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21#
发表于 2007-9-2 17:26
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Homework:
I'm Susan Clock with the Special English program 'Words and Their Stories'.
The Italians have an old saying, *****, the words mean it is sweet or enjoyable to do nothing. On weekends and enjoying holidays , many of us enjoy doing nothing, but most of the time, we have to work, and to keep our jobs, we must work hard. Our employer will not like it, if we do nothing.
American workers often call their employers 'bosses'. The word 'boss' comes from the Dutch word 'boss', meaning master. Sometimes, company bosses are called 'the brass', they are also sometimes called 'top brass' or 'brass hats'.
Experts disagree about how these strange expressions started, but they may have come from Britan. Leaders of the 19th century British army wore pieces of metal called ogleeves on their hats. The metal brass has a color similar to that of gold.
So a leader or commander came to be called a member of the brass, or he might have been called a brass hat, or even the top brass.
By the 1940s, the expression had spreaded beyong military leaders, it also included civilian officials. A newspaper in the American city Aladofia used the term in 1949, it called the most important police officials 'top brass'.
Other expressions that mean boss or employer have nothing to do with brass or hats, one of these is 'big cheese'. A cheese is a salid food made from milk. The expression probably started in American in the late 19th century. Some experts believe it comes from a word in the Purgean or Erduar languages.
Cheese, the meaning is a thing, so the meaning of 'big cheese' may be a big thing. Other experts say the word cheese in this expression was really an incorrect way of saying chief. The word chief means leader, so the expression may mean big leader.
An employer ususally does not object to be called boss, but most workers would not call their employers 'big cheeses', 'top brass' or 'brass hats' to their faces. These words are not really insulting, but leader do they show great respect.
Employers also have expressions to describe their workers, one of them that describe a good worker, is that he or she works like a toegen. This expression probably comes from an ancient writing of great poet Homa, he work about the toegens who lived in the city of Choy. He said toegens worked very hard to protect their city.
Now the expression is often used to describe an employee who works hard for a company. A loyal hard-working employee is said to work like a togen. So, be happy, if you company's brass hats say you work like a toegen. They may consider you valuable enough to increase your pay. |
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