3.The passage tells us how to ____________.
A.be top students B.do
more at school
C.care for others D.use
the Internet
F
Proverbs are quite common in spoken English.
We don’t normally put them in a composition or a letter. Sometimes it is
helpful if you know what common proverbs mean. Here are a few examples.
1) “Once bitten, twice
shy.” If a dog bites me, I shall be twice as careful in future when I see it.
This proverb is also used to apply to many things and not only to dogs. If you
have been cheated at a shop, you will not go the same shop again.
2) “A bird in the hand is worth
two in the bush.” If I am a hunter, trying to catch birds, it is better to
catch one than to see two birds in a bush but not able to catch them. Thus this
means that what you have already got is better than the chance of being able to
get something bigger in future.
3) “Too many cooks spoil the broth
(soup)”. When too many people do something, they get in each other’s way and do
a bad job.
4) “To pour oil on troubled
waters” is to try to calm things down. Oil is lighter than water. If a ship is
in trouble at sea, another ship may come to help it. The second ship can send
small boats to rescue people. However, it may first pour oil on the sea to make
the sea less rough.
5) “Don’t be a dog in a manger( 槽 )”means“ Don’t be selfish.” In a stable ( 马房 ), the manger is the place where the horse’s
food is put. Sometimes a dog will sleep in the manger and bark when a horse
comes to get its food. The dog does want to eat the lay in the manger but it
will not let the horse eat it.
6) “He is sitting on the fence” means
that somebody will not say whether he is in favor of a plan or against it. He
is sitting on a fence between two opposing sides, perhaps waiting to see which
side will win.
7)
“He
who pays the piper calls the tune.” A piper is a musician. The man who employs
or pays a musician can say what tunes the man will play. Thus this means that
if a man provides the money for a plan, he can say how it will be carried out.
8)
“You
can’t get blood out of a stone” means that you cannot get something from a
person who has not got any of the things you want. e. g. you cannot get a
million dollars from a poor man.
