英语和汉语一样都有成语，都译成idiom，每个单词你都认识，但是合到一起的意思你不一定知道在讲什么。
除了用法、寓意，有的短语和谚语适合书面说法，有的只在口语中使用，有的涉及比喻，有的源自故事，有的是名人名言，有的英国人说，美国人不说，还有的不同的国家有不同的说法……
所以学短语和谚语是一件很有趣的事。希望你读我的系列文章不仅能够记住这些英文短语和谚语，而且能够从相关的故事中体会到异国文化，一些书本上没有，生活里必知的知识。
Chicken是鸡的统称，它有的时候指女性，有的时候指男性，有的时候用鸡本身的一些特征做比喻，还有的时候寓意或好或坏。
跟女性有关
1
spring chicken 指年轻人，尤其指年轻女性。
be no spring chicken 不再年轻
例子：He must be ten years older than Grace, and she's no spring chicken.
跟男人有关
2
choke the chicken
beat the dummy
beat （one’s） meat
beat the pup
pound one’s meat
pull one’s pud
pull one’s wire
whip one’s wire
whip the dummy
yank one’s strap
都是一个意思，指手淫(经常指反对这种行为)。
用鸡的特征作比喻：
3
(one's) (hand)writing is like chicken scratch
have (hand)writing like chicken scratch
这个跟汉语形容人写字不好，像鸡爪子划拉的一样
例：I can't understand these notes at all, your handwriting is like chicken scratch!
4
chicken fillets 指的是Chicken Fillets Bra inserts
垫在女人的胸罩下部的小垫儿，让人看起来有波涛汹涌的身材。
例子：Wearing the chicken fillets when I go out at night just help me feel confident.
5
chicken feed
本意是鸡饲料。比喻钱太少，尤其指酬劳少。类似的说法有peanuts。
For chicken feed=for peanuts
例子：
1）He pays his labourers chicken feed.
2）I'm not going to mow lawns for $5 an hour-that's chicken feed.
3）It may be chicken feed to you, but that’s a month’s rent to me.
6
chicken shit
1. 白菜价，很便宜，好像不要钱 Fifty bucks! That’s just chicken shit!
2. 胆小 You are such a chicken shit coward! Stand up and fight!
3. 没有价值，不值付的钱 I don’t want this chicken shit pizza! Get me one with pepperoni on it.
7
like a chicken with its head cut off （美国说法）
比喻人的情绪十分激动，控制不了，一种非常混乱疯狂的状态。有的时候也说run around in circles。有点儿像汉语的急的团团转。
例子：
1）She ran around the station looking for her lost bag like a chicken with its head cut off .
2）I spent all afternoon running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
3）If you run around in circles, you'll never get anything done.
8
like a headless chicken（英国说法）
做事情太快，考虑不周，没有头绪
I've got so much work to do - I've been running around like a headless chicken all week.
9
like a chicken with the pip
小鸡破壳而出叫pip。当小鸡快破壳而出的时候，鸡蛋就会裂缝，变得很脆弱。后来比喻人没有精神，好像生病了一样
Poor little Johnny's been feeling like a chicken with the pip lately. I think he must have picked up a bug at school.
有关鸡的事实
10
a chicken and egg situation
鸡生蛋还是蛋生鸡？后来就形容两件分不清楚因果和先后顺序的事情
例子：It's a chicken and egg situation - I don't know whether I was bad at the sciences because I wasn't interested in them or not interested in them and therefore not good at them.
11
be up with the chickens
get up with the chickens
金鸡报晓，所以跟鸡一起起床，就是起得早
例子：No, thank you, I won't have another drink. I have to be up with the chickens tomorrow. Ma is up with the chickens every day to prepare breakfast for the farmhands.
12
同理：go to bed with the chickens 指睡得早
例子：They say that farmers go to bed with the chickens. We always go to bed with the chickens and get up early too.
跟吃的有关
13
a chicken in every pot
每一家都有足够的食物，形容经济很繁荣
1928年Herbert Hoover竞选总统的广告就是要保证a chicken in every pot。而事实上，胡佛总统并没有让美国经济好转。
法国国王亨利四世在1589年宣誓他的加冕礼，“if God grants me the usual length of life, I hope to make France so prosperous that every peasant will have a chicken in his pot on Sunday.”他在1610年被暗杀，享年五十七岁。
14
rubber chicken dinner
一些大型活动提供的饭菜，比如说公司搞活动之类的，很多人需要同时就餐。东西往往不好吃。
rubber-chicken指得就是公众活动就餐的食品，赶不上fresh, home-cooked meals新鲜的家常菜好吃。
chicken 胆小鬼／chicken-hearted
15
chicken out
chicken out of something
chicken out on somebody
因为害怕，决定不做什么事情, 或者不和别人干什么
例子：
1）To decide not to do or complete an activity due to fear: My friends dared me to jump into the pond, but I chickened out and climbed down from the tree.
2）Come on! Don't chicken out now!
3）Freddy chickened out of the plan at the last minute.
4） Come on, don't chicken out on me now!
跟坏事儿有关
16
chickens come home to roost
自作自受；多行不义必自毙；害人终害己
例子：
Curse, like chicken, come home to roost.
Her selfishness will come home to roost someday.
伊索寓言《宙斯和蜜蜂》
很久以前，蜜蜂不愿意把自己又香又甜的蜂蜜献给人类。他便飞到宙斯面前，请求给他强大的力量，可以用针刺死那些接近蜂窝的人。
宙斯对他的恶意十分气愤，便使蜜蜂只要刺一回人，蜂针就断了，自己也随之死了。
17
Mother Carey is plucking her chickens
Mother Carey is plucking her geese
下雪了
Mother Carey是一个超自然的人物，18和19世纪说英语的水手们，把她想象成残忍地威胁海洋的人物。
John Masefield在1912年写过一首诗，题目就是"Mother Carey",描写她对船只多么地残忍。
"Mother Carey's chickens," 水手的俚语为暴风雨的海燕和雪。后来就泛指天气不好poor weather
例子：Bundle up, men—Mother Carey is plucking her chickens, so we're in for another rough day on the trail.
跟好事儿有关
18
If it ain't chickens, it's feathers
不是鸡就是鸡毛。生活就是一地鸡毛，总有事儿。这个跟汉语的比喻是一样的。
例子：Now that I'm finally done with school, I've got to worry about getting a job. If it ain't chickens, it's feathers. He's got plenty of money now, but he's in such bad health he can't enjoy it. If it ain't chickens, it's feathers.
19
one day chicken and the next day feathers
指有的时候事情如你所愿，有的时候不尽人意。
20
Don't count chickens
don't count your chickens before they're hatched
不要想得美；如意算盘打得太早，结果往往不好
例子：
1）You might not win the prize and you've already spent the money? Don't count your chickens before they hatch!
2）I know you have big plans for your consulting business, but don't count your chickens.
3）You may be disappointed if you count your chickens before they hatch.
伊索寓言有一个故事叫《挤牛奶的姑娘》：
一个农家挤奶姑娘头顶着一桶牛奶，从田野里走回农庄。
她忽然想入非非：“这桶牛奶卖得的钱，至少可以买回三百个鸡蛋。除去意外损失，这些鸡蛋可以孵得二百五十只小鸡。到鸡价涨得最高时，便可以拿这些小鸡到市场中去卖。那么这样一年到头，我便可分得很多赏钱，用这些钱足够买一条漂亮的新裙子。圣诞节晚宴上，我穿上漂亮迷人的新裙子，年青的小伙子们都会向我求婚，而我却要摇摇头拒绝他们。”
想到这里，她真的摇起头来，头顶的牛奶倒在地上。她的美妙幻想也随之消失了。
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