You’re talking to your native English-speaking friend about your recent breakup and how depressed you are when suddenly he turns toward you and says 「Don’t worry about it man, girls like that are a dime a dozen!」 You then stare at your friend in confusion. You simply don’t understand why your good friend is comparing the girl that was once the love of your life to $1.20.
某天，你跟一個老外朋友說起自己剛跟女友分手，現在很難過。就在此時，對方突然拍了拍你的肩膀對你說：「Don't worry about it man, girls like that are a dime a dozen!」你不解的盯著對方。你很難理解老外怎麼會把你曾經深愛的女友說成只值一塊二毛錢!
Actually 「a dime a dozen」 doesn’t mean anything even remotely close to what the individual words in the phrase implies. For native speakers of English, a dime a dozen simply means that something is common and easy to obtain. Because we cannot figure out the meaning by examining the phrase alone, 「dime a dozen」 is what we call an idiom. As a non-native speaker of English, the best way to understand idioms is to memorize their meanings from the standpoint of a native speaker. We』ve listed the 10 most common idioms in English and their actual meanings.
其實，「a dime a dozen」跟「一塊二毛錢」沒有半點關係。對於母語為英文的人來說，它指的是某事物多的很不值錢，想要得到它也不是很難(天涯何處無芳草)。由於單看字面意思我們很難明白其中的真正含義，」a dime a dozen」其實就是一句習語(和中文的成語一樣)，作為非英語母語人士，想要記住習語最好的辦法就是站在native speaker的角度來理解記憶習語。下面我們就一起來看看英文中最常用、最有趣的幾個習語：
1. A Piece of cake 小菜一碟
No, when someone says that the assignment they just finished was a piece of cake, it does not mean that their professor gave them a red velvet cupcake for their midterm paper, what a piece of cake actually means is that something is very easy to complete.
不，當某人說他們剛剛完成的任務就像一塊蛋糕，那麼它並不是說教授因為他們的期中考試成績獎勵他們一份紅絲絨蛋糕，「a piece of cake」實際是指某事很簡單很容易完成。
2. Costs an arm and a leg 花了我一大筆錢
It would be a strange world we lived in if buying that fancy shiny purse literally required us to chop off our body parts to give as tribute to the Louis Vuitton gods. When something costs an arm and a leg it actually means that something is very expensive.
如果為了買我們心愛的閃亮的包包，比如LV，卻要讓我們砍掉手腳以示敬意，那這個世界未免太奇葩了吧。當某物花掉你的胳膊和腿時，它實際是指這個東西超級貴。
3. Break a leg 祝你好運
Oh, look, another idiom about legs. You’re about to take your dreaded calculus final and before you head into your classroom your roommate texts you, 「Break a Leg!」 Why, you think in your head, would he ever wish that upon me? I thought we were cool with each other. Well, your roommate surely doesn’t want your bones to break while walking to your seat in the exam room that’s for sure. Break a leg actually means good luck!
哦，快看，又一個與腿有關的習語。你馬上要參加你最害怕的微積分期末考試了，在你進入考場教室前你的室友給你發來了一條簡訊：」Break a Leg!」 什麼，你在腦中暗暗的想，難道他希望我斷胳膊斷腿?我一直以為我們關係很好呢。那麼，事實上你的室友並不是希望你在走入考場位置時摔斷骨頭，這是肯定的。Break a leg實際上就是「祝你好運」的意思!
4. Hit the books 用功讀書
If you’re a student in an English speaking environment you’re probably going to be hearing this phrase a lot. Before you imagine students running into their campus library and punching, kicking and wrestling apart the complete works of Shakespeare, we would just like to say that hit the books actually means to study. There there, you can still punch books in your spare time if you want, we won’t judge you.
如果你是一個生活在英語環境下的學生，你肯定會經常聽到這句話。當你腦子裡在歪歪各種學生衝進校園圖書館拳打腳踢撕扯莎士比亞著作的畫面時，我要告訴你hit the books實際上指的是去學習(用功)。當然當然，如果你想，你還是可以在閒暇時間猛捶你的書，我們不做評論。
5. Hit the nail on the head 恰到好處，一針見血
This idiom has to do with doing or saying something that is precisely right. If you don’t understand this, just think about that sweet feeling you get when you swing a hammer at a nail and hit it perfectly.
這個習語表示做某事或說某事恰到好處。如果你還是不懂，那麼就想像一下當你揮舞著鐵錘恰到好處地正中要害，一錘定音，那種感覺有多美妙。
6. You can’t judge a book by its cover 不要以貌取人
How many awesome books do you think you』ve never read in your life just because the cover did not catch your eye? This idiom does not only apply to books however, but can be used for everything in general. Essentially it means that you should not decide upon something based just on outward appearances.
你能想像下僅僅由於封面不夠吸引眼球，你錯失了多少本好書嗎?這個習語不僅僅適用於書，還可以廣泛的應用於很多場合。總體而言，它是指不要光從事物的表面現象來做決定。
7. Bite off more than you can chew 貪多嚼不爛，自不量力
Imagine your waiter brings you the biggest juiciest hamburger from your favorite American restaurant. In your hunger, you grab it quickly and take a giant bite out of it. Unfortunately, the bite you』ve taken is too big, and you end up looking like an idiot trying to shove this bite down your throat while drinking water and trying not to choke. That is the most literal sense of the meaning, but in general it just means to attempt to take on a task that is too much for you to handle.
想像一下在你最喜歡的美國餐廳，服務員為你帶來最大最美味的漢堡包。飢腸轆轆的你，抓起漢堡狠狠地咬了一大口。很不幸，你咬的這一口太大了，以至於你最終的結局是一邊想要艱難努力的咽下這一大口食物，一邊又喝水以防嗆到自己，場面是不是像個白痴一樣很傻很可笑。
8. Scratch someone’s back 投之以桃，報之以李
We all know how difficult it is to scratch that itch on your back that your hand just aren’t flexible enough to reach, so why would you want to scratch some random person’s smelly back? Because if you do, they may eventually be willing to scratch your own smelly back when you need it! What this idiom means is to help someone out with the assumption that they will return the favor in the future!
我們都知道想要給後背撓癢是件很麻煩的事，因為手臂沒有那麼靈活，那麼你為什麼還要偶爾給別人的後背撓癢呢?答案是，如果今天你幫了別人，那麼某一天也會有人願意幫你的後背撓癢!這句習語的意思就是預支自己對他人的幫忙，以防日後自己不時之需時可以有人情債可收。
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（責任編輯：何瑩瑩）