國立台北科技大學應用英文系副教授－黃希敏【現任CNN互動英語雜誌顧問】闡述：英語系國家人士說話，習慣使用許多字串－即慣用語，這些字串無法從單字的字義拼湊而得。再者，大家需要瞭解：英語慣用語的角色與中文成語不盡相同，因為中文成語多半是為了表現語言程度與素養，用不用都可以，但英語慣用語則是英語系國家人人時時掛在嘴邊的，因此慣用語若是不熟，英語的理解能力一定好不了。然而一般人在學習外語時，難免有一種心裡：應該先學單字、再學片語，然而從所熟悉的英語去觀察，才發現其實是個迷思，因為片語使用頻率並不比單字低，而僅僅懂得單字的意義，對於片語意義的理解，有時不但沒幫助還有害處，例如：I’ll give him a piece of my mind.照單字去理解，很像中文的「表示一點心意」，但其實是「罵…一頓」，又如本書中所列的inner-city，常被譯為「市區中心」，而讀者以台灣都市的觀念去理解，還以為inner-city是「黃金地段」，殊不知此詞在英美指的是市區當中的貧民窟。
典故
01. a brave new world
02. a far cry from
03. a hacker
04. a snow job
05. a wild card
06. behind the eight ball
07. bellwether
08. best thing since sliced bread
09. bring together . . .
10. call a spade a spade
11. cut corners
12. Deep Throat
13. divide and conquer
14. Dixie cup
15. Enron’s stock
16. flagship
17. forbidden fruit
18. ground zero
19. hit the jackpot
20. hokey-pokey
21. in the ballpark
22. inner-city
23. keep a stiff upper lip
24. leap tall fences in a single bound
25. let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may
26. make one’s debut
27. marry money
28. on course for
29. par for the course
30. peanut gallery
31. put the cat back in the bag
32. rank-and-file
32. ride off into the sunset
33. salad days
34. Snow White Jacko
35. spartan
37. Teflon president
38. the Big Easy
39. the dogs of war
40. the little search engine that could
41. the tip of the iceberg
42. the unbearable lightness . . . rich
43. Toto, I’ve a . . . anymore.
44. writing on the wall
45. zero in on
譬喻
01. a bit of meat with my gravy
02. a client base . . . the vines
03. a cul-de-sac
04. a flash point
05. a slippery slope
06. an itch that needs to be scratched
07. an oasis
08. an uphill battle
09. be comfortable in one’s own skin
10. beat Mother Nature to the punch
11. breach a . . . divide
12. breakneck-paced
13. buzzing
14. career overdrive
15. daily despair
16. dip one’s toes in the dot-com ocean
17. drop off the radar
18. Fluffy and Spot
19. fly off the showroom floors
20. go according to script
21. in the field
22. kiss-and-tell
23. like wildfire
24. on one’s toes
25. pass the baton . . . to . . .
26. pencil pushers
27. precious little
28. push . . . in(to) a tight corner
29. road warriors
30. softball questions
31. squirm
32. the cream has risen to the top
33. the passing of the torch
34. The pendulum . . . the other way
35. treacherous waters
36. tuna casserole
37. velvet hammer
38. walk-ins
39. warm and fuzzy
慣用語
I.譬喻性慣用語
01. a blank check
02. a cutting edge
03. a flop
04. a melting pot
05. a wake-up call
06. at one’s fingertips
07. at the helm
08. be riddled with
09. bells and whistles
10. big guns
11. blow one’s stack
12. boil down to
13. bounce back
14. break ground
15. breathe down one’s neck
16. cash cows
17. clip the wings of
18. come with a high price tag
19. comfort food
20. deep-pocketed
21. go behind the camera
21. groan under the weight of . . .
22. have one’s work cut out
24. head in the clouds
25. head-to-head
26. hold water
27. in full swing
28. in one piece
29. iron out
30. miss the mark
30. money in the bank
31. music to someone’s ears
33. no-frills
34. off the hook
35. on the drawing board
36. on the horns of a dilemma
37. on the map
38. pale next to
39. pop out (from/of)
40. rake in
41. ruffle (someone’s) feathers
42. shove . . . down someone’s throat
43. sink one’s teeth into . . .
44. smoking gun
45. spit someone out
46. spread oneself too thin/thinly
47. stand by
48. surf the net
49. take . . . by storm
50. teacher’s pet
51. turn one’s back on
52. up in the air
53. walk away with
II. 其他慣用語
54. bank on
55. be dressed to kill
56. fork out
57. mentally challenged
58. piss someone off
59. throw up
60. tip
61. win critical acclaim
雙關語
01. a crash course
02. a double eyelid
03. a high note
04. a highflier
05. a lemon
06. a rough ride
07. a wanted man
08. a woman’s place
09. absorb
10. Band Aid
11. bang for one’s buck
12. be burned in every sense
13. be stuck on
14. bruise
15. bullish
16. chug along
17. clean out
18. C-Leg
19. Decaf Web, anyone?
20. dirty money
21. do the dirty work
22. don’t hold one’s breath
23. double vision
24. duke it out
25. economic recovery
26. fair game
27. fish and chips
28. food for thought
29. for a rainy day
30. from the same page
31. get lost in the shuffle
32. get one’s wings
33. go to the dogs
34. good grief!
35. head-turning
36. heavy petting
37. hit below the belt
38. hook
39. hot stuff
40. It doesn’t pay . . . mouth.
41. it’s got sole
42. jaw dropping
43. kick the habit
44. light one’s fire
45. make the cut
46. nose around
47. off the ground
48. on the hit list
49. one too many
50. party animals
51. push someone’s buttons
52. re-possessed
53. ride on
54. roll out the final mile
55. run rings around
56. say no to crack
57. shaken, not stirred
58. shatter . . . determination
59. shift gears
60. shore up
61. small world
62. speak a language of one’s own
63. stand tall
64. take a shot at
65. take the fizz out of
66. talk about . . . hotel
67. Technofile
68. the sky is the limit
69. things are looking up
70. tip of the iceberg
71. toss one’s cookies
72. towering strength
73. turn heads
74. two-dimensional
75. virtually
76. wash up
