知识加油站－词汇天地

lspjy

008club







join the club
When someone has been telling you about their problems or about their feelings, you can say `join the club' to indicate that you have had the same experiences or feelings.

Confused? Then join the club.

The Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens gave the game away. `I am having difficulty knowing what today's debate is about,' he said. Join the club, Geoffrey.

lspjy

009card







a calling card
If you describe what someone possesses or has achieved as a calling card, you mean that it gives them a lot of opportunities which they would not otherwise have had.

Some cabinet ministers, comparing their likely pension with their lifestyle, are tempted to look for jobs in the City while their present status remains a calling card.

Gary a former Trupin says Mr. Trupin used the New York magazine cover story about him as `his calling card'.

Despite the temptation to make low-budget films only as Hollywood calling cards, one director has remained true to the independent spirit, that is to making the film he wants to make.

a wild card
You describe someone or something as a wild card when they cause uncertainty, because nobody knows how they will behave or what effects they will have.

The Cossacks are the wild card in Kazakhstan. Armed and of Russian freebooters whom the tsars allowed to push Russia's frontiers outwards in return for a measure of they claim a million supporters and demand official recognition as a paramilitary force.

One wild card in the situation is the recent election of Jean a Quebecois and an ardent advocate of Canadian as the leader of the opposition Liberal Party.

lspjy

010carpet







on the carpet
call someone on the carpet
In British English, if someone is on the carpet, they are in trouble for doing something wrong. In American English, you say that they are called on the carpet.

The 22-year-old bad boy of English cricket was on the carpet again this week for storming out of the ground when told a Middlesex committee to wear one of the club's sponsored shirts.

In my hospital, if I ever allowed a nurse or a technician to work alongside me without wearing gloves, I'd be called on the carpet immediately for not protecting our staff.

roll out the red carpet
If you roll out the red carpet for someone, especially someone famous or important, you give them a special welcome and treat them as an honoured guest.

The red carpet was rolled out for Mr Honecker during his visit to Bonn in 1987.

The museum staff rolled out the red carpet; although it was a Sunday, the deputy director came in especially to show us round.

You can also say that someone receives red carpet treatment or a red carpet welcome.

Castro says he's open to any business proposition from abroad, and last week he gave the red carpet treatment to some of Spain's most right-wing business people.

Yeltsin arrived in Rome this morning to a red carpet welcome by Italian officials.

sweep something under the carpet
If you sweep something under the carpet, you try to hide it and forget about it because you find it embarrassing or shameful. Other verbs such as `brush' and `push' are sometimes used instead of `sweep'. This expression is used mainly in British English; the usual American expression is sweep something under the rug.

People often assume if you sweep something under the carpet the problem will go away, but that is not the case.

The problem has been brushed under the carpet for decades.

lspjy

011corners







cut corners
If you cut corners, you save time, money, or effort by not following the correct procedure or rules for doing something.

Don't try to cut any corners as you'll only be making work for yourself later on.

We have to cut corners in order to keep the discussion reasonably clear.

He accused the Home Office of trying to save money by cutting corners on security.

You can refer to this activity as corner cutting.

It was the Chief Inspector for Police who said that the present working culture was `shot through with corner cutting and expediency'.

Corner-cutting contractors build tiny classrooms and narrow corridors.

the four corners of the world
the four corners of the earth
You can use the four corners of the world or the four corners of the earth to refer to all the different parts of the world, especially the parts that are the furthest away from you. Other nouns referring to areas of land can be used instead of `world' or `earth'.

A foreign correspondent makes his friends in all four corners of the world.

Italy has sent 5,000 soldiers to the four corners of the earth to play their part in peace-keeping and crisis-management operations.

Young people came from the four corners of the nation in search of new ideas.

lspjy

012country







go to the country
If a head of government or a government goes to the country, they hold a general election. This expression is used in British English.

The Prime Dr is about to call snap elections even though he doesn't have to go to the country for another year.

lspjy

013cows







until the cows come home  
If you say that you could do something until the cows come home, you mean that you could do it for a very long time.

You can initiate policies until the cows come home, but unless they're monitored at a senior level, you won't get results.

Your child will enjoy this lively tape till the cows come home!

lspjy

014even







don't get mad, get even
If someone says `don't get mad, get even', they mean that if someone harms you, you should not waste your energy on being angry, but concentrate on harming them in return. Compare get even.

It's a case of don't get mad, get even. Mark Leavis wasn't too happy after Judge Carol Shapiro didn't give him what he wanted in his divorce. So a few hours after the ruling, the Seattle lawyer filed to run against the judge in her bid for a second term on the bench.

get even  
If you get even with someone who has hurt or insulted you, you get your revenge on them. Compare don't get mad, get even.

He is so incensed by what he considers shabby treatment that he's determined to get even.

He'd leapt at this chance to get even with the scum who had killed his sister.

He hasn't kept his side of their that and she means to get even with him.