美國人掛在嘴邊的200句子(2)

101——Many hands make light work

　　Cooperation makes a job much easier.

　　102——There is safety in numbers

　　Do not take large risks all by yourself. Do not walk alone on a dangerous street at night.

　　103——Charity begins at home

　　One should be kind to close relatives before doing good to the community in general.

　　104——There is no place like home

　　Home is the best place in the world. The most relaxing and enjoyable place.

　　105——Silence is consent

　　Do not stay silent when you see a problem or an injustice. Speak outagainst it. Say,"Enough is enough." or people will think you do notmind the situation.

　　106——What goes around comes around

　　What you do to others, especially if it is bad, will eventually be doneto you. As you seek your own success, do not treat other people badly.They may take revenge and spoil your success.

　　107——Honesty is the best policy

　　When one is tempted to cheat, this proverb serves as a reminder of theimportance of good character. Honesty brings trust and trust leads tosuccess.

　　108——If the shoe fits, wear it

　　If an accusation is true, accept the blame. This saying can also mean," if a suitable opportunity comes to you, take it!"

　　109——You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink

　　Even when given an opportunity, some people will not use it. In that case the blame is all on him.

　　110——You made the bed, you lie in it

　　You created a certain situation so you are now responsible to take the consequences.

　　111——The pot calling the kettle black

　　Since the pot and the kettle are equally black from the cooking fire,the pot has not right to criticize the kettle. This might be used ifsomeone known to be a gossip criticizes someone else for gossiping.

　　112——Don't get mad, get even

　　When someone treats you badly, do not just get angry, express your anger in action.

　　113——Get a life

　　Do not be so unreasonably critical about tiny things. Find something better to do with your time.

　　114——My country, right or wrong

　　I am absolutely loyal to my country whether or not I agree with its policy in a certain area.

　　115——There are two sides to everything

　　Never assume that all the blame for a conflict lies on one side, especially if you have heard only one side of the story.

　　116——Forgive and forget

　　Conflicts should be resolved and ended, not left alone to cause years of regret, bitterness and pain.

　　117——Business and pleasure don't mix

　　When you work, work. When you play, play. It is inefficient and therefore unwise to try to mix the two.

　　118——Let a sleeping dog lie

　　Do not meddle in something that will cause you no trouble if you leave it alone. If you wake up the"dog," it may bite you.

　　119——No man can serve two masters

　　Divided loyalty will break down sooner or later.

　　120——Make it short and sweet

　　Speak briefly and to the point. We don't have time for the details

　　121——What will be will be

　　Some things cannot be changed or avoided.

　　122——A friend in need is a friend indeed

　　My true friend is the one who show loyalty to me by helping me when I am in need.

　　123——People who live in glass house should not throw stones

　　Do not attact anyone if you have no way to defend yourself when they attact you in the same way.

　　124——Opposites attract

　　As positive and negative magnets attract each other, so people of verydifferent types attract each other. For example, a quiet woman marriesa very outgoing man. These differences have a mixed effect on thecouple, partly making them interested in each other but also leading tomiscommunication and conflict.

　　125——The early bird catches the worm

　　Punctuality is important. If you want to succeed, arrive early, likethe bird that hunts worms at dawn before they go into hiding for theday.

　　126——Blood is thicker than water

　　Blood relationship is stronger than voluntarily chosen friendship.Brothers will stick up for each other against their own friends if theyhave to. This proverb is not quoted much anymore because kinship is notas highly valued as it used to be.

　　127——You can't teach an old dog new tricks

　　Once habits are learned, it is very hard to change them.

　　128——To err is human

　　It is normal for humans to make mistakes and it is godly （or God-like） to forgive them.

　　129——Haste makes waste

　　Through acting quickly is generally a good thing, acting too quicklymay cause troulbe. This proverb is used when someone has done a jobcarelessly and wrongly. For example, a carpenter in a hurry may cut aboard too short and have to throw it away.

　　130——Make hay while the sun shines

　　If you do not seize the opportunity, rain may come and spoil the hay before you get into the barn.

　　131——If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen

　　Withdraw from an activity if you don't like the conflict and criticism it brings. Let other people do it without you.

　　132——Everyone puts their pants on one leg at a time

　　This is to tell us that we are all equal.

　　133——Life is a pie

　　It's dished out in large and small pieces and when's gone, it's gone.If we ask for more than our share, we're just begging to bedisappointed.

　　134——Making every minute count

　　Doing something productive all the time, not letting any time"slip away."

　　135——A pen is mightier than the sword

　　A conflict maybe resolved more deeply and effectively by writing the truth than by resorting to violence.

　　136——A new broom sweeps clean

　　A new person in power will change many things and improve the situation. change is better than leaving things as they are.

　　137——Tomorrow is another day （or, Tomorrow is a new day.）

　　No matter how bad things are right now, a person may hope for better prospects in the morning. New opportunities will come.

　　138——Opportunity only knocks once

　　Opportunity is like an unexpected stranger passing by. It knocks onsomeone's door. If the person fails to answer the door, opportunitygoes away and knocks on someone else's door. It does not return to thesame person.

　　139——Business is business

　　Do business with strangers as if they were brothers and with brothers as if they were strangers.

　　140——History repeats itself

　　There are patterns in history. Nations rise and fall for similarreasons. Nations do not change their ways or learn from the mistakes ofothers. They repeat them.

　　141——People are people

　　Their human nature is predictable. They respond to stimulus and incentives.

　　142——Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer

　　A man without enemy is a man without quality. Think not? Even Jesus Christ had many, many enemies.

　　143——Better late than never

　　Though being on time is better than being late, doing something late is better than giving up or doing nothing.

　　144——Punish one, teach a hundred

　　People problems sometimes must be dealt with harshly. When you make anexample of someone, make sure that everyone knows what the lesson is.

　　145——Attitude is everything

　　A pessimist sees a glass half-empty, An optimist sees it half-full.

　　146——Like father, like son

　　A son will be like his father. This may be quoted whenever the son hasdone something that reminds people of the father. Whether it is good orbad.

　　147——When the cat's away the mice will play

　　People will take advantage of a situation if they can. Employees willget lazy if the supervisor is not keeping an eye on them. A teenage sonor daughter might hold a wild party at home during a weekend when theparents have gone out of town.

　　148——Praise when praise is due （sometimes even when it isn't）

　　Do not criticise beyond necessity and seldom in public. And always precede criticism with a few words of praise.

　　149——Turnabout is fair play

　　If a person is taking advantage of someone else, the situation maychange. The one on top may end up on the bottom. Then the one who hasturned the tables will say,"I am only doing to you what you did to me.

　　150——Here today, gone tomorrow

　　Things may change quickly. This is said as a criticism of a person whochanges quickly for no good reason. It may also be said of a thing orsituation which does not last. Change is not good when it indicatesunreliability.

　　151——Will wonders never cease?

　　Said when someone has done something untypical of him or her and muchbetter than was expected. It may also be used of a technologicalbreakthrough.

　　152——Do not stand out, fit in

　　Make no long-term, close friendships with any colleague., but be cordial to all.

　　153——There is no morality in struggles for power

　　In struggles for power, your judgements should be based entirely onself-interest and finding as direct and economical a route to your goalas possible.

　　154——Natural law is blind

　　Just like water, cleaness and refreshes without any distinction, and without any judgement either.

　　155——The more things change, the more they stay the same

　　Said when an apparent change is only superficial.

　　156——Happiness is a choice and misery is optional

　　The way we choose to see the world creates the world we see.

　　157——The leopard cannot change his spots

　　Some people are not willing or able to change their chartacter. This issaid when a notoriously bad person tries to change but fails into thesame mistake all over again.

　　158——Man proposes, God disposes

　　Human beings make their plans but God determines whether they succeed or not.

　　159——A live dog is better than a dead lion

　　It may be better to run away like a scared dog with its tail betweenits legs than to stand and fight to the death like a courageous lion.

　　160——It's a woman's prerogative to change her mind

　　Since women are often considered more emotional and less logical thanmen, and since emotions are more changeable than reasons, women areallowed to change their minds.

　　161——Spare the rod and spoil the child

　　An undisciplined child will turn out to be a rotten person. Manyparents think that any physical punishment of children is abusive,while many others think that without it, children grow up to be morallyretarded.

　　162——Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me

　　A taunt used by people claiming that an insult did not affect them.

　　163——The worm turns

　　Everything chnages. Do not expect situations or people to stay the same for very long.

　　164——You are what you eat

　　A nation's diet can be more revealing than it's art or literature.

　　165——Marriages are made in heaven

　　God is the source of human love and the one who destines twoindividuals to be married. This proverb is going out of fashion sinceit goes against individual freedom.

　　166——If you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours

　　If you do something good for me, I should do something good for you.

　　167——Office politics are secret and dirty and there is never an end to it

　　To survive, be patient——watch, listen and say little; to win, be patient——survive, plan and then strike swiftly.

　　168——Work smarter, not harder

　　Get others to do as much as they can for you.

　　169——Time heals all wounds

　　The damage done by a conflict is like a wound that will heal naturally over time if it is not re-injured.

　　170——No news is good news

　　If a friend is travelling and one does not hear from him/her, one mayassume that everything is going well. As another proverb says, Bad newstravels fast.

　　171——Time marches on

　　Time is marching to its own drumbeat. It does not slow down or stop for anyone.

　　172——Keeping up with Joneses

　　This means buying things that you see your neighbors buying. That way you look like just as much a success as they do.

　　173——A man may work from sun to sun, but woman's work is never done

　　Men may have to work long days but they can go home to rest in theevening. Women can never get away from what used to be called"women'swork," such as cooking and cleaning.

　　174——The sooner the better

　　A wish for quick action or quick change. Once a decision has been made, there is no point in waiting to carry it out.

　　175——A good captain goes down with his ship

　　The captain remains on board his ship even when all hope to save it is lost.

　　176——Every cloud has a silver lining

　　Even bad situations will contain something good if we look for it.Clouds are considered symbols of undersirable things. The bright edgeof a dark clouds is like something good that can cheer us up.

　　177——The exception proves the rule

　　Though we are making an exception and breaking the rule in this onecase, we do it only becasue the circumstances are so unusual.

　　178——Shop till you drop

　　Shopping is a form of considering options. People think this is fun so they keep doing it untill they are worn out.

　　179——The devil can quote scripture

　　A quotation from an authoritative book or person cannot always be trusted. The quote may be distorted or incorrectly applied.

　　180——Hindsight is always 20/20

　　Looking back on the past, it is easy for anyone to see what should havebeen done even though it was impossible for anyone to see it at thetime. （"20/20 vision" is an eye doctor's term for eyes that seeperfectly.）

　　181——The good die young

　　Life is not always fair. Some very fine people die at a young agethough it seems they were so good they deserved to live longer.

　　182——Power corrupts

　　When people are put into positions of power, they gradually forget whatlife is like for ordinary people. They become more likely to abusetheir power, perhaps without even realizing it.

　　183——Half a loaf is better than no bread at all

　　Sometimes we will not be able to get all we want or hope for. As suchtimes of only partial success, we should look on bright side and beglad for what we got.

　　184——A house divided against itself cannot stand

　　Unity is the strength that preserves a family or a nation.

　　185——Easy said than done

　　We promise according to our hope but we perform according to our fear.

　　186——A dog is a man's best friend

　　Dogs are know for their loyalty. Their friendship is more reliable than the friendship of people.

　　187——Practice makes perfect

　　Effort brings improvement and success.

　　188——Where there is a will, there's a way

　　Any problem can be solved if one is determined enough.

　　189——He who laughs last, laughs best

　　If a person does wrong to someone and laughs at him or her, the victimwill look for a way to get revenge. When revenge is taken, the victimgets the last laugh, defeating the other person.

　　190——It takes two to make a quarrel

　　Avoid a fight if you can. An insult does not become a fight unless it is answered by an insult.

　　191——Let bygones be bygones

　　Do not bring up an old problem. Pretent it never happened.

　　192——Two wrongs don't make a right

　　If someone does a wrong to you, react with justice, not by doingsomething vicious. （He did wrong to you, but you do right in response.

　　193——Crime does not pay

　　Though crime appears to have benefits, this is an illusion. forexample, shoplifting seems like an easy way to get things one wants,but crime always puts the criminal in danger of punishment.

　　194——So far so good

　　Said by or to someone who is carrying out a plan taking one step at a time. Confidence increases with each step.

　　195——Two is company and three is a crowd

　　This may be used when two people are talking and a third, unwanted person approaches.

　　196——Innocent untill proven guilty

　　In a court of law, the accused person is presumed innocent at thestart. The burden of proof always rests on the accusser, not theaccused. The jury will not convict the person unless the proof is clear.

　　197——The devil made me do it

　　I am not to blame for what I did. I could not help it. Some poweroutside of me was forcing me to act in that way. This is playfully usedas an excuse by people who know they have done something wrong but wantto avoid the penalty.

　　198——Home is where the heart is

　　Home is wherever ones loved ones are. The size or appearance of a house does not make it a home or keep it from being a home.

　　199——Time and tide wait for no man

　　When something's time has come, it will happen and nothing can stop it. It is like an ocean tide coming in to the shore.

　　200——Home, sweet home

　　This phrase reminds people of the ideal home——It should be a place of warmth, love and joy.