Lesson 7 Idioms?英文釋義

• (to) face the music:?to admit that there's a problem; to deal with an unpleasant situation realistically
• EXAMPLE: Enron executives finally had to?face the music?and admit that they were involved in some illegal activities.
• in deep trouble:?having a serious problem; in crisis
• EXAMPLE: If there's another winter without any snowfall, Craig's snow plowing business is going to be?in deep trouble.
• in the red:?losing money; when expenses are greater than revenues
• EXAMPLE: We need to do something to start making profits. If we're?in the red?for one more quarter, we're going to go out of business.
• NOTE: This expression comes from the accounting practice of marking debits (subtractions to the account) in red and credits (additions to the account) in black. The opposite of "in the red" is "in the black," meaning profitable.
• to the tune of (followed by a number):?in the amount of; approximately
• EXAMPLE: This year, our Beijing office will bring in revenues?to the tune of?two million dollars.
• no wonder:?it's not surprising that
• EXAMPLE:?No wonder?Randy hasn't been promoted in 10 years. He just sits in his office surfing the Internet all day.
• market share:??the percentage of sales a company has in relation to its competitors for a product or product line
• EXAMPLE: We're in trouble. Our?market share?went from 50 percent last year to only 20 percent this year!
• (to) gain market share:?to increase one's share of the market.
• Example: With the launch of their popular new herbal toothpaste, Colgate?gained market share.
• (to)lose market share:?to decrease one's share of the market.
• Example: Last year, Internet Explorer?lost market share?to one of its rivals, Mozilla.
• (to) steal market share (from):??to take sales away from a competitor.
• Example: Motorola and Samsung are trying to?steal market share from?Nokia.
• (to) get to the bottom of something:?to figure out what's going on; to find out what's causing a problem
• EXAMPLE: When hundreds of people had heart attacks after taking Zylestra's new prescription Drug, the Federal Drug Administration promised to?get to the bottom of it.
• on top of trends:?modern; aware and responding to the latest tastes
• EXAMPLE: The Gap is?on top of trends. They always have the latest styles in their stores.
• eating one's lunch:?taking away one's business
• EXAMPLE: Ever since Wal-Mart came into town, our local stores have been doing poorly. Wal-Mart is?eating their lunch.
• (to) cash in on:?to make money on; to benefit financially from
• EXAMPLE: Jamie Oliver, star of the TV show The Naked Chef,?cashed in on?his popularity by writing cookbooks and opening restaurants.
• (to) bring a product to market:to introduce or launch a new product
• EXAMPLE: Next year will be very busy for Procter & Gamble's Oil of Olay division. They're going to?bring many new products to market.
• (to) run in place:?to not make any progress; to be stuck; to remain in the same place for a long period of time
• EXAMPLE: Our company needs to come up with some innovative new products. We've been?running in place?for years.
• (to) clean house:?to fire a lot of employees
• EXAMPLE: The airline was nearly bankrupt. They had no choice but to?clean house.
• new blood:?new employees
• EXAMPLE: When the biotech company brought some?new blood?into their R&D department, their business really started to improve.
• You took the words right out of my mouth!:?I completely agree with you; I was just going to say that
• EXAMPLE: "I hope the boss doesn't hold our holiday party at his house again this year." "You took the words right out of my mouth!?I'd much rather go to a restaurant."