地道美语听力练习:与狗仔打交道

pain in the neck
英语里有不少成语和俗语都是和人体各个部份的名称相联系的，有的和头，有的和眼睛、鼻子、手和脚有关的。今天我们来讲一个和脖子有关的俗语，pain in the neck。Pain 这个字大家都知道是痛的意思。 Neck 是指脖子。但是，pain in the neck 并不是脖子痛的意思，pain in the neck 意为“a bothersome annoying person 或者 something that causes trouble/a source of unhappiness”即某人很讨厌，某事很麻烦。这个俗语非常普遍，你每天都可以听到美国人这么说: "He's a real pain in the neck." 这就是说："那个人真讨厌。"

Example：
She's a real pain in the neck, because she always complaining about the food and the service.

corner sb.
缠住某人，将某人逼入困境

Example:
Don't corner him. He didn't know it at all.

Qiuz:Can you think of another expreaaion about neck?

上期答案：
Origin of the expression—Chip on Your Shoulder：
This expression originated in the U.S. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded use was in 1830 in the Long Island Telegraph newspaper: When two churlish boys were determined to fight, a chip would be placed on the shoulder of one, and the other demanded to knock it off at his peril. In this case a chip is a small piece of wood. A young boy who was angry about something and determined to fight would place a small chip of wood on his shoulder and challenge another person to knock it off his shoulder. When the chip was knocked off, it meant the opponent was ready and the fight would begin. It was his way of showing everyone how tough he was. Later, in 1855, the actual expression ‘a chip on your shoulder' appeared in print in the Weekly Oregonian newspaper: Leland, in his last issue, struts out with a chip on his shoulder, and dares Bush to knock it off. Nowadays, the chip is figurative—there's no physical chip of wood on someone's shoulder, he/she just acts like there is!