生活英语对话 Episode 55: Fatherly advice

本单元是关于慈爱的忠告的对话

Michal: Hello, I've been sent to take you.
Dad: I can't get a minute's peace around here!
Michal: No wonders you love it here, your garden's beautiful.
Dad: Thank you Michal. Just my luck though, neither Helen nor her mother has green fingers.
Michal: I love gardening!
Dad: I knew I liked you for a reason! Helen's head is filled with love and romance 1 but I am more of a realist. I've built up my business and my garden the same way - years of hard graft 2. Helen's looking for a handsome husband but I want a hard-working son-in-law. Of course it will be a slog but the rewards are right here for you to see.
Michal: Eh, yeah, it must be time for tea! Let's talk later.


Vocabulary (词汇):

I can't get a minute's peace （无法得到哪怕是短暂的安宁）:
I want some quiet time but people keep interrupting me

hard graft （苦活、棘手的事）:
hard or difficult work

a slog （艰苦工作）:
a piece of work that is difficult, unpleasant or tiring

本单元的点是关于手指的习语，语言中的习语不能从字面上去理解，因为它通常是以比喻的形式出现的。如果有人说，you have 'green fingers',那是说你有园艺技能，擅长种花草和绿色植物（在这里是比喻用法），而不是说你的手指是绿色的（字面上的意思）。习语通常是一些固定词组，不能随意改变。比如，人们可以说‘She never lifts a finger’来形容她很懒惰，但却不可以说‘She never picks up a finger’

Idioms: fingers and thumbs

Idioms use language metaphorically 4 rather than literally 6. If you have ‘green fingers’, it means you are very good at gardening and looking after flowers and plants (the metaphorical 3 meaning) not that your fingers are the colour green (the literal 5 meaning).

Idioms are also fixed 7 groups of words so you can't change the wording of an idiom. For example, you can say ‘She never lifts a finger' to mean that she's very lazy but you can't say 'She never picks up a finger’.

Idioms - fingers （与fingers有关的习语）:

After the money was stolen in the office,she pointed 8 the finger at her colleague.
She accused her colleague of stealing the money.

I'll have my fingers crossed for you when you sit your exam.
I wish you luck and will be thinking about you when you take your exam.

He's really clever. He's got every answer right at his fingertips.
He know the answers without having to think about them or research them.

You can count the friends she has on the fingers of one hand.
She doesn’t have many friends.

You'd better not lay a finger on him!
Don't hurt him!
Note: This idiom is generally only used in the negative or question form; not in the positive form.

She's got her finger in every pie. I wish she would just concentrate on her own job instead.
She's over-involved in every project at work.

She works in advertising 9 so she's really got her finger on the pulse of today's teenagers.
She knows all about the current young people's trends and fashions.


Idioms - thumbs （与thumbs有关的习语）:

He stuck out like a sore thumb at the wedding because he was wearing jeans and everyone else was dressed so formally.
He was very noticeable because he was different to everyone else at the wedding.

She's completely under his thumb. She has to do whatever he wants, it's so unfair.
She is dominated 10 by him. He's the boss in their relationship.

He's all fingers and thumbs. Don't give him that plate to carry, he'll drop it.
He's very clumsy.

I’m really pleased the idea I put forward got the thumbs up from the boss.
The boss liked my idea.

Don't sit there twiddling your thumbs, help me tidy up!
You're doing nothing. Help me clean up the room.