1. Monkey business – silly, mischievous or deceitful behaviour; stupid or time-wasting activity1.胡鬧，惡作劇-愚蠢、惡作劇或欺騙行為；愚蠢或浪費時間的活動
– Our accountant has been fired as there was some monkey business with the books.–我們的會計被解雇了，因為他做了一些與賬本有關的蠢事。
– Are you still fiddling about with those old tools? Stop the monkey business and get some new ones.你還在擺弄那些舊工具嗎？別再胡鬧了，買些新的吧。
2. Rat race – an exhausting and repetitive routine, a hectic struggle for success2.瘋狂競爭——一種令人精疲力竭、重復性的日常活動，一場為成功而激烈的斗爭。
– I’m so tired of the rat race. I’d love to retire and move to the country.–我厭倦了這場激烈的競爭。我想退休后搬到鄉下去。
– She started to work from home as she couldn’t stand the rat race at the office.–她開始在家工作，因為她無法忍受辦公室里的激烈競爭。
3. Cat burglar – a stealthy burglar who climbs into buildings, usually through upper windows, skylights, etc.三.飛賊——一種潛入建筑物的竊賊，通常通過上部窗戶、天窗等進入建筑物。
– Grandfather’s old telescope has disappeared from the loft. It must have been a cat burglar that took it.–祖父的舊望遠鏡從閣樓上消失了。一定是一個飛賊拿走了它。
– The inspector was surprised by the exploits of a cat burglar who only stole from upper floors and attics.–探長對一個只從樓上和閣樓偷東西的飛賊的行為感到驚訝。
4. Top dog – the most important person in a group, somebody with the dominant position or highest authority4.頭號人物——一個群體中最重要的人，具有主導地位或最高權威的人。
– I don’t want to be the top dog at our company, I just do my job as well as I can.–我不想成為我們公司的佼佼者，我只是盡我所能做好我的工作。
– Peter is the top dog at English in our class.彼得是我們班英語最好的學生。
5. Cash cow – a dependable source of income; a product or service that makes money5.搖錢樹——可靠的收入來源；賺錢的產品或服務
– Our company’s cash cow is the sales department, which makes enough income to finance the developers.–我們公司的搖錢樹是銷售部，它的收入足以為開發商提供資金。
– The publisher saw the new bestseller as a cash cow.——出版商把這本新暢銷書看作是搖錢樹。
6. Eager beaver – an enthusiastic hard worker; someone very excited to start a task6.干活特別賣力的人——一個熱心的辛勤工作的人；一個非常興奮地開始一項任務的人。
– The new secretary is an eager beaver. Although she comes to work at seven every day, she’s the last to leave in the evening.新秘書是個熱心的人。雖然她每天七點來上班，但她是晚上最后一個離開的人。
– Don’t be an eager beaver, we have plenty of time to do this job.–不要做一個熱心的海貍，我們有足夠的時間來做這項工作。
7. Road hog – a dangerous or inconsiderate driver, someone who drives carelessly and selfishly7.路霸——一個危險或不體貼的司機，一個粗心大意、自私駕駛的人
– Sorry that we’re so slow, but there is no way to overtake that road hog in front of us.–對不起，我們太慢了，但是我們前面的那個路霸沒法追上。
– A road hog nearly ran me over at the crossing as he failed to stop at the sign.–一個路霸在這個十字路口靠近我，他并沒有看信號燈停車。
8. Black sheep – an undesirable member of a group, a disliked person, somebody who causes shame or embarrassment due to deviation8.害群之馬——一個不受歡迎的群體成員，一個不受歡迎的人，一個因偏離而導致羞恥或尷尬的人。
– Don’t be surprised that he doesn’t want to take over father’s business, he’s always been the black sheep of the family.別驚訝他不想接管父親的生意，他一直是家里的敗家子。
– They called me the black sheep as I didn’t want to go to the pub and play billiards with them.他們叫我“害群之馬”，因為我不想去酒吧和他們打臺球。
