English usage1

1、 english usageliu yeling idiom phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of its individual words and which must be learnt as a whole unit eg.give me a hand 帮我一下忙 foot the bill. 付账 “honey, let me take you out to dinner. but you know i dont feel like dressing up to go someplace fa

2、ncy. how about just going down the street to the greasy spoon and getting hamburgers.” “亲爱的,让我带你去外面吃晚饭吧。不过,我实在不想穿得必恭必敬的去那些大饭馆。咱们就上街那头那个小饭馆小饭馆去吃汉堡包,怎么样? i havent had a chance to prepare any notes so all i can do is start talking and play it by ear. “我今天没有什么准备，所以就只好讲到那儿就算那儿了.”in for a penny, in for a

3、pound you never know when hes done with you, and if youre in for a penny, youre in for a pound. 你根本不知道他什么时候会不要你，不过既来之，则安之。 this phrase is used when the same loss or danger is incurred whether the previous responsibility has been great or small 既来之，则安之； 骑虎难下； 一不做，二不休 some stock holders invested more

4、money on that stock for they are in for a penny, they are for a pound. 一些股民继续投资买那支股票，因为他们已经骑虎难下了。 its a wise man that never makes mistakes. 无论多么聪明的人，也难免犯错误。 “it is a形容词名词that.”结构是一个特殊的习惯用法，意思是“无论怎样的也不”。真正的句子意思与字面意思相反，它具有含蓄的让步意味，切不可望文生义、译成强调句型。 its a long lane that has no turning. 无论怎样长的巷子也有转弯处。 its

5、a good horse that never stumbles. 再好的马也有失蹄的时候。 im too anxious to know the result. 我极想知道结果。 英语中“too.to.”结构表示“太以致不”的意思。例如：the star is too small to see.但是，如果too后形容词表示主语的状态、心理活动、情感态度(常见的有glad，easy，ready，anxious，eager，willing，happy等)，并与其后的不定式构成固定搭配，这时too含有肯定意义，表示“very，extremely”的意思。 they are too anxious

6、to leave. 他们急于离去 mr. smith was too eager to see her. 史密斯先生极想见到她。 its three years since he was a teacher. 他不当教师已经三年了。 在“it is some time since主语谓语其它成分。”这一结构中，如果从句谓语动词是非延续性动词，那么时间的计算就从该动作的发生开始算起。例如：its three years since he joined the army.他参军已经三年了。如果从句谓语动词是延续性动词，时间就要从该动作的结束算起。 its many years since they

7、 lived here. 他们不在这儿住已经好多年了。 all that glitters is not gold. 闪光的东西不一定都是金子。 在句中当不定代词all，both，every及every的复合词，副词always，often，entirely与not一起使用时，表示部分否定，意思是“并非都是”，“不是每个人都”等。 i dont remember all these formulas. 这些公式我并非全都记得。 every man cannot do it. 并非每个人都能做这个。 注意：当all，both，every等词和带im-，in-，un-，dis-等表示否定意义的前缀

8、的词连用时，表示全部否定的意义。如：all your answers are incorrect.你所有的答案都不正确。再者，表示全部否定时，我们常使用no，not，no- body，nothing，never，nowhere，neither等词。 none of the teachers smoke. 这些老师都不抽烟。 the mountain is not valuable because it is high. 山并不因为高而具有价值。(山不在高) 含有原因状语从句的主从复合句，形式上虽然否定主句的谓语，然而意义上则是否定该原因状语，译为“并不因为而”。 galileo was not

9、 ready to accept it just because aristotle had said so. 伽利略并不只是因为亚里斯多德说过某事如何如何，就轻易相信它。 i didnt pretend to understand what he said. 我假装没懂他说的话。 常用动词pretend，happen的否定形式有两种：既可以否定pretend，也可以否定其后的不定式，其意义不变。 i didnt happen to be there.i happened not to be there. 我恰巧不在那儿。 lets have a rest under the big tree

10、. its nice and cool here. 让我们在大树下歇会吧。这儿很凉快。 nice and，good and都表示“很，非常，完全”的意思。and前的形容词实质上起副词作用，修饰后边的形容词，表示强调。 i am good and ready. 我都准备好了。 one cant be too honest. 人越老实越好。 句中“cannot.too.”意为“无论怎样也不过分”或“越越好”。该句型中的not可以换成hardly，never或scarcely；too可以换成over或enough等，意思不变。 you cannot be too careful. you cannot be over careful.you cannot be careful enough. 你越仔细越好。 朋友越多越好。 a man can never have too many friends. this is the last thing i would ever want to do. 这是我最不愿做的一件事情。 “t