书名：Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms 学乐英语习惯用语词典（修订版）
作者：Marvin Terban
出版社名称：Scholastic Reference
出版时间：2006
语种：英文
ISBN：9780439770835
商品尺寸：16 x 1.4 x 21.6 cm
包装：平装
页数：298

Cat got your tongue?“猫叼走了你的舌头？”Penny for your thoughts?“小猫叼走了你的舌头？”Come again?“又来了”，这些英语习惯用语是这样的意思吗？
其实，Cat got ones tongue是指一个人因惊讶、尴尬而不知道说什么好。在对话中占上风的人会经常对处于劣势的人说：“Has the cat got your tongue?（你怎么不说话了？）”这个问句通常是一个比较固定的说法。
语言学习离不开习惯用语的学习。习语是语言的精华，它带有浓厚的民族色彩和鲜明的文化内涵。语言历经变化，会产生新的含义，而有些古老的意思只在习语中保留。Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms《学乐英语习惯用语词典》专门介绍英语中常用的习惯用语及其来源，并以富有生活情趣的实例来说明用法。本书共收美国人日常英语常说到的和阅读到的习惯用语700多个，按字母序编排，方便查找，适合所有想要了解英美文化和习语的英语学习者。
想要知道Penny for your thoughts和Come again的意思吗？翻开Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms《学乐英语习惯用语词典》就知道了。
Cat got your tongue? Penny for your thoughts? Come again? Every day, idioms bring color to our speech. Since they don’t really mean what they say, idioms can stump even the native English-speaker. Marvin Terban makes understanding idioms “as easy as pie” with the revised SCHOLASTIC DICTIONARY OF IDIOMS. This essential resource features:
·Explanations for, and origins of, more than 700 everyday American idioms
·Kid-friendly sample sentences
·Alphabetical listings and an easy-to-use index
If you think idioms are a “tough nut to crack,” pick up the SCHOLASTIC DICTIONARY OF IDIOMS and they’ll soon be a “piece of cake.”
Review:
“From ‘ace up your sleeve’ to ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,’ this introduction to idiomatic phrases, sayings, and expressions is clear and easy to use.”—School Library Journal
“Terban explains the meanings and origins (if known) of more than 600 idioms and proverbs in this intriguing book.”—Booklist
“Reference tools may be a dime a dozen in this dog-eat-dog world, but here’s a soup-to-nuts dictionary of colloquialisms that doesn’t beat around the bush...an appealing browse as well as useful (and perhaps unique) resource for kids baffled by the intricacies of the English language.”—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

This book well explain the meanings and origins behind more than 700 idioms that you might hear or read in English every day. Our panel of teachers helped me choose the most commonly confusing idioms.
English is a beautiful and rich language, but its many idioms are often tough nuts to crack. This dictionary of idioms should help make understanding these sayings as easy as pie.

Marvin Terbanis a bestselling, award-winning author of more than 30 books for children, most of them about the English language. Called a “master of wordplay” by the American Library Association’s Booklist and “Mr. English for Kids” by the Children’s Book-of-the-Month Club, Marvin is truly an expert on teaching the art of language. For over 40 years, Marvin has taught English, Latin, Public Speaking, Theater, and other subjects at Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School in New York City.

Idioms A-Z
Alphabetical Index
Key Word Index
About the Author

Bite the bullet
The principal wants to see you in her office. Get ready tobite the bullet.
Meaning:prepare for an unpleasant experience ; brace yourself to endure with courage something painful but necessary
Origin:Many word experts think that this expression came from the 19th century medical practice of giving a wounded soldier a bullet to bite before he was operated on without anesthetics on the battlefield. Biting on the soft lead bullet was the way of dealing with pain. It kept the soldier from screaming, which could distract the surgeon during the operation.
Bite the dust
The spybit the dustat the end of the book.
Meaning:to die; to fall in defeat; to fail to succeed
Origin:This cliche, which was often heard in early Western movies, is actually more than 2,000 years old and comes from a line in Homer’sIliad. This saying describes many dying warriors in the Trojan War falling to the earth and “biting the dust.” If people fall with their faces in the dirt, you can think of them getting dust in their mouths. The idiom became popular in English in the mid-1800s.
Bite the hand that feeds you
Eve just insulted the girl who is teaching her to ice-skate. That’sbiting the hand that feeds you.
Meaning:to turn against someone who helps You; to do harm to someone who does good things for you
Origin:This saying, which has been used at least since the early 1700s, originally referred to a foolish and ungrateful dog that actually bit the hand of the owner who was feeding it. The meaning of this expression today has been extended to include people who turn against anyone who helps them. It has nothing to do with real food or actually biting anyone’s hand.