Lesson 6 IDIOMS?英文釋義

• record-breaking:?better than ever before; exceeding all previous results
• EXAMPLE: After another?record-breaking?quarter, eBay's stock price hit a new high.
• through the roof:?very high; higher than expected
• EXAMPLE: No wonder people are complaining about the cost of heating their homes. Oil prices have gone?through the roof!
• kudos to:?I'd like to give credit to; I'd like to acknowledge
• EXAMPLE:?Kudos to?our R&D department. They've come up with a new shampoo formula that's cheaper to manufacture and more effective on damaged hair.
• NOTE: Kudos is the Greek word for "praise."
• a pat on the back:?credit; recognition; praise
• EXAMPLE: "Team, give yourselves?a pat on the back. Our results are in and we just had our most successful quarter ever!"
• guerrilla marketing:?innovative methods to sell products; non-traditional methods of advertising or promotion that deliver good results with minimal spending
• EXAMPLE: To promote his new Internet dating service, Don painted his car pink and wrote "Don's Dating Service" in big letters on both sides of the car. That's effective?guerrilla marketing!
• NOTE: The word "guerrilla" refers to carrying on a war using independent bands of soldiers, who tend to use very aggressive and non-traditional tactics to win battles.
• dream up:?to think up something creative or unusual; to come up with an original idea; to invent
• EXAMPLE: A disposable lemon-scented toilet brush? What will companies?dream up?next?
• (to) drum up business:?to create business; to find new customers
• EXAMPLE: Sales have been very slow lately. Do you have any ideas for?drumming up business?
• (to) sign on new customers (or members):?to enlist new customers; to get customers to open an account or take a membership
• EXAMPLE: The fitness center was able to?sign on 300 new members?in May thanks to their successful advertising campaign.
• (to) pan out:?to succeed; to bring the desired results
• EXAMPLE: When Steve's career in acting didn't?pan out, he decided to go to business school.
• (to) think outside the box:?to think creatively; to think in a new and different way
• EXAMPLE: The small law firm is losing business to larger rivals. The firm needs to?think outside the box?and come up with some creative ways to market its services.
• NOTE: This expression is now overused. You will likely hear it, but you may not want to use it.
• ORIGIN: This phrase refers to a puzzle used by consultants in the 1970s and 1980s. To solve it, you must connect nine dots, using four straight lines drawn continuously. Your pen must never leave the paper. (The only solution to this puzzle is to draw lines outside the border of the box. Therefore, you must "think outside the box" to solve the puzzle).
• for the record:?let me make my opinion clear
• EXAMPLE: I know that everybody else likes the idea of using a bear for a mascot, but,?just for the record, I think it's a lousy idea.
• (to) share the credit:?to acknowledge someone else's contribution; to share with somebody else recognition for a job well done
• EXAMPLE: Thank you for giving me the award for coming up with the best new product idea this year. But I really need to?share the credit?with my colleagues in the marketing department.
• (a) run for one's money:?strong competition
• EXAMPLE: When Yahoo decided to go into the online search business, they gave Google a?run for their money.
• ORIGIN: This expression comes from the world of horse racing. It refers to a horse on which one has bet money and which comes close to winning but doesn't win.