现代英语口语表示法500例（12）

· put someone up to...唆使某人去……

How dare you to have lodged¹ a complaint against me with the director? Who put you up to it?

· pop the question求婚

Can you tell me how you popped the question to your wife? Maybe I can learn something from you.

· call it quits作罢

Mary and Tom had been in love for several years. But these days, they began to realize that they had very little in common. They decided² to call it quits.

· chew the rag闲聊
chew the rag也有争吵的意思

If they have time, these wives are always sitting together and chewing the rag.

· fly into a rage大发雷霆

The old father flew into a rage when his daughter didn"t obey his will.

· break ranks with someone与……分道扬镳
反义词为：close ranks with someone

People within one party gradually had conflicts on some political issues. Some of them decided to break ranks with others and set up a new party.

· smell a rat察觉可疑

He is a well-known miser³. I smell a rat when he invites me to his home for dinner. I was wondering if he is asking favors of me.

· beat a hasty retreat急忙撤退

The hoodlum was about to dully the lady when he saw a patrolman coming towards them. He beat a hasty retreat.

· take someone for a ride欺骗某人，玩弄某人的感情

They were taking us for a ride. I turned out that the tickets they sold us with low price were invalid⁴.

· rip someone off敲某人竹杠

The local villain⁵ rips us off by collecting 100 yuan for protection charge every month.

· be on the rocks陷入困境，完蛋

The foam⁶ economy was struck by the Asian financial crisis. Japan"s economy was on the rocks.
· rub it in哪壶不开提哪壶

Would you please talk in Chinese? You know I"m a pretty bad English speaker. You don"t have to rub it in.

· give someone the runaround敷衍搪塞

My washing machine broke down, When I went to the repair shop, they gave me the runaround.

· be in a rut千篇一律，一筹莫展

His life is in a rut. Office, library, and home are the three places he goes everyday. It is time he had a holiday for a change.

· play it safe小心谨慎

Our car works very well. But to play it safe, we will bring a spare tire.

· safe and sound安全无事

He came back from the battlefield safe and sound.

· the salt of the earth好心肠的人，没有坏心眼的人

The taxi driver who saved the drowning boy from the river is the salt of the earth.

· take something with a grain of salt听话打折扣，不能轻信

He is a braggart⁷. Take his words with a grain of salt.

· tip the scales扭转局势

In the boxing ring, the two sides were evenly matched. But the short break seemed to tip the scales in favor of the boxer⁸ in red.

· throw someone off the scent⁹转移某人的视线

The murder wrote a last letter for the victim and left it in the site, hoping to throw the police off the scent.

· start from scratch从零开始，白手起家

There are so many spelling mistakes. I have to write it again from scratch.

· talk sense into someone开导某人

I"ve tired to talk sense into him, but he still chose to work in the countryside.

· an open sesame法宝，秘诀，关键

Having connections with VIPs is not an open sesame to success.

· the lion"s share最大的一份，绝大多数

He designed the most important part of the machine. So he deserves the lion"s share of the award.