe have created
a vibrant and growing network. When one city is asleep, another is wide awake, so trading goes
on around the clock.

163. Be on/at the receiving end of; bear the brunt of

1) To be the person that an action, etc. is directly at, especially an unpleasant one.
遭受，承受（不愉快的事）。
2) Sale assistants are often at the receiving end of verbal abuse from customers.
3) Since 2006 more patent lawsuits have been filed in China than anywhere else, even litigious
America. Post pit domestic firms against each other but in recent tears foreigners have found
themselves on the receiving end, too.

164. The other way round/around; an eyesore

1) In the opposite direction, position or order; the opposite situation.
（位置，方向等）与实际情况相反。Around 为美式用法，round 为英式用法。
2) Sometimes I cook and she does the dishes and sometimes it is the other way around.
3) In the Balkans, he argues, state power in several countries was virtually subordinated to criminal
power. But sometimes, he maintains, thing work the ither way round.

165. A blot on the landscape

1) Something such as an ugly building that spoils a pleasant view.
（建筑物，公共设施）与周围环境不协调，煞风景。

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2) The developers insist this village will not leave a blot on the landscape.
3) Poverty leads to slums, which are an eyesore and a health hazard.
4) Similarly, for some the red and yellow livery of McDonald’s is a blot on the landscape; but for
Fred those soaring golden arches were so lovely, so inviting that he ordered them taken off the
restaurant fascia and placed on tall signs near the road way, where no motorists could miss them.

166. Lower the tone of

1) To make a place or event less socially acceptable or attractive.
降低…的格调。
2) I thought it might raise the moral tone of the evening if I invited a vicar to the party.
3) Some American commentators say Trump’s vicious and habitual abuse of Hillary Clinton as a liar
and his many personal insults have lowered the tone of the 2016 campaign to an unprecedented
degree.

167. Be a foregone conclusion

1) Something in the future that is certain to happen or be true.
事先料定的结局；必然会发生的事。
2) It was a foregone conclusion that I would end up in the same business as him.
3) If the result seems a foregone conclusion, people switch off.

168. Make the most of

1) To gain the greatest possible advantage from something.
最大限度地利用。
2) Another old imperial power, France, is also hoping to make the most of the residual colonies, and
in doing so is antagonizing friends.

169. For the time being

1) During the present time but possibly not in the future.
目前看来，暂时。
2) For the time being, however, immunotherapy is still in its experimental stages.

170. Add/bring variety to

1) Make something more interesting.
为…增添一些趣味性。
2) Tutoring young students can add variety to older students’ days, and make them fell important.
3) One reason for introducing the European brown hare was to add variety to the coursing stock. But
a notable difference soon became apparent: unlike the Irish hare, the interloper does not run in a
straight line, and so is of little sporting use.

171. Run errands for somebody

1) To do something for somebody by making a short trip somewhere.
为…跑腿办事。
2) She was forever running errands for her housebound grandmother.

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172. By the same token

1) For the same reasons.
同样地；因为相同的原因。
2) The penalty for failure will be high. But, by the same token, the rewards for success will be great.
3) I have lived my believing two things—that pain should not be sought, but, by the same token, it
should never be avoided, because there is a lesson in facing adversity.

173. The final/last straw

1) The last in a series of bad things that happen to make someone very upset or angery.
压垮骆驼的最后一根稻草。
2) Losing my job was bad enough, but being evicted from my house was the final straw.
3) She has always been rude to me, but it was the last straw when she started insulting my mother.

174. A bitter pill to swallow

1) An unpleasant fact of situation that is difficult to accept.
必须吞下去的苦果；不得不接受的事实。
2) The knowledge that his friends no longer trusted him was a bitter pill to swallow.

175. Be taken aback by

1) To be very surprised or shocked.
…对…大吃一惊。
2) He was forever taken aback by New York’s pervasive atmosphere of purposefulness—the tight
focus of its drivers, the brisk intensity of its pedestrians.

176. Nothing of the sort/kind

1) Used to emphasize a negative statement.
根本不是。
2) She said that she was very sorry, in tones that made it clear that she was nothing of the sort.
3) Millions of poor Indians are considered criminal by tradition. But most of them are nothing of the
sort.

177. Be in good running/working order

1) In good condition or working well.
状况良好，运转良好。
2) A western diplomat says China is also struggling to keep its destroyers and submarines I good
working order.

178. Be falling apart at the seams

1) To be going badly wrong and likely to stop functioning completely.
计划接近失败；组织分崩离析。
2) Britain’s university system is in danger of falling apart at the seams.
3) She was falling apart at the seams, spending most of her time in tears.

179. Wishful thinking

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1) A belief that something you want to be true is true.

一厢情愿；单方面主观的想法。
2) I think she rather likes me. but maybe that is just wishful thinking.
3) The takeover of Endeca, Spain’ biggest electricity firm, by EON, a German utility, is well on its
way, declared Markel, the German Chancellor, at a press conference in Berlin last week. This
might be just wishful thinking.

180. Over the top

1) More than what is considered normal or suitable.
言论行为过于夸张，超出正常界限；做得过头了；小题大做。
2) He says the moral panic about climate change has been completely over the top and that he had
never thought it was the most severe problem faced by Austria.

181. Do something the hard way

1) To learn, achieve or do something after a bad experience or by making mistakes.
经历重重困难做某事。
2) America has learned the hard way that it cannot fix the problems of the Middle East.
3) He learned the hard way about the harsh reality of the boxing world.

182. Do something in anticipation of something

1) To do something because you expect something to happen.
因为预料到某事而做某事。
2) Troops have been put on full alert in anticipation of trouble during a planned general strike.

183. Be a victim of one’s own success

1) To be affected by some expected results of being very successful.
因为成功而反受其害。
2) The school has become a victim of its own success as parents with children who have special
needs now actively seek it out.

184. Err on the side of caution

1) To be especially careful rather than taking a risk or making a mistake.
为了谨慎起见。
2) Twenty-five people have replied to the invitation, but I have erred on the side of caution and put
out 30 chairs.
3) Just as too much regulation may keep the cloud computing from rising high, so could lack of
privacy. If consumers and companies cannot be sure that their privacy is safe, they will err on the
side of caution.

185. All shapes and sizes

1) Many different types.
（人，事物）形形色色，各种各样。
2) The response to the competition was tremendous. Before long, biscuits of all shapes and sizes
began arriving at the factory.

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3) Stock market investors come in all shapes and sizes, but in the current turmoil they agree on one
thing: if in doubt about a financial firm, shoot first and ask question later.

186. Be a magnet for

1) Something or someone that attracts many people or things.
…像磁铁一样有吸引力。
2) Utica, in central New York, has become a magnet in recent years for those escaping persecution
in their home countries.
3) US has always acted as a magnet foe people seeking fame and fortune.

187. Put something on the map

1) To make a place famous.
使某地出名。
2) It was the Olympic Games that really put Beijing on the map.
3) Romania has the advantage of size, demography and a newly confident elite that wants to put the
country on the map of the Europe.

188. Jump through hoops

1) To do a complicated and annoying series of things in order to get or achieve something.
为达到目的做出很大努力、经受磨难。
2) We had to jump through the loops to get our visas in time.
3) At present some of the world’s least appealing places have the toughest visa requirements and
expect economic migrants to jump through the tiniest loops.

189. The jewel in the crown; the cream of

1) The best or most valuable part of something.
皇冠上的珠宝。
2) The reef is the jewel in the crown of Australia’s tourism industry and deserves a rescue package
similar to the Murray-Darling basin.
3) His achievement is astonishing and this book is the jewel in his crown.

190. Blow something out of proportion; make too much of; make a drama out of
1) Treat something as more serious than it really is.
小题大做。反义词：keep something in proportion.
2) Of course, when the papers get hold of a story, it is blown out of the proportion.
3) I think we make too much of the benefits of Western society.

191. Keep something under wraps

1) To keep something secret.
使某事保密；隐藏某事物。反义词：take the wraps off
2) In modern times target killing is a more elaborate business, and many of the finer points—how
the victim is stalked, how many people are involved—usually remain under wraps.

192. Make a mockery of

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1) To make something seem stupid and without value.

取笑，使…显得荒谬、无价值。
2) On Africa, higher food prices seemed to make a mockery of G8 pledges made three years ago to
raise aid levels by $25 billion until 2010, even before NGOs warned that the commitment was
already slipping.

193. Make/grab the headlines

1) To be reported in many newspapers and on radio and TV.
…成为新闻焦点，收到广泛关注。
2) Glasgow’s drugs problem has grabbed the headlines tonight.
3) In 2006 Vanuatu briefly made the headline for coming top of the world’s Happy Planet Index, an
alternative to conventional indicators of economic performance that combines estimates of well-
being with a country’s ecological footprint.

194. Draw a veil over

1) To avoid talking about something because it is embarrassing and unpleasant.
避而不谈。
2) The clamor to draw a veil over the minister’s extra-marital activities reeks of hypocrisy.
3) The whatever0we-did-we-suffered-worse rationale has allowed most Jewish Israelis to draw a veil
over the sins of the state’s early years, even as their misgivings about the post-1967 occupation of
the West Bank and Gaza have grown.

195. Set/put the record straight

1) To write or say something in order to make the true facts known.
澄清事实，纠正误导。
2) Let me set the record straight on the misconceptions contained in your article.
3) Last week saw rumors of the arrest of Shigeta, the president of Hakkari Tsushin, another high-tech
Japanese company that trails in Softbank’s wake, and who, strangely, is on Softbank’s board.
Though the firm put the record straight quickly, the news weighed on Softbank’s shares.

196. Put/turn the spotlight on; be in/under the spotlight

1) To receive a lot of attention in newspapers or on television.
使…引起关注。反义词：stay out of the limelight
2) The report has turned the spotlight on the rise in street crime.
3) The documentary turned the spotlight on the low wages paid to manual workers.

197. Behind closed doors

1) Taking place seriously or without public knowledge.
…暗中发生，不向外界公开。
2) They seemed like the perfect couple, but you never know what goes on behind closed doors.

198. Pull the wool over someone’s eyes

1) To try to tick or cheat someone by giving the wrong information.
蒙骗某人。

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2) Such revelations have reinforced the existing concerns among advertisers that they are having
wools pulled over their eyes when it comes to online advertisements.

199. Ruffle somebody’s feathers

1) To upset or annoy someone.
使…恼怒、心烦意乱。
2) His direct and abrasive approach will doubtless ruffle a few feathers.
3) Politicians are usually careful not to ruffle the feathers of their constituents.

200. Do justice to
1) To treat someone or something in a way that is fair and shows their true qualities.
充分展现…的最佳素质。
2) The photo I had seen didn’t do her justice.
3) Most Tv sets do not have the sound quality to do justice to the music.
4) Despite his failure to find a wide readership in the last years of his life, he eas made comfortably
off from the sale of the books to silent film-makers. Sadly, only a handful of movies has done
justice to his work.

201. Be a byword for

1) A person or a thing that is a well-known and typical example of a particular quality.
是…的代名词（常用于形容正面词汇）。
2) His name has become a byword for honesty in the community.
3) Once a byword for state-run inefficiency, Telstra is now famous instead for corporate and
belligerence and executive arrogance.

202. Be a shadow of your former self

1) To have less health or strength or influence than you before.
…的健康、力量、影响等不如从前。
2) He was once a greater player, but now he is just a shadow of his former self.
3) After more than two years of pitched battles between president Bashar and his foes, rubble-strewn
Aleppo is a shadow of its former self.

203. Dwell on/upon

1) to think or talk about something for a long time.
一直惦记着（不好或令人不快之事）。
2) In his speech, he dwelt on the plight of the sick and the hungry.

204. Pull the strings

1) To control events or actions of other people.
幕后操纵，暗中控制。
2) For decades, this small but influential investment bank has pulled the strings of Italian capitalism.
3) It turned out that his sister was the person pulling the strings behind the operation.

205. Hold sway

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1) To have power or a very strong influence.

掌握权力，有很大影响。
2) Fundamentalist beliefs hold sway over the whole districts. Ensuring the popularity of religious
leaders.
3) Today Taliban again hold sway over much of the countryside.

206. Raise one’s eyebrows

1) To show surprise or disapproval.
对…表示惊讶或者反对。
2) The law seems to have few enemies. Even conservatives like it. However, its cost in tax is raising
eyebrows.
3) He raises his eyebrows over some of the suggestions.

207. Roller coaster

1) A situation or experience that involves sudden or extreme changes.
情况不断变化，时好时坏。
2) What makes being a founder stressful is being on an emotional roller coaster all the time.

208. Lend your name to

1) To let it be known in public that you support or agree with something.
公开支持、声援某事。
2) The French Prime Minister has now lent his name to the protest.
3) But the scope of the application means that the vegetarian musician would also have the right to
lend his name to products he is thought to loathe, such as meat and poultry.

209. Make an example of somebody; come down hard on someone

1) To punish somebody as a warning to others not to do the same thing.
杀鸡儆猴，以儆效尤。
2) The judge made an example of him and gave him the maximum possible sentence.
3) The air of impunity risks spreading further disillusion among his supporters. But he also dares
not—not yet, anyway—make an example of Jones for fear of undermining the flagship pension
bill.

210. Put/place somebody on a pedestal

1) To admire someone so much that you do not see their faults.
把…当做偶像，视为完人。反义词：knock someone off the pedestal
2) Women are both put on a pedestal and treated like second-class citizens.
3) But it was not until he rescued Turkey from dismemberment at the hands of the Western Allies
after the first world war that the army was put on a pedestal. Millions of Turks believe that, had it
not been for him, there would be no Turkey today.

211. Have an axe to grind

1) To have private reasons for being involves in something or for a arguing for a particular cause.
有私心，别有企图。（典故来自富兰克林）

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2) Environmentalists have no political axe to grind—they just want to save the planet.
3) She had no axe to grind and was only acting out of concern for their safety.
4) You call yourself a whistle-blower, but some might that you are just a disgruntled former employee
with an axe to grind.

212. Turn up one’s nose at; look down on

1) To refuse to take or accept something because it is not good enough.
对…不屑一顾。
2) So far, Chinese luxury buyers, especially of cars, have turned up their nose at domestic brands.

213. Off-the-wall
1) Very strange or unusual, often in an amusing way.
非同寻常，稀奇古怪。
2) She has an off-the-wall sense of humor.
3) There are maverick performers and then there is Claudia, a comedian whose off-the-wall shows
will leave you provoked, delighted, amused and baffled.

214. Be back on your feet; be on the mend

1) To be healthy again after a period of illness.
恢复健康，东山再起。
2) You need someone to take the pressure off and help you get back on your feet.
3) The new chairman wants to get the company back on its feet within six months.
4) Behind curlicues of cigarette smoke and with gentle tones of wartime tunes wafting from a tape
deck, he is back on his feet after the looting of his dinky barbershop.

215. At the behest of somebody

1) Because of being asked or ordered by someone.
在某人的要求、吩咐之下。
2) Last year, Russia threatened retaliation against European state-controlled companies after Belgium
and France froze some Russian assets at the behest of Yukos shareholders.

216. Rail against

1) To complain about someone or something in an angry way.
怒斥，抱怨。
2) As they rail against America’s growing income inequality and the stagnation of many worker’s
wages, the Democrats have tilted clearly to the left.

217. In one’s heyday

1) The most successful and popular periods of someone.
巅峰时期。
2) Current estimates suggest that, there are fewer than 400 fighters, a significant dip from its heyday
in the 1990s.

218. In one’s shoes

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1) In someone else’s situation, especially a bad one.

处于某人的境地。
2) Anyone in her shoes will do the same thing.
3) Putting yourself in the shoes of readers is perhaps the most important part in planning how to write
a CV.

219. Bring something/somebody to their knees

1) To destroy or defeat.
摧毁，击败；使…屈膝投降；遭受打击。
2) The country was being brought to its knees by the loss of 2.4 billion manufacturing jobs.
3) Brexit follows a cascade of crises—Russian aggression, economic woes, terrorism, refugees—that
have brought EU to its knees.

220. Fall from grace

1) To stop being liked by people in authority.
失去其他人的信任、恩宠；影响力大不如前。
2) He fell from grace for the first time when he was convicted of drink-driving.
3) How justified is Britain’s status these days as (some say) Europe’s new sick man? It is tempting
to see in its fall from grace a simple morality tale: an economy with a swollen financial sector that
borrows a lot, ran a current-account deficit and had a huge housing boom has got its just deserts.

221. Be the antithesis/opposite of

1) The complete opposite of something.
与…形成对立；与…相反。
2) He is the exact antithesis of what I find attractive in men.
3) Because of the downturn, Net Geners are finding it harder to hop to new jobs. At the same time,
their dissatisfaction is growing as crisis-hit firms adopt more of a command-and-control approach
to management—the antithesis of the open, collaborative style that young workers prefer.

222. Get on someone’s nerves

1) To annoy someone a lot.
使…心烦意乱。
2) We really get on each other’s nerves when we are living together.

223. Reveal/show one’s true colors

1) Show one’s true character.
展现…的真面目、真实想法。
2) With these words, say his detractors, Mr. Obama showed his true colors as a man who does not
believe genuinely in America’s greatness and is secretly reconciled to its eventual decline.

224. Put something behind you

1) To forget something unpleasant that has happened to you.
将不愉快的经历抛在脑后。
2) They have tried to put the grief behind them and rebuild their lives.

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3) 相关短语拓展：忘记某事
Put something out of your mind 有意忘记
Take/keep your mind off something 不再去想
Blot/shut something out 忘却、抹掉不快的回忆

225. Go so far as to do something

1) To do or say something extreme.
某人竟然、甚至做某事。
2) Some physicists have gone so far as to suggest that the entire universe is a sort of gigantic computer.
3) Some really enthusiasts go so far as to build their own computers.

226. Dawn on somebody

1) You realized something for the first time.
某人突然意识到某事。
2) By the early 1980s it had begun to dawn on GM that the Japanese cold not only make better cars
but also do so far efficiently.

227. Someone would kill to do/for something

1) To want something so much that you almost will do everything to get it.
不惜一切代价要达到。
2) In those days, actors would kill to break into the film.
3) This seems like a small thing, and many Western countries would kill to have South Korea’s
problem: it is hard to imagine British or American parents fretting that their teenagers work too
hard.

228. Number somebody/something among somebody/something

1) To be included as one of a particular group.
将…作为…的一员。
2) At one time, the club numbered an archbishop among its members.
3) In his hands he holds a petition to the emperor who had once numbered him among the greatest
talents of his court—but before the old man can present himself, a lathi-wielding attendant
advance on him, stick raised, driving him back.

229. Point a/the finger at

1) To accuse someone or suggest that they are guilty of something bad.
指责，责怪。
2) Unhappy tourists have pointed the finger at unhelpful travel agents.

230. Put something/somebody to the test

1) To find out how good somebody or something is.
使…得到考验。
2) Tense through China’s 76 athletes may be as they put their training to the test, the pressure on
another, larger Chinese team also present in Turin may be even greater.

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231. Stand in one’s way

1) To prevent someone from doing something.
阻止某人做某事。
2) I will not stand in your way if you want to apply for a job abroad.

232. In one’s own right

1) Through the force of one’s own skills or qualifications.
凭借自身力量做某事。
2) He wants to turn HTC, which used to make mobile phones for other firms, into a brand in its own
right.

233. Be waiting in the wings

1) To be ready to do something if it is necessary.
伺机而动，随时准备。
2) There are now more than 20 companies waiting in the wings to take over its business.

234. Set oneself up as

1) To say that that you are a particular type of person.
（贬义）：自称…；装成…的样子。
2) He sets himself up as an expert on vegetable growing, but he doesn’t seem to me to know much
about it.
3) The golden rule here is spread your risk—if you put all of your money into Periwigs International,
you are setting yourself up as a hostage to fortune.

235. Keep a low profile; hide your light under a bushel

1) To avoid attracting attention to yourself.
保持低调姿态，不张扬。
2) he has been a lot of trouble recently so he is trying to keep a low profile.

236. Come out of your shell

1) Becoming less shy and more confident and willing to talk to people.
某人开始变得不自闭，开始融入外部世界。反义词：go/retreat into your shell
2) Jack has recently come out of shell since he started working here.

237. Take the rough with the smooth

1) To accept the bad things in life as well as the good ones.
事物的好坏都能接受；既能享乐也能吃苦。
2) In this business, you have to learn to take the rough with the smooth.

238. Take a back seat to

1) To have less influence or importance.
退居次要位置，让权给他人。反义词：be in the driver’s seat
2) Foreign policy will take a back seat to domestic problems for a while.
3) When his boss went on vocation, he suddenly found himself in the driver’s seat.

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239. Sit/rest on one’s laurels

1) To be satisfied with your achievements and do nothing to achieve more.
满足于既有成就，不思进取。
2) The committee’s chairman accused NASA of resting on its lurals after making it to the moon.

240. Strike/touch a chord to somebody

1) To do or say something that people feel is familiar or true.
引发共鸣，触动心弦。
2) Lifetime employment, hierarchical management and pay based on seniority rather than
performance all stuck a chord with Korea Confucianist traditions.

241. Take something on the chin

1) To accept a difficult or unpleasant situation without complaining.
毫无怨言地承受担当。
2) We call all relate to the author Jack’s online rage over a bad review, but wwriters must learn to
take criticism on the chin.

242. Be on a collision course with

1) Be in a situation which is almost certain to cause a disagreement.
与…势必发生冲突，必然导致严重争端。
2) All attempts at diplomacy have broken down and the two states now appear to be on a collision
course.

243. Take the bull by the horns; tackle something head-on; rise to the occasion/challenge
1) To do something difficult in a brave and determined way.
当机立断，大胆应对挑战。
2) She decided to take the bull by the horns and organize things for herself.

244. Out on a limb

1) Alone and without help and support.
孤立无援。
2) All other countries signed the agreement, leaving Britain out on a limb.
3) They can see themselves going out on a limb, voting for a very controversial energy bill.

245. Reconcile/resign oneself to

1) To accept a situation or fact although you do not like it.
妥协；使甘心于…
2) He could not reconcile himself to the prospect of losing her.

246. Have the world at one’s feet; enjoy a purple patch

1) To be extremely successful and admired by a great number of people.
非常成功；为某人仰慕。

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2) Five year after her debut, the diminutive star of the Royal Bullet has the world at her feet.

247. Take issue with; not see eye to eye

1) To disagree or argue with someone on something.
不同意；争论。
2) I took issue with him over his interpretation of the instructions.

248. Be the epitome of

1) The beat possible example of something.
成为典范。
2) In her colorless suit, Merkel looked like a grey mouse, too shamed to face the German public,
after her cowardly decision to permit investigations into a comedian who had insulted the Turkish
president. She is the epitome of hypocrisy and double standards.

249. Give something one’s best shot

1) To make as much effort as you can to achieve something difficult.
尽自己最大的努力。
2) The case is going to be tough, but I promise I will give it my best shot.

250. Be on the same wavelength

1) To think in a similar way and to understand each other well.
与其他人的观点或者情感相投。反义词：be on a different wavelength
2) Small companies and start-ups do not have the room for personality clashes, so making sure
additions to your team are on the same wavelength as existing stuff is important.

251. Identify with

1) To feel sympathy with someone or be able to share their feelings.
认同，认同感。
2) It is hard to think of anyone else in the world in recent times with whom every single person, in
every corner of the Earth, can somehow identify. He was, quite simply, a wonderful man.

252. On behalf of
1) Instead of someone.
代表某人。
2) Unluckily, Tom cannot be with us today so I am pleased to accept this award on his behalf.

253. Make/leave one’s mark

1) To become famous and successful in a particular area.
取得成功，出名。
2) Like all young people, they are passionate, inquisitive and challenging, and want to leave their
mark on the world.

254. Through the agency of

1) Being done as the result of someone’s or something’s help.

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由于…的帮助；在..的推动下。
2) One way genes affect behavior is through the agency of neurotransmitters, the chemicals that carry
messages between nerve cells.

255. Pay homage to somebody

1) To do something that shows you respect and admire someone a lot.
向某人表示敬意；赞扬某人。
2) Palace has released two marvelous films that pay homage to our literary heritage.

256. Do one’s bit

1) To do your share of a job.
尽自己的本分。
2) If you want to held poor farmers, you can do your bit by buying their products.

257. Think nothing of

1) To consider that an activity is easy and usual.
不把…当回事；等闲视之。
2) When I was younger, I thought nothing of cycling 50 miles in a day.

258. The odds are (stacked) in one’s favor

1) Someone is likely to be successful.
有可能成功。反义词：the cards/odds are stacked against sb.
2) His troops will only engage in a ground battle when all the odds are in their favor.

259. Turn (somebody) against somebody/something

1) To stop liking or supporting someone/something.
（使）反对、为敌。
2) The girl’s natural father claimed that her stepfather was turning her against him.

260. Limit/restrict oneself to

1) To limit yourself in a particular thing.
约束自己不超出范围。
2) Aware of these pitfalls, this year I attempted my resolutions to myself. I limit myself to two modest
ambitions.

261. At the helm

1) In charge or in the position of a leader.
处在掌舵位置。
2) With Jack at the helm, we are certain of success.

262. Be agreeable to
1) To be willing to do something or be willing to allow something to be done.
愿意接受某事。
2) If he is agreeable to the proposal, we will start the project in June.

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263. Establish/develop/forge a rapport with somebody

1) To establish a friendly relationship in which people understand each other very well.
与某人建立融洽关系。
2) She understood the importance of establishing a rapport with clients.

264. Screw up/summon up/pluck up the/one’s courage to do

1) To be brave enough to do something.
鼓起勇气。
2) It took me six months to summon up the courage to ask him out for a drink.

265. In tandem with

1) Doing something at the same time as someone or something else.
协同联合工作。
2) To compensate for its lack of economic clout, ECOWAS has learned to work in tandem with
beefier bodies and countries, raising the alarm when it spots danger on the horizon.

266. Be in/at the forefront of one’s mind

1) To be what someone is thinking about most.
是首先考虑的事情。
2) Fear of unemployment was in the forefront of everyone’s mind.

267. Take on/assume the mantle of

1) To accept of have an important duty or job.
承担责任或者义务。
2) Known for its creative inhabitants and cycling-friendly streets, Bristol will take on the mantle of
Europe’s greenest city in 2015.
3) It is up to Europe to take on the mantle of leadership in environmental issues.

268. Detach oneself from

1) To try to less involved in or less concerned about a situation.
使自己摆脱。
2) It helps them to detach themselves from their problems and become more objective.

269. Stand/be in awe of

1) To admire something or someone and be slightly frightened of them.
敬畏。
2) Who has not stood in awe at the sight of a spider pouncing on a fly?

270. eve-handed
1) Giving fair and equal treatment to everyone.
不偏不倚的。
2) Locked inside their respective echo chamber, particularly on social media, usually even-handed
commentators lost their bearings.

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271. On the wane

1) Becoming smaller, weaker, or less important.
逐渐衰落，不断减少。
2) By the 5th century, the power of the Roman Empire was on the wane.

272. Keep somebody at arm’s length

1) To avoid developing a relationship with someone.
与…保持一定距离。
2) The governor has kept the foreign retailers ar arm’s lengthin an effort to protect millions of
shopkeepers.

273. Be too much for somebody

1) To be too difficult for someone to do or bear.
超出承受能力。
2) His inability to stay at one job foe long had finally proved to be too much for her.

274. Fit/confirm to a stereotype

1) Be like the usual idea of something.
符合刻板印象；一般应用于否定句。
2) He does not fit the usual stereotype of the business man with a dark suit and briefcase.

275. Leave somebody to their own devices

1) To allow someone to make their own decisions.
让某人自行决定做某事。
2) Left to his own devices, he is a fluent pianist.
3) Economists has long recognized that markets, lest to their own devices, can fail.

276. Come/bring into force

1) Existing and being used.
法律，制度等开始生效。
2) New driving regulations begin to come into force.

277. Behand bars

1) In prison.
在监狱里。
2) Nearly 5000 people a year are put behind bars over motoring penalties.

278. Fall prey to; fall victim to

1) To be hurt or deceived by someone bad.
受…所伤、影响。反义词： be immune to
2) The American housing market has deteriorated so sharply in the past 2 years that it is easy to fall
prey to profound pessimism.
3) Street children in this region often fall prey to drug dealers.

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279. Keep tabs on; ride herd on

1) To watch somebody or something carefully to check what they are doing.
跟进最新发展；密切注意。
2) The police have been keeping tabs on Jack since he got out of prison.

280. Corner the market; have a monopoly on

1) To get control of the trade in a particular type of goods.
垄断。
2) Whether they will corner the market in graphic software remains to be seen.

281. A king’s ransom

1) A very large amount of money.
巨额资金。
2) That may explain why the famous paranoid Zuckerberg is willing to pay a king’s ransom for a
company that might ultimately eclipse his own creation.

282. Go through the floor; be at rock bottom

1) To fall to very low levels.
价格或数量降到很低的水平。
2) House prices have gone through the floor this year.

283. Put a figure on

1) To say the exact price or number of something.
准确说出价值或者数量。
2) I am sure we will make a good profit, but I cannot put a figure on it.

284. Feel the pinch

1) To have problems with money because you are earning less than before.
经历经济困难。
2) Now records were set at auction, but overall, the art market cooled as the frenzy around the young
artists subsided and collectors in Russia felt the pinch.

285. Tighten one’s belt; scrimp and save

1) To try to spend less money than you used to.
省吃俭用。
2) They scrimped and saved for many years to buy their own house.

286. Wax and wane

1) To increase and decrease over time.
兴衰枯荣。
2) Few managements waxed and waned quite as dramatically as that for conglomerates.

287. Plug the gap

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1) To provide what is missing from something.

填补缺口。
2) With so few trained doctors, paramedics were brought in to plug the gap.

288. A level playing field

1) A situation in which everyone has the same chance of succeeding.
公平竞争的环境。
2) If the tax systems are different in each European country, how can industries start on a level
playing field?

289. The lion’s share of

1) The largest part or most of something.
最大份额。
2) Reputable charities append the lion’s share of decisions on aid and a tiny fraction on administration.

290. Pull the plug on

1) To stop the activity especially by no longer providing the money needed to allow it to continue.
通过不再提供资金使某事物中断。
2) The Swiss entrepreneur suddenly pull the plug on any further investment in the firm.

291. In the long run/term

1) At a time that is far away in the future.
从长远来看。
2) Sometimes expensive drugs or other treatments can be economical in the long run.

292. Cut back on; scale something down/back; bring something down
1) To reduce amount/size/cost of something.
减少，缩减，削减。
2) We are heading for a crisis, with cash-starved councils forced to cut back on vital communities.

293. Safe haven

1) A place where you are protected from danger.
避风港。
2) As long as the UN soldiers are present, the city is regarded as a safe haven for the refugees.

294. Make ends meet; scrape/scratch a living

1) To have just enough money to buy the things you needed.
收支相抵，勉强维持生计。
2) When Mike lost his job, we could barely meet ends meet.

295. Rule of thumb

1) A particular and appropriate way of doing or measuring something.
经验法则。
2) As a general rule of thumb, children this age should not spend more than one hour on homework.

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296. Be surplus to requirements

1) To be no longer necessary.
不再需要，超出需求。
2) He found out he was surplus to requirements in London and left.
3) It is men, not women, who perceive that the number of men on the planet is vastly surplus to
requirements.

297. Out of stock

1) Not available for sale or use.
商品缺货。反义词：in stock
2) Electronic menus can be constantly updated so that items that are out of stock can be removed.

298. Out of thin air

1) Out of nowhere, as if by magic.
无中生有，凭空产生。
2) He had materialized out of thin air; I had not seen or heard him coming.

299. Shell/fork out for

1) To spend a lot of money on something.
不情愿地支付，花一大笔钱。
2) The band shelled out $10000 for a mobile record studio.

解决方案类话题
1. Pay lip service
1) To say that you agree with something but do nothing to support it.
空头支票；口惠而实不至。
2) Unfortunately, he had done no more than pay lip service to their views.
3) Companies have paid lip service to customer service for years, yet still treat customers like serfs.

2. Go the extra mile

1) To do more than you are required to do.
加倍努力去完成…
2) The president expressed his determination to go the extra mile for peace.
3) Upgrading the 777 with a new wing is one possibility, but a similar exercise with the 747 proved
fraught, convincing some within the company that it may as well go the extra mile and develop an
all-new plane.

3. Come to terms with; settle for

1) To gradually accept a sad situation.
接受不愉快的事情；妥协。
2) Almost all countries struggle to come to terms with dark periods in their histories. Japan, for
example, has failed fully to acknowledge its wartime atrocities.
3) I could not afford the house that I really wanted, so I had to settle for second best.

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4. See eye to eye

1) To have the same opinion.
观点相同，意见一致（常见于否定情形）。
2) My sisters don’t see eye to eye with me about the arrangements.

5. An uphill struggle/battle/task
1) Something that is very difficult to do and needs a lot of effort and determination.
艰难的斗争、战斗、任务。
2) It had been an uphill struggle to achieve what she had wanted.
3) Online as much as in the real world, people bunch together in mutually suspicious groups—and
in both realms, peacemaking is an uphill struggle.

6. Take account of
1) To consider something when you try to make a decision.
把…考虑进来。
2) Hillary Clinton failed to take account of the populist anger and lost ground to the rightwing
demagoguery of Trump.

7. Put paid to
1) To spoil and end you hopes or plans completely.
使…化为泡影、失败。
2) A car accident has put paid to his chances of taking part in the race.

8. By/in fits and starts

1) Frequently starting and stopping again.
时断时续，不连贯。
2) The IMF and the World Bank, pragmatic institutions from the outset, have adapted already, in fits
and starts.

9. Put something into perspective

1) To compare something to other things so that it can be fairly judged.
公平理性地看待…
2) You have got the problem totally out of perspective.
3) Before tackling these questions, China’s foreign reserves must be put into perspective.

10. Gear up for/to do something

1) To prepare yourself or something for an event.
为…做准备。
2) As America and its allies gear up for their big fight of the summer—to extend control over the
southern province of Kandahar, which they call the cornerstone of the counterinsurgency
campaign—the Taliban have been on a killing spree.

11. Have no stomach for something

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1) To not feel brave or determined enough to do something unpleasant.

没有做…的勇气；缺乏做…的决心。
2) He did not have the stomach to look at her face.

12. Jump to conclusions

1) To form an opinion about something before you have all the facts.
草率下结论。
2) Many British people might focus more on their own suffering than that of the all-but vanished
Jewish population. Outsiders would do well not jump to conclusions.

13. Join/combine forces to do

1) Work together in order to achieve something.
齐心协力。
2) In an unexpected show of solidarity, the management and workers have joined forces to campaign
against the closure of the factory.
3) Two leading clean ocean advocacy groups have joined forces to stop tint synthetic clothing fibers
from polluting the world’s waterways and poisoning the food chain.

14. Go to great lengths to do; take pains to do; go to great pains to do

1) To try very hard to do something.
竭尽全力，想方设法。
2) In many European countries, no politicians would want to be seen with a rifle in his hands and a
cuddly animal in his sights. In America, politicians go to great lengths to get seen doing just that.

15. Out of the question; be no question of doing

1) To be an event which cannot possibly happen.
不可能，不允许。（区分：out of question—没有问题）。
2) For the homeless, private medical care is simply out of the question.

16. In a … fashion
1) In a particular way.
以某种方式。
2) There is another drug that works in a similar fashion.

17. Have the last laugh

1) To finally get an advantage.
取得最终胜利。
2) Tom has been widely mocked, but he had the last laugh when his team beat Manchester United.

18. Be halfway there; go halfway to/toward doing

1) To have an advantage that will help you to be successful.
已经成功了一半。
2) Last month he declared that the immediate prospects for the car industry were so dire that only
big producers, with sales of more than 5m a year, would be viable in the long term—and that Fiat,

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despite its recent renaissance, was not even halfway there.

19. Run up against

1) To experience an unexpected difficulty.
遭遇突如其来的问题。
2) The government is running up against considerable opposition to its tax reforms.

20. Come to a head; bring something to a head

1) To reach a crisis.
到了紧急关头，突然恶化。
2) Things hadn’t been good between us for a while and this incident just brought to a head.
3) Tensions came to a head when miners protested against poor conditions.

21. Translate into

1) To change something into a difficult form.
使转变；导致。
2) Reforming stagnant economy requires harsh measurements that would translate into job losses.

22. Stand a chance of doing

1) To have the possibility of achieving something.
有机会做成某事。
2) If the terrorists keep hitting the police as politicians dither over the formation of a new government,
leaving the country rudderless, the insurgents stand a chance of picking up momentum once again.

23. Lay/put something(rumor/scandal/dispute) to rest

1) To stop people from worrying about or believing something.
使…平息下来。
2) I am determined to put to rest these rumors that we are in financial crisis.
3) The chief executive resigned, and the company hoped that the scandal would finally be laid to rest.

24. Roll/with the punches

1) To be able to deal with a series of difficult situations.
灵活善变地对付困难。
2) Perhaps the administration should take a few lessons from, say. Lord Archer, a much-mocked but
unabashed Tory peer, on how to roll with the punches.

25. Have/gain the upper hand over; gain/establish a foothold

1) To have advantage or control over something.
占据上风。
2) In the cause of equal rights, feminists have had much to complaint about. But one striking piece
of inequality has been conveniently ignored: lifespan. In this area, women have the upper hand.

26. Speak with one voice

1) To express the same opinion.

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众口一词。
2) This would enable the community to speak with one voice in world affairs.
3) Here are three pieces of conventional wisdom that trigger head-nodding and murmured assent
wherever Brussels grandees gather. The first is that, as economic and political clout flew away
from the West, Europe can be a driving force only if it learns to speak with one voice and to defend
common interests.

27. Seal of approval

1) An official sign of approval.
正式认可、批准。
2) A number of employees have given their seal of approval to the scheme.
3) He was elected several month later with widespread support and a seal of approval from western
leaders.

28. Be at odds
1) To disagree.
相矛盾；意见不一致。
2) These findings are at odds with what is going on in the rest of the country.
3) His desire to return to Starbuck’s roots would appear to be at odds with the company’s stated goal
of growing to 40000 outlets worldwide.

29. Something is of the essence

1) Something is very important.
至关重要。
2) Good communications ae of essence to remain competitive.

30. Two sides of the same coin

1) Two things that are regarded as two parts of the same thing.
同一个事物紧密相连的两个方面。
2) Should outsiders be worried about this increased scratchiness in East Asia, or comforted by the
notion that economic integration will in the end restrain political hot-heads? In reality, these
competing views are two sides of the same coin.

31. To/for all intents and purposes

1) In all the most important ways.
实际上。
2) Their decision to begin bombing was, to all intents and purposes, a declaration of war.
3) Though it appears to all intents and purposes like a stated-of-art power station, it is actually a huge
hydrogen production facility in disguise.

32. Be in the pipeline

1) Being planned or prepared in order to happen or be available soon.
在准备中；在进行中。
2) Germany still have some stimulus in the pipeline, which may lift the economy above the rest for

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a while.

33. For that matter

1) Something else is also true.
递进：就…而言；…同样如此。
2) He is an artist who is never been as well-known here, or for that matter as well-established, as he
has been in the US.
3) I am not sure what value it adds to determining public, or for that matter privacy, policy.
4) Executives are usually known for blue-sky thinking, rather than throwing cold water on ideas—
or themselves, for that matter.

34. Half measures; quick fix

1) Actions which only achieve part of what they are intended to achieve.
不彻底、折中的办法。
2) They have already declared their intention to fight on rather than settle for half measures.

35. For better or (for) worse

1) Whether good or bad things happen.
不管怎样。
2) In the absence of many other ways of reducing immigration, the government will want to cling on
to the strict new rules, for better or worse.

36. First and foremost

1) At the most basic levels.
首先；首要的是。
2) In spite of being elected to office, she remains first and foremost a writer.
3) The Hugo who emerged from the book is a complex and astute populist. But he is first and
foremost a military man.

37. Add fuel to the fire/flames

1) To make an argument or a bad situation worse.
火上浇油。
2) The president has just added fuel to the fire by calling for reform to biofuel policies.

38. Come/get to grips with

1) To make an effort to understand and deal with a problem.
开始处理并着手处理。
2) As they come to grips with the prospect of much weaker demand in their home markets, importers
in the developed world are likely to make sudden downward adjustments to their desired inventory
levels, and will cut orders accordingly.

39. Middle ground

1) A position that is acceptable to many difficult people.
中间立场；折中办法。

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2) The ballet company new occupies the middle ground between classical ballet and modern dance.

40. Give something/somebody the go-ahead

1) To officially allow a planned project or activity to happen.
给予…许可。
2) The company has been given the go-ahead to build a new supermarket.

41. (wave a) Magic wand

1) A way to solve problems immediately.
迅速而简单的解决方法。
2) The US is fortunate that it can solve its talent problem with the wave of a magic wand, by simply
expanding the supply of visas to meet the demand.

42. Break the mould of

1) To change a situation completely by doing something that has not been done before.
打破模式，摆脱条条框框。
2) Unlike others of his generation, who broke the mould of literary form by experiencing modernism,
Foster’s genius was quieter.

43. Bear something/somebody out

1) To support the truth of something.
证实，证明。
2) Evidence bears out the idea that students learn best in small groups.
3) 拓展：证明
Back up something; corroborate; validate; substantiate

44. A glimmer/ray of hope

1) A little hope or something that gives you a little hope.
一丝希望。
2) He said that the study provides a glimmer of hope that coral roofs could withstand the effects of
ocean acidification.
3) This month’s sales figures offer a glimmer of hope for the depressed economy.

45. Take something with a pinch/grain of salt

1) To be doubtful about the truth or accuracy of something.
半信半疑。
2) The Big Mac numbers should be taken with a generous pinch of salt.
3) You have to take everything she said with a pinch of salt.

46. Put all your eggs in one basket

1) To depend for tour success on a single person or plan of action.
孤注一掷。
2) Having all your eggs in one basket can be a recipe for disaster—nowhere more so than business.

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47. Wreak havoc on; play havoc with

1) To cause very great harm or damage.
造成混乱、破坏。
2) When the bubble burst in 1990, bad debts brought the banking system close to collapse and the
nation fell into a decade deflation and recession. After living through such a trauma, he is adamant
that runaway investment should never again be allowed to wreak such havoc n the economy.

48. Open the door to

1) To make something possible.
使…成为可能。反义词：close/shut the door on
2) These discussions may well open the door to a peaceful solution.
3) A failure to agree on coordinating fiscal plans opens the door to forms of protectionism in stimulus
packages motivated by worries about stimulus benefits leaking abroad.

49. Weather/ride out the storm

1) To not be badly harmed or damaged during a difficult period of time.
渡过难关。
2) In the next few days, we shall see if the ambassador can weather the political storm caused by his
ill-advised remarks.

50. Something is a small price to pay

1) Something is worth suffering in order to achieve something more important.
为了…需要付出微小的代价。
2) At the moment, the process costs more than ten times as much as conventional mining, but some
countries might regard that as a small price to pay for security of supply.

51. Spiral out of control; put your shoulder to the wheel

1) To become worse in a way that cannot be controlled.
加剧恶化，失去控制。
2) With the inflation spiraling out of control, the country was close to economic close.

52. Roll up one’s sleeves

1) To prepare to work hard.
埋头苦干。
2) They are urging fathers to roll their sleeves up not so much to ease their wives’ burden but to
sharpen the child’s competitive edge.

53. For the sake of

1) For the purpose of or because of.
因为…的缘故；由于。
2) They expressed the hope that he would pursue a neutral and balanced policy for the sake of
national concord.

54. A trade-off between… and…

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1) A balance between two opposing things that you are willing to accept in order to achieve
something.
平衡，妥协，协调。
2) There ahs to be a trade-off between quality and quantity if we want to keep prices low.

55. Take/bear the brunt of

1) To receive the worst part of an attack, criticism or a bad situation.
承受主要压力；首当其冲。
2) The infantry has taken the brunt of the missile attacks.

56. Start from scratch/zero

1) To begin doing a job completely from the beginning.
从零开始。
2) Nothing like this had ever been done before, so we had to start from scratch.

57. Silver lining

1) A hopeful or comforting prospect in the midst of difficulty.
困境中的一线光明。
2) If there is a silver lining to losing my job, it is that I will now be able to go to school full-time and
finish my degree earlier.

58. Redress the balance

1) To change the situation in order to make things fair and equal.
恢复公平合理的情况。
2) Investigative journalism has been one of the first causalities of a cash-strapped media climate—
but a new website hopes to redress the balance.
3) Affirmative action was meant to redress the balance for minorities.

59. Beyond the reach of somebody

1) Beyond the capacity of someone to achieve something.
鞭长莫及。
2) Many believe that Chinese housing prices have soared well beyond the reach of ordinary people.

60. The path/line of least resistance

1) That way of doing something that causes the fewest problems.
阻力最小的办法（常常有贬义）。
2) They would rather take the line of last resistance than become involved in arguments.
3) Many people do not make changes because they are following the path of least resistance.

61. A hard/tough nut to crack

1) A difficult problem or situation.
棘手的问题。
2) Now that the finance system is a hard nut to crack, more hackers may turn their attention to the
health-care business instead.

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62. Keep/put something on ice/the back burner

1) To delay doing anything about a palm or idea.
暂时冻结、搁置。
2) The work was put on ice five years ago because of the huge cost of developing the technology that
was available at the time.
3) I lost my job and had to put my plans to move house on the back burner.

63. Lose sight of

1) Forget an important fact about a situation.
忘记、忽略。
2) Because mental illness is so hard to pin down and measure, it is easy to lose sight of how
debilitating it can be.

64. Take note of

1) To give attention to something.
留意到。
2) You should take careful note of what she tells you because she knows their strategy well.

65. Steer sight of

1) To avoid something or someone which seems unpleasant, risky or dangerous.
绕开，避开。
2) If you are a beginner, steer sight of resorts with reputations for difficult skiing.

66. Dispense with

1) To get rid oof someone or something because you do not need them.
免除，省去，不再使用；摒弃。
2) They have had to dispense with a lot of luxuries since Mike lost his job.

67. Boil down to

1) To be the main reason or the most basic part of something.
主要归结于；主要原因是。
2) It is difficult to choose which appliance to buy, but in the end, it usually boils down to cost.
3) It was a week when the 2016 presidential election appeared to boil down to a contest between
Trump and Clinton.

68. Next to impossible

1) Almost impossible.
极其困难；几乎不可能。
2) It is next to impossible to find somewhere cheap to live in the city center.

69. Something is only skin deep

1) Something is not important because it only affects the way things appear.
肤浅，仅仅涉及表面。

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2) After the first half-hour she realized that her new-found confidence was no more than skin deep.

70. All things considered

1) Think carefully about all the facts of a situation.
从各方面考虑。
2) She had a lot of problems since her husband died but she seems quite cheerful, all things
considered.

71. Fight tooth and nail

1) To fight and argue with energy and determination.
竭尽全力。
2) The banks have been in a fiercely competitive environment for years, battling each other tooth and
nail for market share.
3) We fought tooth and nail to get the route of the new road changed.

72. One way or another

1) In any way that is possible.
无论如何，不管怎样。
2) One way or another, the cautious Mrs. Merkel will now have to run risks. Deficit reduction is
popular in principle but will enrage lobbies. Health-care reform is no less important after the
election than it was before.
3) We have to make a decision one way or another about what need to be down.

73. Embark on/upon; get down to something; set about doing something
1) To start something new, difficult and exciting.
开始，着手做。
2) Armed with the right tools and materials, newlyweds gaily embark on the task of decorating their
own homes.
3) By insisting that nothing is amiss, they are also passing up an opportunity to embark on reforms
that would not only speed the economy’s recovery, but actually improve Italy’s productivity and
public finances.

74. Feel obliged to do

1) Have a duty to do something.
不得不做；有责任做。
2) Even the wealthy burghers of Monaco are feeling the pinch. At the mall the winter sales were still
in full swing in early February. Upmarket retailers such as Lacoste felt obliged to offer 50%
reductions.

75. Take the sting out of/take the edge off something
1) To make something less unpleasant or painful.
降低… 的严重程度；使平缓。
2) The new policy of shorting working hours will serve to take the string out of the pay cut.

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76. To a lesser extent/degree

1) Not as large, important or much as something else.
在较轻程度上。反义词：to a greater extent
2) No medication works in isolation but is affected to a greater or less extent by many other factors.

77. To/of no avail

1) To do something with little or no success.
毫无用处，无效果。
2) The doctor tried everything to keep him alive but to no avail.
3) He tried for almost two years to persuade the team to upgrade its service, to no avail.

78. Rise to the occasion/challenge

1) To show that you can deal with a difficult situation successfully.
成功应付；临危不乱。
2) In the exam she rose to the occasion and write an excellent essay.
3) Just when his supporters began to despair and his opponents began to smell blood, he would put
himself together and rise to the occasion.

79. With a vengeance

1) With great force or more effort than before.
过度地做；铺天盖地。
2) He has been working with a vengeance over the past few years to make up for the lost time.
3) The fire season has come much earlier than usual and with a vengeance fuelled by one of the driest
winters on record.

80. On the same page

1) Agreeing about something.
目标意见一致。
2) Make sure everyone is on the same page before you give your final answer.

81. Give somebody a blank cheque/check

1) To give someone permission to do whatever they think is necessary in a particular situation.
给予…自由处理权。
2) A state of war is not a blank cheque for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation’s
citizens.
3) He was, in a sense, given a blank cheque to negotiate.

82. Sit on the fence

1) To refuse to support either side in an argument.
骑墙（贬义）；观望。
2) The weakness of the book is that it sits on the fence on important issues.
3) Because the precious supporters now sit on the fence, the bill will have a tough passage.

83. Without/beyond remedy

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1) Nothing can be done to make something better.

不可救药，无法挽回。
2) Also, under scrutiny was this bill, whose ambiguousness, the researchers claim, is beyond remedy.

84. Do something to the bitter end

1) Continuing until the end, even if this is difficult.
做…不怕艰苦，坚持到底。
2) Last week he settled fraud lawsuits relating to the university for 2 billion, removing a legal
headache, despite pledged to fight the cases to the bitter end.

85. Get in the way of

1) To prevent something from happening.
阻止发生；妨碍。
2) He wouldn’t allow emotions to get in the way of him doing his job.

86. Have no option but to do something

1) To mot have the possibility of doing something else.
别无选择。
2) In economics as in geopolitics, many in ASEAN feel the countries of the region have no option
but to cling together.

87. Pin one’s hopes on

1) To rely on something/someone completely for success or help.
寄希望于。
2) Those keen to avoid conflicts over Iran’s nuclear ambitions now pin their hopes on diplomacy
toughened by sanctions.

88. Make the first move

1) To take action before anyone else.
首先采取行动。
2) Neither side seems prepared to make the first move towards reaching an agreement.
3) She is fancied him for ages, bur doesn’t want to make the first move.

89. Go out of one’s way to do

1) To try very hard to something, especially for someone else.
特别努力做某事。
2) They really went out their way to make us feel welcome by giving us the beat room in the house.

90. Against all odds

1) Despite something seeming very unlikely.
在极为不利的情况下；尽管困难重重。
2) There are few sights that tug at the heartstrings more than that of a desperately ill new baby. The
instinct is to protect the child against all odds.

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91. Wage war on

1) To be involved in a war against something or someone.
向…发动战争。
2) We continually wage war on the insects, for they contaminate our food, carry disease or devour
our crops.

92. Shy away from (doing) something; recoil from doing something
1) To avoid something that you dislike or do not feel confident about.
退避，畏缩。
2) They criticized the leadership, but shied away from a direct challenge.

93. Be a recipe for

1) To be likely to cause a particular bad result.
可能会造成。
2) She said that five small boys on skis was a recipe for disaster, not a holiday.

94. Hang by a thread

1) To be in a very dangerous situation.
形势危急，生命垂危。
2) The fragile peace was hanging by a thread as thousands of headliners took to the streets.
3) The residents of besieged east Aleppo have endured other day of uncertainty and fear as a truce
and evacuation agreement hung by a thread, with negotiators racing to recue a deal that could save
tens of thousands of lives.

95. Make common cause with somebody; join forces to do

1) To act together with someone in order to achieve something.
为了共同目标与某人合作。
2) Environment protestors have made common cause with local people to stop the motorway being
built.
3) She is remembered today as a handbag-swinger who commanded Brussels to retreat, but she also
knew how to make common cause with other leaders.

96. Be bent on doing; be intent on/upon doing

1) Completely determined to do something, especially something bad.
执意要做。
2) Textiles are a good bet for a country bent on industrialization.
3) But to dismay of Jack, a coalition of governments and sceptics seems bent on unravelling his work.

97. Be hard pressed/put to do something

1) To find it very difficult to do something.
某人做某事有困难。
2) You will be hard pressed to choose a single main course because so many are mouth-watering.

98. Wrestle with

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1) To try to understand or find a solution to a difficult problem.

绞尽脑汁，努力解决。
2) The government is wrestling with difficult economic problems.

99. Be in the same boat

1) To be in the same unpleasant situation as other people.
面临相同的困境。
2) People have more time to be friendly when business is slow. Some reckon the new cordiality
reflects a feeling that everyone is in the same boat.

100. be instrumental in doing something

1) to be important in making something happen.
对…起到重要作用。
2) Mary, a more self-effacing character than me, has sent mixed signals. She is instrumental in secure
the passage of the Lisbon treaty, which strengthens the EU’s role in justice and migration.

101. bring something into play; come into play

1) use something or make it have an effect.
使某物发挥作用。
2) All the recourse available were brought into play to cope with the crisis.
3) Personal feelings should not come into play when you are making decisions.
4) Four years later, on Gemini 8 for his first space venture, Armstrong brought his experience in to
play when spacecraft continued spinning after completing a docking manoeuvre.

102. bend/lean over backwards to do something

1) to try as hard as possible to help or please someone.
竭尽全力。
2) For the most part, European countries have bent over backwards to accommodate the sensibilities
of the newcomers.

竞争与对比类话题
1. Tip the balance/scales in favor of/against
1) To give a slight advantage to something or someone.
使某一方获得优势。
2) She was a good candidate, but lack of computer skills tipped the scales against her.
3) The survey of UK manufacturers, which also showed firms laying off staff for the first time in six
months, and a marked slowdown in firms’ raw materials costs and factory gate prices, could help
to tip the balance in favor of more quantitative easing.

2. Up to scratch
1) Good enough to meet a particular standard.
达到标准，符合要求。
2) We spend thousands of pounds getting the house up to scratch.
3) For the moment, GE is sticking to its many guns. Its ability to develop talented managers and run

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businesses well is not in question. It is unsentimental about getting rid of assets if their
performance is not up to scratch.

3. Be second to none
1) To be the best.
首屈一指。
2) The quality of Britain’s overseas aid program is second to none.

4. Do more harm to good

1) Cause more problems rather than improving the situation.
弊大于利。
2) A strong warning that austerity policies can do more harm than good have delivered by economists
from the IMF, in a critique of the neoliberal doctrine that has dominated economics for the past
three decades.

5. Nothing more than

1) To emphasize that something or someone is not at all important or impressive.
只不过，仅仅。
2) Her home was very grandly called a chateau, though in truth it was nothing more than a large
moated farm.
3) In the years after the 1929 crash, Wall Street, except for a few scoundrels, has largely escaped
broad condemnation, portraying itself guilty of nothing more than the same irrational exuberance
that had seized ordinary investors.

6. Come out on top; be in the lead/finish in first place

1) To win a difficult struggle or argument.
拔得头筹。
2) Exactly which sort of reptile would come out on top, however, was not something that was decided
until later—201.4m years ago, to be precise.

7. Put somebody/something to shame

1) To be much better than somebody or something.
让…自惭形秽、相形见绌。
2) Your beautiful handwriting puts my untidy scrawl to shame.
3) Once a year, Washington DC, receives a group of visitors who put the city’s resident politicians to
shame.

8. Have nothing to do with

1) To have no connection with something or someone.
毫不相干。
2) In the evening he likes to read the books which have nothing to do with his work.

9. Be at variance with
1) To be different from something or to be disagreement with someone or something.

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有分歧，存在差异。
2) Tradition and culture are often at variance with the modern living.
3) Young people’s reactions to world events are often at variance with those of their parents.
4) The idea that character is etched into an individual’s face is so much at variance with modern
notion of free will that research in the area dwindled long ago.

10. Be shy of
1) To have less than a particular amount of something.
不足，未达到所需数量。
2) She was one week shy of her 7th birthday.

11. Bear a close resemblance to

1) Be similar to something.
非常相似。
2) Investment bankers may hate to admit it, but traditionally they have borne some resemblance to
estate agents, match buyers and sellers of financial assets instead of houses and land and taking a
fee on the transaction.

12. Hold the aces/hold all the cards

1) To have the advantages in a situation so that you are sure to win.
占有绝对优势。
2) The Americans hold most of the aces in this technology.
3) Management holds all the cards when it comes to the negotiations over job cuts.

13. Be out of contention for

1) No longer have a chance of winning something.
失去获胜的机会。反义词：be in contention for
2) The decisive defeat put him out of contention for the championship.
3) He was in contention for a place in the league.

14. Be far removed from

1) To be very different from something.
截然不同。
2) Clinton’s speech was less bitter in its tone but also included a series of jokes not far removed from
the attack lines she had employed against Trump on the stump.

15. Be tied/bound up with

1) To be very closely related to something.
有紧密联系。
2) The social changes are inextricably bound up with the development in new technologies.
3) Since 1945, Japan’s national identity was tied up with economic primacy in Asia.

论述事物优点话题
1. …is an entry ticket to…; be a passport to…

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1) …是获得…的通行证。
2) While firms’ profits have soared, wages for the typical worker have barely budged. The middle
class—admittedly a vague term in America—feels squeezed. A college degree is no longer a
passport to ever-higher pay.

2. Welcome…with open arms

1) 热情欢迎。
2) In short, illegal immigrants are leaving LA for the same reasons most people do. The difference is
that their new neighbors ae unlikely to welcome them with open arms.

3. Clear/pave/open/prepare the way for

1) 为…扫清道路、创造条件。
2) Scientists hope that the data from the probe will pave the way for a more detailed exploration of
Mars.

4. Be a shining/prime example of
1) 成为典范。
2) The melting of ice caps is a prime example of the effects of global warming.

5. Have a high opinion of; think highly of

1) 对…评价很高。
2) Colombians do not have a high opinion of their judiciary.

6. Hold somebody/something in high regard/esteem

1) 对…很器重、评价很高。
2) George Washington was held in high regard by both Northerners and Southerners.

7. Look on the bright side of

1) 看到事物光明的一面。
2) Rode-tinted spectacles may be good for one’s health, as these results fit in with wider ideas about
how a tendency to look on the bright side of life is part of being resilient to stress.

8. Have high hopes for

1) 对…抱有很高的期望。
2) Ten years ago this month Panama took possession of the canal that bears its name. it has high
hopes for a $5.25billion expansion of the waterway.

9. Be of the utmost/paramount importance

1) 至关重要。反义词：be of secondary importance; be of little/no consequence
2) Women’s role as mothers is of paramount importance to society.

10. See/present something in a positive sight

1) 从积极的角度看待…
2) This may helps one to see the beauty and wisdom of the natural world in a much more positive

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sight.

论述事物缺点
1. There is nothing worse than
1) 没有比…更糟糕的事了。
2) There is nothing worse than trying to relax and eat a special meal only to find clouds of cigarette
smoke drifting over you.

2. Take a poor/dim view of; present something in a negative light

1) 对…不赞同、看不惯。
2) He always takes a dim view of democrats, accusing them of fomenting disorder and even of being
behind the scourge of elephant-poaching in his home region.

3. Leave a lot/something/much to be desired

1) 某事还有改进的空间。
2) Food seems to have been available, even if the quality left much to be desired.

4. Give something/somebody the thumbs down

1) 对…不赞同。
2) Plans to build a house on the site have been given the thumbs down by the Department of the
Environment.

5. To the detriment of
1) 不利于。
2) The odd thing about the conflicts over wind is that each side claims to be greener than the other.
Opponents say a unique landscape or seascape is being over shadowed, to the detriment of tourists
and residents alike.

6. Put/place somebody at a disadvantage

1) 使…处于不利地位。
2) The fact that he did not speak a foreign language put him at a disadvantage.

7. Something doesn’t amount to much

1) 没有多少价值。
2) Although these proclamations look impressive on paper, they have not amounted to much in
practice.

比较
1. The pros and cons of (doing) something
1) 做…的利与弊。
2) We were just weighing up the pros and cons of moving to a bigger house.

2. On the minus/debit side…on the plus/credit side…

1) 从坏的方面来看…从好的方面来看…

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2) On the minus side, the job does not pay well; but on the plus side, the work is easy.

3. Be a mixed blessing
1) 好坏都有、喜忧参半的事物。
2) Working in a big city is a mixed blessing. It is convenient and comfortable there, but noise
pollution and traffic congestion are two big headaches.

4. At the other end of the scale/spectrum

1) 与之相反。
2) Some teenagers are just a nuisance, but at the other end of the scale there are kids who pose a real
threat.

5. Be a matter of (personal) taste/choice/preference/opinion

1) 是个人口味、选择、喜好、观点的问题。
2) Both performances were excellent. It is dimply a matter of opinion as to whose was better.

6. Be no different from
1) 没有区别；无异于。
2) The publishing business is no different from any other business in this respect.

7. Be a matter for debate; be open to debate

1) …尚待讨论，有待商榷。
2) Whether he deserves what has happened to him is a matter for debate.

8. Opinion is divided as to…

1) 意见不一致。
2) Opinion is divided as to whether the treatment actually works.

9. Not come near

1) 比不上…
2) None of the other word-processing program comes near this one.

10. Judge/consider something on its own merits.

1) 根据事物的实际情况判断考虑。
2) You must judge each film on its own merits, without any preconceived notions about what it is
like.

11. Not be in the same league (as…)

1) 不在同一个级别上。
2) Her latest films are quite watchable but it is nit in the same league as her first two epics.

12. Receive/meet with a mixed reception

1) 意见不一，褒贬不一。
2) Her latest album has met with a mixed reception from fans.

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13. Weigh…against…
1) 认真考虑，权衡利弊。
2) We have to weigh the benefits of the scheme against the costs.

14. Be tantamount to
1) 几乎等同于，无异于。
2) Her refusal to answer was tantamount to an admission of guilt.
3) The acrimony was aired on October 4th at a meeting organized by the Royal Society at Chicheley
Hall. Those opposed to METI argue that broadcasting signals into space announcing the location
of Earth is tantamount to ringing a dinner gong for many carnivorous, colonizing or anti-social
aliens who might be listening.

15. Be nothing/little short of

1) 毫不逊色于…
2) Second, and little short of miraculous, was the way in which he engineered and oversaw South
Africa’s transformation from a byword for nastiness and narrowness into, at least in intent, a
rainbow nation in which people, no matter what their color, were entitled to be treated with respect.

16. Have no parallel/be without parallel

1) 无可匹敌。
2) These beautiful African churches have no parallel in Europe.

17. Pale into insignificance

1) 相形见绌。
2) The amounts of money pale into insignificance when compared with the sums spent each year on
research.
3) But such shortcomings—and South Africa’s fallings since his retirement from active politics—
pale into insignificance when set against the magnitude of overall achievement.

18. It is hard/difficult to overestimate something

1) 非常重要，不可低估。
2) It is hard to overestimate the potential gains from this process.
s
19. Be of secondary importance
1) 处于次要地位。
2) Sometimes we forget that the media coverage of a sport is actually of secondary importance to the
event itself.

20. Be in stark/sharp contrast to

1) 与…形成鲜明对比。
2) The amount spent on defence is a stark contrast to that spent on housing and health.

21. Be on a par with

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1) 与…处于相同水准。
2) The wages of clerks were on a par with those of manual workers.

22. …nowhere near as…as…

1) 远不及。
2) The chair he set in was nowhere near as comfortable as the custom-designed one behind.
3) India’s growth rate has almost certainly increased but it is still nowhere near as high as China’s.

23. Bring/throw something into sharp relief

1) 使…格外引人注目。
2) Their difference has been thrown into sharp relief by the present crisis.
3) The article throws into sharp relief the difference between the two theories.

24. Draw a parallel with/between

1) 对…进行比较。
2) It would be easy to draw a parallel between the town’s history and that of its football club.

1. Lie/be at the root/heart of

1) …是…的根本原因。
2) At the rot of this debate about the durability of the gold-price rally are different beliefs about the
future path of demand and supply.
3) Two questions are at the root of the conflict. The first is whether patients who are able to make
decisions about their own treatment should sometimes be compelled to take medication. The
second is people with illnesses that may not respond to treatment should be forced to try anyway.

2. Smooth the way/path for

1) 为…铺平道路。
2) Their talks are aimed at smoothing the path towards a treaty to limit long-range weapons.

3. Lay/provide the basis/foundations for

1) 为…打下基础。
2) Mandela helped to lay the foundations for a new democratic South Africa.

4. Somebody can ill afford (to do) something

1) 某人难以承担做某事的后果。
2) As its economic competitiveness erodes, eastern Europe can ill afford bad government.

5. There is no magic formula for doing something

1) 做某事没有捷径。
2) There is no magic formula for passing exams—only hard work.

6. It is high time somebody did something

1) 到了某人做某事的时候了。
2) It is high time that the government displayed a more humanitarian approach towards victims of

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the recession.

7. Be at/pushed into the forefront of public debate

1) …在公众讨论的最前沿。
2) Prison conditions have been pushed to the forefront of public debate.

8. Fault/blame/responsibility lies with

1) （错误、问题、责任）在于…
2) The problem also lies with the byzantine pension system of overlapping records and faulty
databases.
3) The moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.

9. Whether…is a moot point

1) 仍有争议，尚未达成统一意见。
2) Whether the temperature rise is mainly due to the greenhouse effect is a moot point.

10. There is a mismatch/discrepancy between…and…

1) …和…之间存在不匹配的地方。
2) The points to a deeper mismatch between the nation’s training system and its swiftly evolving
economy, one that is especially acute in fields like technology.

11. Tell/be only part of the story/not the whole story

1) 不是事情的全部。
2) Poverty and inequality statistics, of course, tell only part of the story. There are many aspects of
the well-being of the poor not captured by measures of money income.

12. Evidence bears out ideas that

1) 有证据表明。
2) Evidence bears out the idea that students learn best in small groups.

13. It is incumbent upon/on somebody to do something; it is up to someone to do something; the

onus is on somebody to do something.
1) 做某事是某人的责任。
2) It is incumbent on all users of this equipment to familiarize themselves with the safety procedure.

14. Issues/problems have come to the fore…; be in the foreground

1) …成为公众关注的焦点。
2) Education has been very much in the foreground.
3) Various ecological issues have come to the fore since the discovery of the hole in the earth’s ozone
layer.

15. There has been an increasing awareness that

1) 人们越来越清楚地认识到…
2) There has been an increasing awareness that many people are affected by crime.

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16. Be a testimony to
1) …是…的一个清楚的证明。
2) Her living room is also her office, filled with desks, books and papers, a testimony to her
dedication to her work.

17. Up to a point
1) 在某种程度上。
2) Of course, there is some truth in all this, but only up to point.

18. On the one hand/level…on the other hand/level…

1) 一方面…另一方面…
2) On the one hand, if the body does not have enough cholesterol, we would not be able to survive.
On the other hand, if the body has too much cholesterol, the excess begins to line the arteries.

19. In tune with

1) 与…协调一致。
2) Her theories were out of tune with the scientific thinking of the time.
3) Much of his success comes from being in tune with what his customers want.

20. Be not a panacea for…/be no panacea; there is no silver bullet for

1) 不是万能灵药。
2) The bills are no panacea, and privacy concerns remain an issue, but progress was evident before
the recess.

21. It is in one’s (best) interests to do something

1) 做某事对某人最有利。
2) The court decided that it was in the girl’s best interests to remain with her grandparents.

22. Because…has no single solution, it must be fought on many fronts.

1) 因为对于…没有单一的解决方法，所以需要从多方面攻克它。
2) Because antimicrobial resistance has no single solution, it must be fought on many fronts.

23. On the face of it…; at first glance

1) 从表面上看。
2) On the face of it, business executives and Formula One drivers have nothing in common, other
than the fact that they do their jobs sitting down.

24. Much thought is being given these days to…

1) 目前人们对…有很多思考。
2) Much thought is being given these days to the shape of post-war politics in Iraq.

25. Be high on the agenda/be top of the agenda; be at the top of a list
1) …是首先考虑的问题。

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2) The subject of safety must be placed high on the agenda.

3) High on the agenda of tomorrow’s meeting will be the turmoil in Japan.

26. …be in the limelight

1) 成为公众关注的焦点。
2) She has been in the limelight recently, following the release f her controversial new film.

27. …has received much publicity

1) 受到了很大的关注。
2) Standards in education have received much publicity over the last few years.

28. Square…with…
1) 使…和…相协调。
2) Tech giants like Baidu and Alibaba should learn to square their interests with those of consumers.

29. Somebody will be well advised to do something

1) 某人做某事很明智；某人应该做某事。
2) You would be well advised to tackle this problem urgently.

30. There is mounting evidence that…

1) 越来越多的证据表明。
2) There is mounting evidence that people whose diets are rich in vitamins are less likely to develop
some types of cancer.

其他句型
1. It is one thing to…, another thing to…
1) 对比两种想法，行动等，强调第二种。
2) It is one thing being able to run fast, but quite another to win a marathon.
3) It was one thing to talk about leaving; it was another to physically, walk out the door.

2. Not so much…but/as…
1) 与其说是…不如说是……
2) A good birth depends not so much on who you are but where you are and how much you know.
3) As with most pleasures, it is not so much the experience itself as the anticipation that is enjoyable.

3. Lend credence to; add weight to

1) 增加…的可信度。
2) Good studies are needed to lend credence to the notion that genuine progress can be made in this
important field.
3) He helps to lend credence to this view in part because he is an old and respected hand in the old
business.

4. Not to mention
1) 更不必说。

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2) He has ten bi houses in this country, not to mention his villa in France.
3) Pollution has a negative effect on the health of everyone living in the city, not to mention the
damage to the environment.

5. Do something to the exclusion of something

1) 专注于做某事而排斥、无暇顾及…
2) He spent all his time colleagues to the exclusion of his family.

6. At best…at worst…
1) 往好里说是…往坏里说是…
2) Choosing the right software can be time-consuming at best and confusing at worst.
3) Intuitively one might expect such a scientific wonder either to sweep all before it or be renounced,
rather than end up in a modest niche, at best stable, at worst dwindling.

7. Gone are the days when…

1) …的日子已经一去不复返了。
2) Gone are the days when work was just a stopgap between leaving school and getting married.

8. Take it for granted that…

1) 认为…理所当然。
2) He seemed to take it for granted that he should speak as a representative.

9. It is customary/common practice for somebody to do something

1) …做某事是惯例。
2) It was common practice for prisoners to carve objects from animal bones to pass the time.

10. It is self-evident that…

1) …是显而易见、不言自明的。
2) It is self-evident that childhood experiences must have a profound effect upon our beliefs about
ourselves.

11. It is commonplace/not uncommon for somebody to do something

1) 某人做某事并不罕见。（双重否定）
2) It is not uncommon for people to become ill when they travel.

12. Not least because

1) 尤其是因为；一个重要的原因是…
2) German higher education has long been almost entirely a state-run affair, not least because
universities were meant to produce top civil servants.

13. Feel honor bound to do something

1) 觉得在道义上有义务做某事。
2) She felt honor bound to attend as she had promised to.

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14. To say that…is to make it seem that…

1) …这么说就相当于…
2) To say that universities should merely provide students with employment skills is to make it seem
that theoretical knowledge is of secondary importance.

15. To name but a few

1) 略举几个例子，不一而足。
2) This is a feature of languages such as Arabic, Spanish and Chinese, to name but a few.

16. Be that as it may

1) 即便如此。
2) Building a new children’s home will cost a lot of money but, be that as it may, there is an urgent
need for the facility.
3) Perhaps there is not a single system that will work for everyone. Be that as it may, we all need
order in our lives.

17. In view of
1) 考虑到，由于。
2) In view of the fact that he was not a trained economist, his achievements were remarkable.

18. Just as …so…

1) 正如…，…也一样。
2) However, just as fast growth marked underlying strains, so China’s disappointing growth has
obscured two encouraging trends that may matter hugely for China’s future.

19. To put it another way

1) 换言之。
2) He was too trusting—or, to put it another way, he had no head for business.

20. Be of the opinion that

1) 认为，主张。
2) They were obviously of the opinion that his taste was not quite the thing.

21. Draw/make an analogy between…and…

1) 作类比。
2) He draws an analogy with the internet: only when it had been widely adopted in the rich world
were websites such as Facebook able to take off.

22. Contrary to popular belief/opinion

1) 与普遍的看法、观点相反。
2) Contrary to popular belief, moderate exercise actually decreases your appetite.

23. All (other) thing being equal

1) 如果其他条件不变；如无意外发生。

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2) All things being equal, most tenants would prefer single to shared rooms.

24. (the) Conventional/received wisdom

1) 普遍的看法，传统的观念。
2) Conventional wisdom has it that women are more emotional than men, but in my experience, it
often is not the case.

25. Less because of…than because of…

1) 与其说是因为…还不如说是因为…
2) He survived only at the discretion of his colleagues, and less because of his virtues than because
of the risks of ditching him.

26. Coupled with (the fact that…)

1) 加上…的情况。
2) Overproduction, coupled with falling sales, has led to huge losses for the company.
3) This, couples with the fact that flying machines remained universally a subject for jeers and
derision, made the brothers secretive.

27. In the case of

1) 关于，在…的情况下。
2) The law will apply equally to men and women except in the case of maternity leave.

28. To make matters worse

1) 使情况更糟的是。
2) The team has lost the last two games and, to make matters worse, two of its best players are injured.

29. Among…stand out

1) 在…中，有…特别突出。
2) Among his many achievements, two stand out.

30. Suffice (it) to say

1) 无需多说，只要说…就够了。
2) Suffice to it say that they were not considered suitable for the project.
3) Suffice to it say, he won’t be going to her party after what he said about her to her boss.

31. Safe/secure in the knowledge that

1) 因为知道…而放心。
2) You can let your kids play here, safe in the knowledge that they will not get sunburn.
3) She began to photograph the documents, safe in the knowledge that she would not be disturbed
for at least one hour.

32. Scarcely/hardly a day/week/month goes by without…

1) 几乎每天/周/月都…
2) Hardly a week goes by without a new reason to be gloomy about the dollar.

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33. Not since…has…

1) 自从…之后还没有…
2) Not since The Elements of Style has there been a guide to writing as well presented and readable
as this one.
3) Not since this illness was discovered in 1906 has there been a more crucial year than 2007 in our
efforts against this mind-killer.

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