英语中很多短语被用作比喻意义，而且有的非常地贴切或一目了然，如 eat one's words 和 in a fog 等等，它们的字面意思所表达的中文意思就相当于它们的寓意，我们一猜就八九不离十了。 eat one's words 收回前言，承认错误： You think I can't get an A in this class, but I'll make you eat your words when we get our report cards!你以为我在这门课上得不到A，但当我们拿到成绩单时，我会让你收回你的话的！ After my negative prediction for the season, I certainly ate my words when the team started out undefeated.在我对本赛季的负面预测之后，当球队一开始就不败的时候，我当然收回我所说的。 in a fog/haze 一头雾水，困惑不解，迷糊： I always feel like I'm in a fog when I take that medication. It's like it's hard for me to think.我吃那种药的时候总觉得有点迷糊。我觉得很难思考。 Millie always seems to be in a haze; she never knows what's going on.米莉似乎总是神志不清，她从来不知道发生了什么事。 跟它们类似，the lion's share (of sth) 可以用来表示最大的一份，想想狮子的份量就不得而知了，例如： They are wasting the lion’s share of their income by paying rents of the unnecessarily big house.他们把大部分收入浪费在支付不必要的大房子的租金上。 Susana claimed the lion’s share of the money for her success at the concert.苏珊娜为她在音乐会上的成功赢得了大部分的奖金。 The lion's share of the credit must go to our development team, who have worked tirelessly to bring this product to market before the holiday season.我们的开发团队必须承担大部分的责任，他们为在假期前将此产品推向市场而不懈努力。 Even though we're all talented, it's always our youngest brother who gets the lion's share of our parents' praise and attention.尽管我们都很有天赋，但得到父母表扬和关注最多的总是我们最小的弟弟。
不过想想也是，有的时候确实很难用正常的话来准确地描述所要表达的意思，然而英语习语恰恰能迎刃而解，又如 dog eat dog 或 dog-eat-dog： I'm afraid in this line of work it's a case of dog eat dog. 恐怕在这种行业中竞争是残酷无情的。 The TV business today is a dog-eat-dog business. 当前电视业的竞争残酷无情。 通常表达“最大的一份”是用 a large amount of，a huge portion of 或 the biggest part of 等等，例如： A large amount of capital is invested in all these branches. 一大笔资金投入了各分公司。 The huge portion of the bridge collapsed.桥的很大一部分倒塌了。 The biggest part of the building was destroyed in the fire.大楼最大的部分在火灾中被毁了。 如果要学一门语言，那么就要认真对待，等到学有所成的时候，那种成就感真的是跃然纸上。 词或词组辨析： 1. undefeated [ˌʌndɪˈfiːtɪd] 意为“不败的，未尝败绩的” 2. start out 意为“开始从事，着手”等
