快樂學堂
作者：Shelley Gollust
“單詞背後的故事”是一個電台節目，通過講故事和舉例子，讓英語學習者更係統地了解到英語習語的意思與用法。當然，要學以致用才能真正掌握這些習語哦。民以食為天，生活中柴米油鹽醬醋茶，樣樣重要，前陣子國內部分地區發生的搶鹽事件就可見一斑。處處與“吃”有關，語言自然也不例外。中英文中都有形形色色與“吃”相關的習語和俚語，這一期就讓我們認識一下吧！大家還可以比較比較中英文的異同哦。
My mother always told us 1)there is no use crying over spilled milk. That means you should not get angry when something bad happens and cannot be changed. People said my mother was 2)a good egg. She would always help anyone in need. We never had to 3)walk on eggshells around her. We did not have to be careful about what we said or did because she never got angry at us. She also told us 4)you have to break some eggs to make an omelet【煎蛋卷】.
This means you have to do what is necessary to move forward.
My mother believed 5)you are what you eat. A good diet is important for good health. She would always give us nutritious food. She liked serving us meat and potatoes for dinner. 6)Meat and potatoes can also mean the most important part of something. It describes someone who likes simple things. Here is another expression about meat: 7)one man's meat is another man's poison. In other words, one person might like something very much while another person might hate the same thing.
My father was also a good and honest person. People said he was 8)the salt of the earth. He would never 9)pour salt on a wound, or make someone feel worse about something that was already a painful experience. However, sometimes he told us a story that seemed bigger than life. So we had to 10)take it with a grain of salt. That is, we could not believe everything he told us.
My husband has a good job. He makes enough money to support our family. So we say he 11)brings home the bacon. He can 12)cut the mustard, or do what is expected of him at work. It's easy to find my husband in a crowd. He stands almost two meters tall. He is a 13)tall drink of water.