知识加油站－词汇天地

lspjy

029genie







the genie is out of the bottle
let the genie out of the bottle
put the genie back in the bottle
If something has been done or created which has made a great and permanent change in people's lives, especially a change which people regret, you can say that the genie is out of the bottle or that someone has let the genie out of the bottle.

I would say get the criminals off the street rather than get the guns off the street because I think the genie's out the bottle. You can't get all the guns off the street.

If came to believe that parliament was too disruptive, he might dissolve it and call new elections. But having let the democratic genie out of the bottle, he has to be careful.

People often vary this expression, for example by saying that you cannot put the genie back in the bottle.

We cannot unlearn what we know. We cannot put the genie of knowledge back in its bottle of secrecy and mystery.

For a generation, the world's nuclear powers have talked about restraining the nuclear `genie' in its bottle.

lspjy

030God







play God
If you say that someone is playing God, you are criticizing them for behaving as if they have unlimited power and can do anything that they want.

insisted that the government should not play God: the market should decide what industries should set up.

These are intelligent people whose response to physicians who yelled and tried to play God was to walk out on treatment.

lspjy

031guest







be my guest
You say `be my guest' to someone when you are giving them permission to do something, or inviting them to do something. This expression is sometimes used in a sarcastic way. For example, you might use it to invite someone to do something difficult or unpleasant.

`Dad,' she in a tone that signified that a request was on the. `Tomorrow, I want to go swimming.' I indicated the cool, clear water before us. `Be my guest,' I said.

`Taking care of Pop, eh?' `You want to take care of him? Be my guest.'

lspjy

032hay







make hay while the sun shines
make hay
If you make hay while the sun shines, you take advantage of a good situation which is not likely to last.

Making hay while the sun shines, the Egyptian government has taken radical measures to liberalise the economy.

You've got to make hay while the sun shines and it doesn't shine long in a sporting life.

This expression is often varied.

were determined to make hay while we could.

You can say that someone makes hay out of any situation that they take advantage of, especially if you disapprove of their behaviour.

There are unscrupulous therapists who will try to make hay out of the government's new-found interest in alternative medicine.

The New Zealand media made hay with the issue.

lspjy

033history







be history
If you say that an event, thing, or person is history, you mean that they are no longer important, relevant, or interesting. This expression is used mainly in spoken English.

He sometimes wonders if he made the right choice the age of 12 when he decided to give up football. which he represented Surrey as a `I might have made it in football, but that's all history now.'

If you forget to do your homework, you're out -- fail to pay attention, you're history.

The Charlottetown agreement is history.

the rest is history
If you are telling someone about an event and you say the rest is history, you mean that you do not need to say any more because you are sure that everyone is familiar with what happened next.

A job with the was advertised in The Daily Telegraph. I applied and the rest is history.

After Saint medical discharge, Berge, a failed painter who had transformed himself into a business manager for the artist Bernard hospital, he persuaded to start his own house, which he did in 1961. The rest is history.

After a few more secretarial jobs, she wrote to Brown editor Tatler. suppose that Tina might not have given me a chance if she had not known my parents,' says Shulman. She wrote one piece for them, was offered a staff job and the rest, as they say, is history.

lspjy

034home







at home1
If you feel at home in a particular situation, you feel relaxed, comfortable, and happy.

Suddenly Alice's doubts left her. She felt relaxed and at home. She went over to the bookcase and started looking at the titles.

Four Croatian girls began school in Berkshire yesterday after being brought to Britain from a Bosnian refugee They were greeted by teachers and pupils and each allocated a `special friend" to help them through their first days at Hungerford primary school. Shirley The head teacher said, `They seem to be quite at home and I'm sure they will settle in very well after all the excitement dies down.'

Melanie is equally at home singing oratorio, spirituals, jazz or performing in musical theatre.

Whatever scenes he had to play were always shot with the minimum number of takes. From the day we arrived he was completely at home with the camera.

at home2
If someone or something looks at home somewhere, they look as if it is normal, natural, or appropriate for them to be there.

Bulging muscles are packed into every inch of her frame. The 16-year-old's huge shoulder and arm muscles would look more at home on a male hammer thrower.

Le Moulin's painted chairs with cane or rush seats are typically French, but would look quite at home an English country kitchen.

bring home the bacon1   
The person in a family who brings home the bacon is the person who goes out to work and earns enough money for the family to live on.

The question `Who brings up the baby and who brings home the bacon?' will, increasingly in coming years, be the most important of all political questions.

If divorces were rare in the past, it wasn't because husbands and wives loved each other more in the old times, but because husbands needed someone to cook and keep house, wives needed someone to bring home the bacon, and children needed both parents in order to eat, sleep, and get a start in the world.

bring home the bacon2   
In sport, if someone brings home the bacon, they win or do very well. This expression is used mainly in journalism.

But Reid and Duffield showed that, given the right horsepower, they and many more less fashionable jockeys like them are equally capable of bringing home the bacon in style.

fact is, Mansell continues to bring home the bacon.

bring something home to someone
If you bring something such as a problem, danger, or situation home to someone, you make them fully aware of how serious or important it is. Verbs such as `drive', `press', and `hammer' are often used instead of `bring'.

I think it is grossly irresponsible that a bar such as this should serve people with alcohol when they are clearly intoxicated. I believe the police should consider bringing a prosecution against them.' He added: `A tragedy like tragic brings it home to people in the drinks trade just how dangerous alcohol can be.

It was beginning to be brought home to me how very rash I had been.

He will drive home the message that heterosexuals cannot continue to dismiss AIDS as a disease of the poor, the gay and drug-addicted.

The current drought has hammered home the point that trying to raise cattle in a fragile habitat with low rainfall is not viable.

close to home
If you say that a remark is close to home, you mean that it makes people feel uncomfortable or upset because it is about a sensitive or very personal subject.

I just finished listening to Susan Stamberg's piece on young, fat people attending camp near New York. The message it conveyed struck so hard and so close to home it moved me to tears.

The spectacle touched too close to home for a man whose grandparents had died in the Holocaust.

hit a home run   
If someone hits a home run, they do something that is very successful. This expression is used in American English.

On Wall Street, was considered a minor leaguer whose client list occasionally enabled him to hit a home run.

Bartlett Giamatti, Professor of English at Rhyme's Reason: A Guide to English Verse,' Yale, 96 pages, hits a home run here with his memoir of encounters with W.H. Auden over many years.

hit home
strike home
If a situation or what someone says hits home or strikes home, people realize that it is real or true, even though it may be painful for them to accept it.

In many cases the reality of war doesn't hit home with reservists until they're actually called upon to fight.

Whether we all agreed with the feminist movement or not, some of the messages it preached hit home.

The severity of the situation struck home last week when hundreds of including some from elite, British-trained units stationed around Maputo, the mutinied because they had received no pay for nine months and no food for two.

home and dry
home and hosed
If you say that someone is home and dry in a contest or other activity, you mean that they have achieved victory or success, or that you are certain that they will achieve it. This expression is used mainly in British English.

I was watching with Mark he said, `Look at that, she's nine seconds up on anyone else -- she has to be home and dry.'

There are still three weeks to polling day and Labour is not yet home and dry.

You can also say that someone is home and hosed. This form of the expression is used mainly in Australian English.

Queensland back with a try to five-eighth Kevin Walters and almost snatched a draw least in the final 90 seconds when Meninga made a 60m sideline run. I thought he was home and hosed.

the home stretch
the home straight
If you are in the home stretch or the home straight of a long or difficult activity, you are on the last part or stage of it.

As the campaign hits the home stretch, opinion polls show that the Labor Party and a conservative alliance, called the Liberal National Coalition, are running head and head.

Club football will take second place to World Cup fever this month, when Wales take on the Czech Republic in the home straight of the qualifying competition.

make yourself at home
If you make yourself at home somewhere, you relax and feel comfortable as if you were in your own home or in a very familiar situation.

Arnold and had found the hidden key just where it was supposed to be and made themselves at home.

Once the boat left, the passengers all made themselves at home.

You say `make yourself at home' to a guest to make them feel welcome and to invite them to behave in an informal, relaxed way.

`Sit down,' said. `Make yourself at home.'

Please make yourself at home. Maria has put a quiche and salad and fruit and cheese in the refrigerator for your tea. Help yourself to anything you want.

nothing to write home about
something to write home about
If you say that something is nothing to write home about or not much to write home about, you mean that it is not very interesting, exciting, or special.

Yes, there is cheese, bread and meat in Brighton market and the surrounding shops, but it's nothing to write home about, whereas in Dieppe the quality is quite simply dazzling.

The nightlife is not much to write home about but untracked snow lasts longer than at fashionable resorts like Val d'Is=e2re and Chamonix.

If you say that a thing is something to write home about, you mean that it is interesting, exciting, or special.

And you're giving that poor man a new start in life. That's something to be proud of and, incidentally, something to write home about.

on home ground
If someone is on home ground, they feel confident and secure because they are in the area where they work or live, or are doing something that is very familiar to them. The nouns `turf' and `patch' are sometimes used instead of `ground'.

Students benefit by experiencing interviews with prospective employers on their own home ground, without too much of a disruption to their studies.

Compared with the flashy triviality of `The Office Party' and `On The Piste', this is play where Godber is on home ground, writing with cold-eyed affection about the Yorkshire mining communities of his formative years.

Communications Minister David Beddall was back on home turf in Brisbane yesterday vigorously defending his performance in the pay TV fiasco.

lspjy

035ins







the ins and outs
If you refer to the ins and outs of a situation or system, you mean all the complicated details or facts about it.

Without medical qualifications it is impossible to understand the ins and outs of heart remedies.

There are many helpful books now available written by cookery and dietary experts who can advise on the ins and outs of dieting in great detail.