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发表于 2008-2-3 12:34
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Homwork:
I’m Susan Clark with the Special English Program Words and Their Stories. The Italians have an old saying: “You don’t ***” The words mean it is sweet or enjoyable to do nothing. On weekends and during holidays, many of us enjoy doing nothing. But most of the time, we have to work. And to keep our job, we must work hard. Our employer will not like it if we do nothing.
American workers often called their employers bosses. The word “boss” comes from the Dutch word “boss”, meaning “master”. Sometimes company bosses are called the bras. They are also sometimes called top bras, or bras hats. Experts disagree about how these strange expressions started, but they may have come from Britten. Leaders of the 19 century British Army were pieces of metal called oclips on their hats. The metal bras have a color similar to the gold, so a leader or conmander came to be called a member of the bras. Or he might have been called a bras hat, or even the top bras. By the 1940s, the expression had spread beyond the military leaders, it also included civilian officials. A newspaper in America City of Philadelphia uses the term in 1949. It called the most important policy officials top bras.
Other expressions that mean boss or employer have nothing to do with bras or hats. One of these is big cheese. A cheese is a solid food made from milk. The expression probably started in America in the late 19 century. Some experts believed it comes from a word in a pergen or urdio languages. Cheese, the meaning is a thing, so the meaning of big cheese may be a big thing. Other experts said the word cheese in this expression was really an incorrect way of saying chief. The word chief means leader, so the expression meaning big leader. An employer usually does not object to being called boss, but most workers would not call their employers big cheeses, top bras, or bras hats to their basis. These words are not really insulting, but leader do not show their great respect.
Employers also had an expression to describe their workers, one of them that describes a good work is that he/ she works like a Trojan. This expression probably comes from the ancient writings of the Greek poet Homer. He wrote about the Trojans who lived in the city of Troy. He said Trojans worked very hard to protect their city. Now the expression is often used to describe an employee who works hard for a company. A lauror hard working employee is said to work like a Trojan. So be happy if your company’s bras hats say you work like a Trojan. They may consider you valuable enough to increase your pay.
This Special English Programs Words and Their Stories are written by J.M. I’m S.C.  |
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