英语中比较少的习语是用字面意思的，我们通常用它的寓意，例如 as bald as a coot，但是 close the books 除了可以用它的字面意思”结账“，它是会计部门的主要职能之一，还可以意为”结束，停止，结案“等，寓意：
set the ending to a concerned issue为关心的问题定下结局 to cease trading or doing business停止交易或做生意 to make no new entries没有新的条目 to put an end to something结束某事 usually used in expressing sadness of something being over通常用于表达某事结束时的悲伤 例如：
The accountant closed the books and that was the end of your 40 year old favourite sweet shop.会计结账了，那就是你40年来最喜欢的糖果店的终结。 The lawyer closed the books of this case. There is no one remaining to be investigated.律师结案了。已经没有人被调查了。 I do not like the idea of closing the books without meeting with the concerned head of the department and finding out why the payment cannot be made.我不喜欢在不与有关部门负责人会面，也不知道为什么不能付款的情况下就结帐。
My father closed the books when his father passed away and never went back to doing the same business.父亲去世后，我父亲就没有经商了，再也没有回去做同样的生意。 You cannot close the books as you please, the law of the land means something and you will get caught eventually.你不能随心所欲地结帐，国家的法律意味着什么，你最终会被抓住的。 It's time to close the books on the library theft of Oxford University in year 1956.1956年牛津大学图书馆失窃案该结案了。
有些习语本身有意思，但是我们通常不用它们的本意，例如：bite the dust，因为它们的意思很奇怪或是不合逻辑，但是像 close the books 这样的习语，它本身有明确的意思，所以要翻译成什么意思，具体是要根据上下文来决定的，不然翻译出来的意思是很尴尬的，很难承上启下。
