Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
A person’s nose is important for breathing and smelling. The nose is also used in many popular expressions.
Some people are able tolead other people by the nose. For example, if a wife leads her husband by the nose, she makes him do whatever she wants him to do.
Some people are said to behard-nosed. They will not change their opinions or positions on anything. If someone is hard-nosed, chances are he will neverpay through the nose, or pay too much money, for an object or service.
It is always helpful when peoplekeep their nose outof other people’s business. They do not interfere. The opposite of this is someone whonoses aroundall the time. This kind of person is interested in other people’s private matters. He is considerednosey.
Someone who keeps hisnose to the grindstoneworks very hard. This can help a workerkeep his nose cleanor stay out of trouble.
One unusual expression is that isno skin off my nose. This means that a situation does not affect or concern me. We also say that sometimes a personcuts off his noseto spite his face. That is, he makes a situation worse for himself by doing something foolish because he is angry.
More problems can develop if a personlooks down his noseat someone or something. The person acts like something is unimportant or worthless. This person might alsoturn up his noseat something that he considers not good enough. This person thinks he is better than everyone else. He has hisnose in the air.
In school, some studentsthumb their noseat their teacher. They refuse to obey orders or do any work. Maybe these students do not know the correct answers. My mother always told me, if you study hard, the answers should beright under your noseor easily seen.
I think we have explained the nose expressions. What about ears? Well, I hope you areall earsor very interested in hearing more expressions. We might evenput a bug in your earor give you an idea about something. We also advise you tokeep your ear to the ground. This means to be interested in what is happening around you and what people are thinking.
If you are a good person, you willlend an earto your friends. You will listen to them when they have a problem they need to talk about. Our last expression is toplay it by ear. This has two meanings. One is to play a song on a musical instrument by remembering the tune and not by reading the music.Play it by earalso means to decide what to do at the last minute instead of making detailed plans.
(MUSIC)
This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jill Moss. I’m Faith Lapidus.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25