Figurative Language and Idioms.doc

Figurative Language and Idioms1) pose a serious threat to: create a significant dangere.g. Worldwide, it poses a serious threat to coastal habitats like dunes, mangrove forests and coral reefs.2) appetite for: hunger for; need fore.g. Over the past decade golf, because of its appetite for land, water and herbcides, hads emerged as one of the biggest culprits, so much so that “golf wars” have broken out in parts of Southeast Asia.3) (cost-benefit) equation: relation of (advantages to disadvantes, of costs to benefits)e.g. There is not to say tourism cant do some good but the cost-benefit equation is complex.4) (salvation) lies in: (rescue/recovery/saving/survival) depends one.g. In the uplands of Rwanda, known to millions through the film Gorillas in the Mist, the mountain gorillas salvation lies in partly in the income and interest generated by tourists visiting in small groups.5) take root: become establishede.g. Since then, English has taken root in diplomacy and gradually economic relations and the media6) the last word: the truth; the final judgment; all there is to say on a subjecte.g. But accepting that as the last word ignores the deep-rooted ties between individual freedom and political power, between the linguistic, social and economic mechanisms which in every society underpin relations between people and groups and between culture and communities. 7) make a mark: have influence; create an impressione.g. A preson makes a mark through his or her ability to use the most useful language or languages.8) hand in glove with/ hand in hand with: together withe.g. It would be wrong to say that the world domination of English is something deliberately organized and supported by Anglo-Saxon powers, hand in glove with political initiatives or the penetration of the world economy by their transnational firms.9) break new ground: do som ething new e.g. Many years after the founding in 1945 of the Arab League, whose current 22 member states have 250 million people, the countries which share a French linguistic heritage broke new ground by circulating a joint policy.10) a concreted strategy: an action taken together; a joint action; an organized approach or plane.g. Backed by a concerted strategy, these major languages would surely make headway in international institutions.11) make headway: make progresse.g. Backed by a concerted strategy, these major languages would surely make headway in international institutions.12) at stake: at issue; at risk; in a dangere.g. It is not just the future of the worlds major languages that is at stake.13) go underground and hide: avoid being seene.g. When a child is under constant observation, the risk-taking, creative urge goes underground and hides.14) get lost in: be absorbed in e.g. Childrem have the capacity to get lost in whatever theyre doing in a way that is much harder for an adult.15) fall short of: are not; are less than e.g. While these national stereotypes fall short of absolute truths, asserts Lee of Westfield (Mass.) State College, they are accurate enough to give the aphorism its humorous punch.16) give sth. ones due: give credit; give what is deserved; be fair e .g. Stangors argument fails to give stereotypes their due as often helpful, if not absolutely precise, probes of the social world, Lee responds.17) gain favor: become popular; developed support e.g. Lippmans fear that stereotypes cause social harm gained particular favor, after 1970, as psychologists rushed to expose errors and biases in social judgments.18) conflict resolution: peacemaking; solving disagreementse.g. For instance, Lee asserts, efforts at conflict resolution between ethnic groups or nations may work best if both sides receive help in confronting real cultural differences that trigger mutual animosities.19) bridge-building: peacemaking; creating relationships across groupse.g. Bridge-building efforts of this kind counteract the natural tendency to emphasize negative features in stereotypes.20) kick ones habit: quit; become free of ones addictione.g. Because millions of adult smokers either kick their habit or die each year, the cigarette industry depends on attracting new customers.21) begin as cobwebs end up as steel cables: be harmless and easy to free oneself from in the beginning but become traps and are impossible to give upe.g. Unfortunately, many of the children who succumb to brand-stretching find habits that begin as cobwebs end up as steel cables.22) sea of denim: full of young people in blue jeanse.g.Just off Taipeis busy Keelung Road, high-school students begin arriving at the Whiskey A Go-Go disco about 9 p.m., and soo the room is a sea of denim.23) join forces: work togethere.g. But U.S. tobacco companies joined forces with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to enter these Asian markets.24) at the end of the rainbow: the biggest prize; the greatest dreame.g. And at the end of the rainbow lies China, with 300 million smokers30 percent of the world market.25) pave the way: make possible; prepare the waye.g. Expansion abroad, he continued, would “pave the way for a bigger and brighter future.”26) rack up mountains of debt: come to owe large amounts of moneye.g. As aging nations attempt to avoid hard choices, they are likely to rack up mountains of debt.27) dental-floss bikinis: very small bathing suitse.g. As a result, in a land once known for its celebration of dental-floss bikinis and youthful canaval exuberance, pension debt has become the publics central preoccupation.28) make ends meet: support oneself; earn enough money to livee.g To make ends meet, she toils in the fileds until the heat of the day overcomes her.29) (be) called upon: be required to; be depended upon toe.g. Like their African counterparts, the elderly in even the richest countries will most likely be called upon to work much later in life and to take more of a role in rearing the next generation.30) stir up: move; shook; displacee.g. Mr. Martin and his oldest son, Baxter, came forward to hold the box steady on the stool while Mr. Summers stirred up the papers inside it.31) fade off: slowly disappear or end; die oute.g. The black box grew shabbier each year; by now it was no longer completely bla