知识加油站－词汇天地

lspjy

015degree







give someone the third degree
If someone, especially a policeman or person in authority, gives you the third degree, they ask you a lot of questions in an aggressive manner in order to make you confess to something.

He gives me the third degree and wants me to account for where all the money is.

Surely, she thought, they were supposed to read you your rights before they gave you the third degree.

lspjy

016dirt







dig up dirt
dig for dirt
dig the dirt
If you say that one person is digging up dirt on another, you mean that the first is trying to find out something that may cause harm to the second. You can also say that someone is digging for dirt, or, in British English, that they are digging the dirt.

They hired a detective firm to dig up dirt on rival.

Scoop-hungry reporters have done everything from going through trash cans digging for dirt on celebrities to paying prostitutes to lure Members of Parliament into compromising positions.

You can describe this activity as dirt-digging.

the a dirt-digging James is framed by a corrupt district attorney and sentenced for manslaughter.

dish the dirt
If you say that one person dishes the dirt on another, you disapprove of the way that the first person spreads stories about the second, especially when they say things that may embarrass or upset that person, or damage their reputation.

Many politicians who maintain that their private lives are their own, are not above dishing the dirt on a fellow politician, if it suits their own political or personal purposes.

In his autobiography Life Is Too was no worse than many of the screen icons of his age. Eight wives on and nudging 80, he has treasured memories of his relationships with the beautiful Ava Gardner and the tragic Judy Garland. the singer, dancer, comedian, and actor holds nothing back. He dishes the dirt on his buddies and smudges his own shoes with admissions of womanising, gambling, and drugs.

People sometimes describe this activity as dirt-dishing.

Some publishers believe that by speaking out as he did, has pushed up the potential value of any dirt-dishing memoirs he cares to write.

do someone dirt   
do the dirt on someone
If someone has done you dirt or has done the dirt on you, they have betrayed you or treated you very badly. This expression is used in American English; the British expression is do the dirty on someone.

They tell me you have done me dirt. Tell me it ain't true.

There is an unofficial biography out of Nancy Reagan which is doing the dirt on her all over the place.

lspjy

017divide







divide and conquer

divide and rule
If someone in power follows a policy of divide and conquer or divide and rule, they stay in power by making sure that the people under their control quarrel among themselves and so cannot unite to achieve their aims and overthrow their leader. `Divide and rule' is used only in British English.

The same principle of divide and conquer that the Roman Empire used so effectively was applied once again by Yugoslavia's occupiers in 1941.

Trade unions are concerned that management may be tempted into a policy of divide and rule by cultural divisions.

Part of the ruling class's divide and rule policy is promoting barriers between sexes, races, sexualities, nations.

When someone is following one of these policies, you can say that they are dividing and conquering or dividing and ruling.

The Summit sends a very strong message to him that he's not going to divide and conquer.

lspjy

018dog







die like a dog   
If someone dies like a dog, they die in a painful and undignified way, usually after they have been shot or injured in a violent fight. This is an old-fashioned expression.

film begins with our chic hero stealing cars and ends with him dying like a dog in the street.

a dog and pony show
If you refer to an event as a dog and pony show, you mean that it is very showy because it has been organized in order to impress someone. This expression is used mainly in American English.

I'm bombarding him and the others with charts, graphs, facts, and figures. responds by dozing off during most of our dog and pony show.

The first step in Florida, as in most states, is the governor's office applying for a share of federal grant money. If, months later, the money is granted, state agencies spend more months putting on `dog and pony shows' in hopes of getting a share.

dog-eat-dog
You use dog-eat-dog to describe a situation in which everyone wants to succeed and is willing to harm other people or to use dishonest methods in order to do this.

In the 1992 campaign, that if it was going to be `dog eat dog' he would do anything it took to get himself re-elected.

The TV business today is a dog-eat-dog business.

dog-in-the-manger
If you say that someone has a dog-in-the-manger attitude, you are criticizing them for selfishly wanting to prevent other people from using or enjoying something that they cannot use or enjoy themselves.

I think there'll be a certain group of intransigent Republicans who'll take a dog-in-the-manger kind of attitude and that try to frustrate anything the president wants to achieve.

The council has an ambivalent attitude to the Carnival. On the one hand it has a high regard for its tourist benefits, but on the other does not want it to the thunder too too high a . It's a dog-in-the-manger attitude which has taken the fun out of a great event.

a dog's breakfast
a dog's dinner
If you refer to a situation, event, or piece of work as a dog's breakfast or a dog's dinner, you mean that it is chaotic, badly organized, or very untidy. These expressions are used in British English.

The act created what many admitted was an over-complex but inadequate regulate the selling of life assurance, personal pensions and unit . One senior regulator described it as a dog's breakfast.

Now she's having to watch as those whom she grew up with in politics are in Cabinet and making a dog's breakfast of it.

The whole place was a bit of a dog's dinner, really.

every dog has its day   
If you say `every dog has its day', you mean that everyone will be successful or lucky at some time in their life. This expression is sometimes used to encourage someone at a time when they are not having any success or luck.

Former England Davies said: `Every dog has his day, although the way I kicked throughout the game, who would have thought that drop goal would even reach the posts?'

`I don't have any money to fight him. These people are all the time in court, anyway,' Cecchini says. every dog has its day I have lots of patience.'

it's a dog's life   
People say `it's a dog's life' when they are complaining that their job or situation is unpleasant or boring.

It's a dog's life being a football manager.

you can't teach an old dog new tricks   
If you say `you can't teach an old dog new tricks', you mean that it is often difficult to get people to try new ways of doing things, especially if these people have been doing something in a particular way for a long time.

It is a convenient myth that a person cannot change their personality. Or as the saying leopard cannot change his spots' `You can't teach an old dog new tricks'.

This expression is often varied. For example, if you say `you can teach an old dog new tricks', you mean that it is possible to get people to try new ways of doing something.

Our work shows that you can teach an old dog new tricks.

An old dog can learn new tricks if he has both the will and the opportunity.

lspjy

019dollars







to doughnuts
If you say that it is dollars to doughnuts that something will happen, you are emphasizing that you are certain it will happen. This expression is used mainly in American English.

It's dollars to doughnuts that the bank of the future will charge more for its services.

Well, I'll bet you, Alex, almost dollars to donuts that I'll wake up at 3am, as I do every morning now.

look a million dollars
feel like a million dollars
If someone looks a million dollars, they look extremely attractive and well-dressed. If someone feels like a million dollars, they feel very healthy and happy.

She looked a million dollars when she got off the plane.

Casual trousers, comfortable shoes, immaculate hair. He looks a million dollars.

After all my injury problems I now feel a million dollars.

It was the most relaxed I've felt in ages. I felt like a million dollars.

lspjy

020dream







a dream ticket
If two people are considered a dream ticket, they are expected to work well together and have a great deal of success. This expression is usually used to refer to people who are well known, for example politicians or actors. It is used mainly in British journalism.

The move raised the prospect of a `dream ticket' of Tony Blair as leader and John Prescott as his deputy.

It should have been Hollywood's dream ticket: husband and wife Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman starring together in a romantic blockbuster movie.

like a dream
If you do something like a dream, you do it very well. If something happens like a dream, it happens successfully and without any problems.

She had noticed, from across the dance floor, that he danced like a dream.

Wilson, an eminent American biologist who has done more than anyone else to popularise the notion of biodiversity, writes like a dream.

The first stages of installation worked like a dream. Then the procedure threw up an error message.

lspjy

021drop







at the drop of a hat
If you do something at the drop of a hat, you do it willingly and without hesitation. This expression is often used to suggest that someone does not think carefully enough about their actions.

Part of the answer is having officers on both foot and mobile patrols, and more people sorting out their own minor problems and not calling the police at the drop of a hat.

There is a myth that we are a uniquely uncaring generation, shoving our old folk into institutions at the drop of a hat.

a drop in the ocean
a drop in the bucket
If you say that something, especially an amount of money, is a drop in the ocean or a drop in the bucket, you mean that it is very small in comparison with the amount which is needed or expected, so that its effect is insignificant. `A drop in the bucket' is used mainly in American English.

The size of the grants have been attacked by welfare groups as merely a drop in the ocean.

For West Germany, the Albanian refugees are a drop in the ocean compared to the three thousand East Germans who used to arrive here every day.

It's a tax on what's considered unhealthy habits, like cigarettes and alcohol, it wouldn't unfortunately it wouldn't raise a lot of money. It would be a drop in the bucket, really.