第四十五课:
今天要学的词组是a big deal。A big deal是指重要的事，大事。美国《福布斯》杂志公布了400名家产几十亿美元的富翁名单。杂志编辑说："It's a really big deal that it's all billionaires," 名单上全是家产几十亿的富翁真是不得了。
我们把有钱人称为百万富翁。百万富翁变成了几十亿富翁。这确实是件大事，Millionaires have been changed to billionaires and that's really a big deal。 一个18岁的孩子进入了研究院，真了不起，"An 18-year old boy has got into graduate school, that's a big deal." 但是如果你哥哥要你开车送他上机场，答应给你买杯咖啡。你可以用讽刺的口气对他说：Big deal! 你可真大方呀！今天学的词组是a big deal...
第四十六课
今天学的词组是fan the flames。煽子和火？生煤炉？现在没有人用煤炉了！对，fan the flames是指煽风点火，煽动情绪。美国前总统克林顿因记者提的问题而非常生气。这记者说：I don't think I am fanning the flames here。我不是想煽动情绪。
一般都是已经有些问题，经别人一煽动，事情就更糟，"To fan the flames would often make the situation even worse." 夫妻俩感情本来就有些问题，再加上婆婆一煽动， "with a mother-in-law fanning the flames, the couple finally divorced," 夫妻终于离婚。另一对夫妇也有矛盾，儿子对妈妈说："Yes, we have problems, but you don't need to fan the flames," 你不必再来煽动了。今天学的词组是fan the flames...