So, I'd like to talk to you about idioms and IELTS. There is a common question that students ask me and that's: Should I use a lot of idioms in my IELTS speaking test?
我想跟大家談一下習語和雅思考試。學生經常問我同一個問題，那就是：在我的雅思口語考試中，我應該大量使用習語嗎？
Well, the short simple answer is: No, don't use a lot of idioms. Because first of all, idioms are quite rare in our natural spoken conversations.
嗯，簡單的回答是：不，不要大量使用習語。因為，首先，在我們的自然口語對話中，習語很少見。
When Collings dictionary did their research on idioms in corpora, they found out that even the most common idioms only appear once in every 10 million words. That's not a lot.
科林斯詞典對語料庫中的習語進行了調查，發現即使最常用的習語，也只在一千萬個單詞中出現一次。這真不多。
You see, we just don't use idioms that frequently in conversation and as IELTS is a test of natural spoken conversation, you don't want to use too many, one or two is fine. You'll notice journalists and politicians use a lot of idioms because it's creative, it catches your attention that they do overuse them.
你瞧，我們在對話中並不常用習語，由於雅思口語考的是自然對話，所以你還是不要用太多習語，一個或兩個就好。你會注意到記者和政客們使用很多習語，因為這樣吸引眼球，抓住你的注意力，因此他們過量使用習語。
So, if you're listening to the news or watching the news, you may hear a lot of them but that's not how we naturally use them every day. So, that's the first thing.
如果你聽新聞或看新聞，你也許會聽到很多習語，但這並不是我們每天使用它們的方式。這是第一點。
Secondly, the IELTS examiner has a little book, well, a piece of paper to evaluate you. It's the band descriptors and there is nothing in the band descriptors about idioms, nothing.
第二，雅思考官有一本小書，嗯，一張評分紙。是分數描述，而且上面並沒有關於習語的，啥都沒有。
It talks about idiomatic expressions and collocation, but not idioms. So, here's the thing, you need to know: the difference between idioms and idiomatic expressions.
上面有慣用語和搭配，但沒有習語。問題來了，你需要知道：習語和慣用語的區別。
Let's put it like this. Imagine a big tree, and on the tree, there are different branches.
我們這樣理解。想像一棵大樹，在樹上有很多不同的樹枝。
The tree is the idiomatic expressions; it's the big picture. And then, you have branches which are idioms, branches which are phrasal verbs, branches which are collocations, and others which maybe turn a phrase.
這棵樹是慣用語；它是總體。然後，上面有些樹枝是習語，有些樹枝是短語動詞，有些樹枝是搭配用語，還有其他的可能是短語。
All of these make up idiomatic expressions. But it's the idiomatic expression is the big tree; it's all of them.
所有的這些組成了慣用語。但慣用語是這個大樹；它包含所有這些。
So, idioms are a part of that, okay? So, should you use idiomatic expressions in IELTS speaking?
因此，習語是它的一部分。那麼，你應該在雅思口語中使用慣用語嗎？
Absolutely, use lots of them and that includes what I mentioned. So, let's be clear about idiomatic expressions.
絕對要，大量使用它們，包括我提到那些的。那麼，我們來弄清楚慣用語是什麼意思。
This basically means you cannot work out the meaning looking at the individual words. The meaning is something slightly different, often metaphorical, and this is true of all idiomatic expressions.
就是你不能從單個單詞來看出它的意思。它的意思稍微不同，經常有隱喻性，而且所有的慣用語都是這樣。
Let's look at some examples. Let's take the idiom "kick the bucket". That doesn't mean you're going to kick a bucket on the ground it means you die.
我們來看看一些例子。我們拿習語「kick the bucket」作為例子。它的意思不是你要去踢地上的一個水桶，而是說你死了。
Likewise, the phrasal verb "pass away" doesn't mean you're passing away to another place, well kind of, it means to die. So, let's give some other examples. We mentioned collocation.
同樣，動詞短語「pass away」意思不是你要離開去另一個地方，而是「去世」。再來看看其他例子。我們提到搭配用語。
Collocations are when you have two or three words that usually sit together.?So, we may say "spread the word".
搭配用語就是兩到三個單詞搭配使用。例如，我們說「spread the word」。
If you want to let people know about something, you spread the word. We don't "spill the word" or "give out the word", we "spread the word".
如果你想讓人們知道一些事情，你就」spread the word（傳播信息）」。我們不說「spill the word」或「give out the word」，我們說「spread the word」。
It's a collocation; it's an idiomatic expression. I also mentioned turns of phrase.
它是一個搭配用語；它是一個慣用語。我還提到短語。
Now, these are more popular phrases that are slightly more creative and we use them to express special meanings and they've become common use. For example, my "other half". That refers to my wife.
如今，它們更流行，它們更有創意，我們用它們來表達特殊的意思，而且它們成為了常用的用法。例如，我的「另一半」。指的是我妻子。
So, your husband, wife, partner can be your "other half". It's just a turn of phrase.
所以，你的丈夫、妻子、伴侶都可以是你的「另一半」。這是一個短語。
So, all of these are idiomatic expressions and yes, you really need to be using lots of them in the IELTS test because that's how we speak English. But only one or two idioms.
那麼，所有的這些慣用語，是的，你真的需要把它們用在雅思考試中，因為這就是我們說英語的方式。但只需用一到兩個習語。
And just a note about idioms and how we use them, and in fact this is true for all vocabulary. I would strongly recommend you only use idioms you are comfortable with.
關於習語以及它的使用，我再說一點，事實上，對於所有的詞彙都是這樣。我強烈建議你只使用你熟悉的習語。
That you know what they mean and you've used before. When learning new words and idioms, you need to see it in at least three or four different contexts.
你理解它們的意思，你曾經用過它們。習生詞和習語時，你至少需要在三到四種不同的語境中去看它們的用法。
And then to have used it at least three or four times. And only then, will you feel comfortable to use it.
然後至少使用過它們三到四次。只有那樣，你才會熟練使用它。
And that's it. So, idioms, you can use one or two, but focus on your idiomatic expressions. Start seeing them, start using them and good luck with your IELTS speaking test.
就這樣。你可以使用一到兩個習語，但重點是多使用慣用語。開始留意它們，開始使用它們，祝大家雅思口語考試順利。
This is Keith from IELTSspeakingSuccess. You can find out more details on the website ieltsspeakingsuccess. com. See you soon.
我是 IELTSspeakingSuccess 的基斯，再見。