校园英语口语习惯用语 第20期:at one's elbow

at one's elbow 很近

【讲解】

该短语亦可作at the elbow或at someone’s elbow，表示“近在手边”，多用于描述某人、某物容易找到或距离很近。

【对话】

A: Thank you for lending me the book.
A: 谢谢你借书给我。

B: Sure. But it's a very difficult one, you need to have a dictionary at your elbow.
B：不用谢。可这本书非常难，你手边需要一本字典。

A: But I'm not used to looking up every new word when I'm reading a novel. I only look up the most necessary ones.
A: 可是我不习惯读小说时见到生词就查字典。我只查一些非常必要的词。