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英语里存在着大量有关昆虫鸟兽的习语表达，如ants in one's pants(坐立不安；魂不守舍); an elephant in the room(房间里的大象,形容明明存在的问题却被人刻意回避)等等。这些表达精炼生动，诙谐风趣，平时在英语学习的过程中应注意学习积累。英语习语表面看似繁杂零散，记忆毫无头绪。然而仔细分析下后，还是有规律可循的。通过下面的举例不难发现，这些习语都是由相关昆虫鸟兽的名词后面加上一个介词短语构成，记住这个规则，就可以整体归纳记忆，以达到事半功倍的效果。 1. a snake in the grass She's a snake in the grass. While pretending to be your friend, she was slandering you behind your back. 她很阴险，表面上装作是你的朋友，背地里却在诽谤你。 2. a fly in the ointment fly这里是名词“苍蝇”的意思。ointment: n. 药膏；油膏 I like the house, but there's a fly in the ointment: I have to commute so far to work. 我喜欢那套房子，但美中不足的是离上班的地方太远。 3. a wolf in sheep's clothing If I were you, I wouldn't trust him. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing. 如果我是你的话，我不会相信他。他是一只披着羊皮的狼。 4. a whale of a time whale: n.鲸鱼 We argue often of course. But sometimes we have a whale of a time. 当然，我们经常争吵。但有时过得也很愉快。 5. a pig in a poke poke做名词有“袋子”的意思。 As a careless person, she always buys a pig in a poke. 她是个粗心大意的人，总是买些不值得的东西。 6. a dog in the manger manger 意为（喂牛或马用的）饲料槽；a dog in the manger 字面意思是“在马槽里的狗”，较常用的是引申意，相当于汉语里的“占着茅坑不拉屎”。 Don't be such a dog in the manger. Give the basketball to me since you have classes tomorrow. 别霸占着你不用的东西！既然你明天有课，就把篮球让我用。 7. a bull in a china shop bull: n.公牛 ； 另外，注意首字母小写的“china'是瓷器的意思。想像下瓷器店有一头公牛会是怎样的一种既视感。 We were just about to reach an agreement when George came in like a bull in a china shop. His rough remarks turned everything upside down. 我们正快要谈妥时，乔治像公牛闯进瓷器店似地跑进来，说话粗野，把一切都给搅坏了。 8. a bull at a gate One day, the butcher caught up the piggy, and the piggy howled loudly, struggling like a bull at a gate. 一天，屠夫捉住了小猪，它大声嚎叫，猛烈地挣扎。 9. a cat on hot bricks With numerous problems to solve, the newly-elected president felt like a cat on hot bricks. 由于有大量的问题亟待解决，新当选的总统急得像热锅上的蚂蚁。 10. a fish out of water
It's quite normal to feel like a fish out of water when you come to a strange place, not knowing anyone. 初来乍到一个陌生的地方，一个人也不认识的时候，你会觉得像一条离开水的鱼，这是很正常的。 11. a fly on the wall
I wish I'd been a fly on the wall during that conversation. 我真想自己就是只墙上的苍蝇，能偷听到那次谈话。 12. a bee in one's bonnet
I have a bee in my bonnet that he must know the answer. 我一直在想，他一定知道答案。
当然，这里所列举的习语只是沧海一粟，权当抛砖引玉。其实，不管是记单词还是习语，刚开始可以先慢慢认识，见得多了，就可以整体归纳记忆进行举一反三。本文为小编原创，大家感兴趣可以关注头条号或公众号（ID: GuruBilingual）。若觉不妥，欢迎指正补充。
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