執筆者 Modern English | 2014年11月20日 | Trivia
“He still hasn’t given up? He’ll never get that terrible book published.” “Hope springs eternal.” Have you ever heard the phrase “Hope springs eternal”? “Hope” is easy to understand. “Eternal” means “forever”. “Spring” here is not the season, or “jump”, but more like...
執筆者 Modern English | 2014年11月19日 | Idioms
“I’ve been working so much overtime to finish this project that it’s hard to spend any quality time with my family, even on the weekends.” “Quality time” is special time spent together with people you love. We usually think of quality time as time spent doing...
執筆者 Modern English | 2014年11月18日 | Words
“It’s not clear what he wants me to do.” “The water was so clear you could see the fish at the bottom of the river.” “Clear” means “obvious” or “easy to understand”. It also means “transparent” or “see-through”. If someone is speaking too fast and the words run...
執筆者 Modern English | 2014年11月17日 | Pictures
The pomegranate is an unusual fruit because it’s full of delicious fleshy seeds. In Greek mythology, Persephone ate six pomegranate seeds while in the underworld, and therefore has to spend six months of the year there. During those months the harvest goddess Demeter...
執筆者 Modern English | 2014年11月15日 | Phrases
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!” This is an abrupt way to tell someone to leave. The sarcastic advice only applies if the person is leaving, so even if they wanted to stay, you are already speaking as if they are leaving. You can also say this if someone...
