与食物相关的成语 FOOD IDIOMS
英文里有大量与食物相关的谚语，有些看起来完全不合逻辑，但是只要了解了它们的起源，就会非常容易记住呢！
Another complaint form? What's he beefing about now? (complaining)
想不到吧？beef和complain有什么关系？目前网上有种说法是这一释义来自19世纪，当时美国士兵经常抱怨牛肉的质量和份额，于是慢慢就演化出"抱怨"的含义。
She'll have to offer a pretty big carrot to get Ivy to take the job. (promised reward, advantage)
其实更为常见的表达是carrot and stick。不少人都听说过胡萝卜加大棒的故事吧？为了让驴子走快点儿，人们会在它脑袋上绑一根胡萝卜，它就会一直追着跑，却总是追不到。一旦停下来，还会被人用棍棒敲打。这就是中文里常说的“恩威并施”。
He tried to quit smoking cold turkey. (suddenly, at once)
相当于副词用法，常常用来表示突然戒掉某个易上瘾的东西，比如烟、酒、药物等等。之所以叫做“冷火鸡”，可能来源于另一个谚语“talk cold turkey”，意为直白地谈论一些令人不愉快的东西。
I wish she'd learn that you can't cry over spilt milk and go on with her life. (regret what has happened)
中文有个成语叫"覆水难收"，意思和这句差不多，不要再为打翻的牛奶伤心啦，Just let it go!另外，spill的过去分词可以写成spilt或spilled，两种都可以哦。
I didn't go on the trip with them because hiking is just not my cup of tea. (the sort of thing I like)
自从茶叶传入英国，英国人简直为之疯魔。这一短语最早全部以积极的形式出现，比如用来表示亲密的朋友，心爱的礼物等等，在许多文学作品里都可以看到诸如“She's my cup of tea.” 的语句。但二战时期，这个短语开始逐渐出现在否定句中，我们可以在一篇1944年的专栏里，找到这种否定用法，[In England] You don't say someone gives you a pain in the neck. You just remark "He's not my cup of tea."
I didn't like the deal he was offering — the whole thing sounded fishy to me. (false)
早在15世纪，fishy一词就作为形容词出现了。当时只用于形容鱼的那种黏糊糊、滑溜溜的感觉。一百多年后，这个词开始用于形容变了质的食物，直到19世纪，才和人产生联系，用于形容一些靠不住的、可疑的人或事。
He's got another half-baked (not sensible, lacking planned judgement) idea for making money, but I always take what he says with a grain of salt. （to accept it while maintaining a degree of scepticism about its truth)
从字面来看，“烤了一半的”也就是中文常说的“夹生”，这种食物很难吃，同样，如果用来形容一个想法或计划，那么half-baked就是没有经过深思熟虑的，可能不太靠谱。
而take sth. with a grain of salt的起源比较有意思。相传老普林尼在其著作《博物志》中曾提到某种解药，其药效翻译成现代英文如下：
Take two dried walnuts, two figs, and twenty leaves of rue; pound them all together, with the addition of a grain of salt; if a person takes this mixture fasting, he will be proof against all poisons for that day.
也就是说，“加点盐可以减少伤害”。然而，直到17世纪人们重新研究古希腊著作的时候，才慢慢开始注意到这种表达。真正赋予其现代意义（带着怀疑的态度接受）的是美国人。美国文学期刊《雅典娜神庙》1908年8月的一期中首次用到这一短语的象征意义：
Our reasons for not accepting the author's pictures of early Ireland without many grains of salt.
在大洋彼岸的英国，这个短语稍微有些不同，变成了“pinch of salt”。它最早出现在F.R. Cowell的著作《西塞罗与罗马共和国》中：
A more critical spirit slowly developed, so that Cicero and his friends took more than the proverbial pinch of salt before swallowing everything written by these earlier authors.
No trouble at all — it was a piece of cake. (easy)
这一短语的起源不可考，但据说源自19世纪美国南方。当时，奴隶主举办cake walks比赛，黑奴两人一组围着蛋糕跳舞，跳得最优雅的一对可以赢得蛋糕。奴隶们一边跳，一边做各种滑稽的动作模仿奴隶主的举止神态，而奴隶主们被捉弄却浑然不知。久而久之，“一块蛋糕”在奴隶之间流传开来，成为众所周之的“非常容易做到的事”。
She said she was glad that she didn't get the promotion because she really didn't want to leave Vancouver, but I think it was just sour grapes. (the act of pretending to dislike something when it is unobtainable)
源自大家都读过的一部伊索寓言故事：狐狸够不到葡萄藤上的葡萄，就说葡萄是酸的，不吃也罢。
I thought I saw some big fish from that lake before, but his catch yesterday takes the cake. (is the most outstanding)
与a piece of cake一样源自黑人社区里的cake walks，正如之前说过的那样，跳得最好的一对可以得到蛋糕，于是take the cake自然就有了“最出色的”之意。
