Kick the bucket

这是英国俚语,其表面意思是踢掉水桶或踢倒屠宰架,通常用于比喻死亡或寿终正寝。

Those guys are just waiting for their old man to kick the bucket so they can get his money.

那些不孝的儿女正在等待他们的老子一命呜呼以便瓜分他的财产。

I’m not at all surprised that he finally kicked the bucket. He was not in very good health.

他最终去世了,对此我并不感到意外,因为他的身体一直都不怎么好。

Kick up one’s heels.

踢脚后跟,通常用来比喻休闲、放松,引申的意思是指庆祝活动或者玩个痛快。

After these exams, I intend to kick up my heels a bit.

考完试后我想玩一玩。

He had no time to take a holiday and kick up his heels when he came back from the war.

当他从战场上归来时,甚至没有时间去休假去休假或庆祝一番。

Kick the habit:

戒除恶习,那可是件令人happy的事。habit本来是指“习惯”,但在这一习语中加上了定冠词变成了“恶习”的意思。Kick的意思是“踢”,“踢掉恶习”就是“完全戒除”。

I’d like to quit smoking, but I just can’t kick the habit.

我不想再吸烟,可是怎么也没能完全戒除恶习。

有时把具体恶习的词语放在habit前面,如kick the drug habit.

Once Carl kicked the drug habit, he became a model citizen.

Carl戒掉吸毒的恶习之后就变成了一个模范公民了。

如以上所讲,这种表达法一般用于“对身体健康有害的恶习”,但有时也用于其它的恶习:

I think my brother has finally kicked the gambling habit.

我想我哥哥总算完全戒除赌博的恶习啦。

这一表达法还用于戏谑的场合:

I really can’t afford to date so many girls, but it’s tough to kick the habit.

跟那么多的姑娘约会我承受不起,不过恶习难改啊。