A-1

 

 

001.[Ace up your sleeve]

 

I don’t know how Henry is going to get his mom to buy him a bike, but I am sure he has an ace up his sleeve.

 

Meaning: a surprise or secret advantage, especially something tricky that is kept hidden until needed

 

Origin:  Back in 1500s most of people didn’t have pockets in their clothes, so they kept things in their sleeves.  (这让我想起了我国古装戏中的长袖服装)

Later on, magicians hid objects, even small live animals, up their sleeves and then pulled them out unexpectedly to surprise their audiences.  In the 1800s dishonest card players secretly slipped a winning card, often an ace, up

their sleeves and pulled it out when nobody was looking to win the game.

 

 

 

002.[Achilles’ Heel]

 

I am an A student in math and science, but English is my achilles’ heel.

 

Meaning: the one weakness, fault, flaw, or vulnerable spot in one’s otherwise strong character

 

Origin:  In the Iliad, the famous story about the Trojan War by the Greek poet Homer, Achilles was a great hero and warrior.  However he has one week spot, the heel of one foot.  When he was a baby, his mom wanted to be certain that her son could never be harmed, so she dipped little Achilles upside-down in the magical River Styx.  Wherever the water touched his body, he became invulnerable.  But since she was holding him by his heel, that part of him never got wet.  Years later Achilles was killed in the Trojan War by an enemy who shot a poisoned arrow into his heel. 

 

 

 

003. [Add Fuel to the Fire]

 

I was already angry with you, and when you forgot to pick me up, that really added Fuel to the Fire.

 

Meaning: to make a bad situation worse; to do or say something that causes more trouble, makes someone angrier

 

Origin:  Thousands years ago the famous Roman historian Livy used this expression.  If you pour water on a fire, it goes out.  But if you put fuel (like coal or wood ) on a fire, you make it burn hotter and brighter.  If “fire” represents any kind of trouble, then anything you do to make that trouble worse is “fuel”. A similar expression is “fan the flames”.

 

 

 

004. [Air your Dirty Laundry in Public]

 

My upstairs neighbors fight a lot and air your dirty laundry in public.

 

Meaning: to talk about your private disagreements or embarrassing matters in public, usually while quarreling

 

Origin:  Picture this:  Instead of hanging your freshly washed laundry on a clothesline, you hang your dirty clothes out there in the air for all the world to see.  Wouldn’t that be embarrassing?  Imagine that your “dirty laundry” represent secret personal matters and that to “air” them means to discuss them out loud for anyone to hear. 

 

005. [Albatross around Your Neck]

 

Everywhere I go, my mom makes me take me my little bratty sister.  She’s an albatross around my neck. 

 

Meaning: a very difficult burden that you can not get rid of or a reminder of something you did that was wrong

 

Origin:  In 1798 the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote his most famous poem, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”.  In the poem, a young sailor shoots a large seabird called an albatross. In those days that was considered very unlucky.  Sure enough, a lot of bad things happened to the ship, and the crew blames the young sailor.  They hang the dead bird around his neck.