1. Monkey business – silly, mischievous or deceitful behaviour; stupid or time-wasting activity
1.胡闹，恶作剧-愚蠢、恶作剧或欺骗行为；愚蠢或浪费时间的活动

– Our accountant has been fired as there was some monkey business with the books.
–我们的会计被解雇了，因为他做了一些与账本有关的蠢事。

– Are you still fiddling about with those old tools? Stop the monkey business and get some new ones.
你还在摆弄那些旧工具吗？别再胡闹了，买些新的吧。

2. Rat race – an exhausting and repetitive routine, a hectic struggle for success
2.疯狂竞争——一种令人精疲力竭、重复性的日常活动，一场为成功而激烈的斗争。

– I’m so tired of the rat race. I’d love to retire and move to the country.
–我厌倦了这场激烈的竞争。我想退休后搬到乡下去。

– She started to work from home as she couldn’t stand the rat race at the office.
–她开始在家工作，因为她无法忍受办公室里的激烈竞争。

3. Cat burglar – a stealthy burglar who climbs into buildings, usually through upper windows, skylights, etc.
三.飞贼——一种潜入建筑物的窃贼，通常通过上部窗户、天窗等进入建筑物。

– Grandfather’s old telescope has disappeared from the loft. It must have been a cat burglar that took it.
–祖父的旧望远镜从阁楼上消失了。一定是一个飞贼拿走了它。

– The inspector was surprised by the exploits of a cat burglar who only stole from upper floors and attics.
–探长对一个只从楼上和阁楼偷东西的飞贼的行为感到惊讶。

4. Top dog – the most important person in a group, somebody with the dominant position or highest authority
4.头号人物——一个群体中最重要的人，具有主导地位或最高权威的人。

– I don’t want to be the top dog at our company, I just do my job as well as I can.
–我不想成为我们公司的佼佼者，我只是尽我所能做好我的工作。

– Peter is the top dog at English in our class.
彼得是我们班英语最好的学生。

5. Cash cow – a dependable source of income; a product or service that makes money
5.摇钱树——可靠的收入来源；赚钱的产品或服务

– Our company’s cash cow is the sales department, which makes enough income to finance the developers.
–我们公司的摇钱树是销售部，它的收入足以为开发商提供资金。

– The publisher saw the new bestseller as a cash cow.
——出版商把这本新畅销书看作是摇钱树。

6. Eager beaver – an enthusiastic hard worker; someone very excited to start a task
6.干活特别卖力的人——一个热心的辛勤工作的人；一个非常兴奋地开始一项任务的人。

– The new secretary is an eager beaver. Although she comes to work at seven every day, she’s the last to leave in the evening.
新秘书是个热心的人。虽然她每天七点来上班，但她是晚上最后一个离开的人。

– Don’t be an eager beaver, we have plenty of time to do this job.
–不要做一个热心的海狸，我们有足够的时间来做这项工作。

7. Road hog – a dangerous or inconsiderate driver, someone who drives carelessly and selfishly
7.路霸——一个危险或不体贴的司机，一个粗心大意、自私驾驶的人

– Sorry that we’re so slow, but there is no way to overtake that road hog in front of us.
–对不起，我们太慢了，但是我们前面的那个路霸没法追上。

– A road hog nearly ran me over at the crossing as he failed to stop at the sign.
–一个路霸在这个十字路口靠近我，他并没有看信号灯停车。

8. Black sheep – an undesirable member of a group, a disliked person, somebody who causes shame or embarrassment due to deviation
8.害群之马——一个不受欢迎的群体成员，一个不受欢迎的人，一个因偏离而导致羞耻或尴尬的人。

– Don’t be surprised that he doesn’t want to take over father’s business, he’s always been the black sheep of the family.
别惊讶他不想接管父亲的生意，他一直是家里的败家子。

– They called me the black sheep as I didn’t want to go to the pub and play billiards with them.
他们叫我“害群之马”，因为我不想去酒吧和他们打台球。