Western Wonderful Sayings (3)

Author: Sima Zhuang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-01-01
Features: This book is the third in the "Western Wisdom" series, collecting over 200 Western idioms and proverbs commonly used in society, all accompanied by humorous cartoons. The book is both entertaining and easy to remember, making it a fun learning experience. Readers can learn authentic English in a playful way, achieving two goals at once.
A/THE BABY BOOM
A boom is the rapid expansion or sudden numerical growth of something. Since our topic here is babies, a/the baby boom refers to a sudden increase in birthrate.
"The universities are filled to capacity due to the baby boom that followed the war."
"We've had a baby boom, and our hospital is becoming overcrowded," Dr. Garbos said.
A BAG OF WIND
"I wonder why people say Horace is such an interesting man," Lily yawned. "To me he's a bag of wind."
Lily is either very unkind or very honest, because a bag of wind is someone who talks a lot—and stories that are hard to believe.
A BATTLE/WAR OF NERVES
In a battle or war, blood is shed and lives are lost. In a battle/war of nerves, the only thing lost is a lot of sweat and sleep. That's because this refers to a tactical or psychological struggle between people, groups, or nations.
"I think there's a battle of nerves going on in the waiting room," Sigmund said.