play with fire

to act in a way that is not sensible and take dangerous risks 玩火;冒险

She was playing with fire by secretly borrowing office funds.
她暗中挪用公款简直是玩火.
He knew he was playing with fire by dating a student.
他知道跟学生约会是玩火.
He who plays with fire gets burned.
玩火者必自焚.




lift the lid on something; take/blow the lid off something

to tell people unpleasant or shocking facts about something 揭露...的真相

Her article lifts the lid on child prostitution.

她的文章揭露了儿童卖淫的丑闻.




blow/toot your own horn

to praise your own abilities and achievements 自吹自擂

Do you know Joe Jones next door to me in my dorm? Nobody likes him - he's always blowing his own horn about what a great athlete he is and how much the girls all chase him.

你知道我宿舍里住在我隔壁的那个乔.琼斯吗?因为他老是喜欢吹嘘自己,所以没有一个人喜欢他.他总是夸耀自己是一个多么好的运动员,那些年轻姑娘又如何一个个地苦苦追求他.




free-for-all

a noisy fight or argument in which a lot of people take part 混战;众人激烈争辩;大吵大闹

On that political talk show last night the experts got mad at each other and got louder and louder. The host couldn't control them - it was a real free-for-all with everybody yelling at the same time.

昨晚在那个讨论政治问题的电视节目上,几个请来的专家都互相很生气,然后讲话声音越来越大.节目主持人没法控制他们.所有的人都同时大声嚷嚷.那真是一场混战.

The bunch of teenagers on the bus were arguing and suddenly two of them started to yell at each other. Then the rest jumped in. These kids ought to feel ashamed of themselves for such a free-for-all in public.

在公共汽车上的那些十几岁的孩子一开始在争论什么事.突然,两个孩子开始互相嚷嚷.然后其他孩子也一起大声吵闹.这些孩子在大庭广众这样大吵大闹真是该感到害臊.




free and easy

informal; relaxed 随便;无拘束;轻松;自由自在

Life was never going to be so free and easy again.

生活绝不会再那样无拘无束了.




half-baked

not well planned or considered 计划不完善的;考虑不周的

a half-baked idea 不成熟的想法

Bill, I'm sorry but this sales plan looks half-baked to me. There are some good ideas here, but I want you to take it back and do some more work on it.

比尔,我很抱歉.这个推销计划看起来好像还不完整.计划里有些主意很好,但是我要你把这个计划拿回去再在上面下点功夫.




rob Peter to pay Paul

to borrow money from one person to pay back what you owe to another person; to take money from one thing to use for something else 借新债还旧账;拆东墙补西墙

You borrow money from me to pay the bank loan. It is like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

你跟我借钱去还银行的贷款,这无异于拆东墙补西墙.

If the restaurant reduces price for food in order to get more customers, but in the meanwhile reduces staff's salaries in order to cut cost, it is just robbing Peter to pay Paul.

如果饭店为了招揽更多的顾客而降低食品价格,同时又降低员工薪水来减少成本,那真是拆东墙补西墙了.