Cats are the most popular pets among Americans. So it is not surprising that there are a lot of expressions about cats. Some cats like to catch small birds, like canaries (金丝雀). If someone looks very proud and satisfied with himself, we say “he looks like the cat that ate the canary.”
Sometimes, a cat likes to play with a small animal it catches. So if you “play cat and mouse” with someone, it means that you change between different kinds of behavior when dealing with another person. For example, a girl might offer something sweet to her little brother and then take it away when he reaches for it.
Americans might say that something is “the cat’s miaow” or “the cat’s pajamas(睡衣)” to describe something that is the best or finest. “A copycat” is someone who acts just like someone else or copies another person’s work. “A fat cat” is a person with a lot of money.
If you tell about something that is supposed to be a secret, we say you “let the cat out of the bag”. If you are not able to speak or answer a question, someone might ask you if “the cat has got your tongue(舌头)”
Have you ever watched children in a classroom when their teacher leaves for a few minutes? “When the cat’s away, the mice will play” means people sometimes act badly when there is no supervision (监管).
You may have heard the expression “curiosity killed the cat”. This means caring too much about things that are not your business might cause problems.
If you have ever had cats as pets, you know it is difficult to train them or to get them to do something. Cats are not like Sheep or cows that can be moved in a group. So we say a difficult or impossible job is like “herding (放牧) cats “
【小题1】 What can we learn from the passage?

根据短文内容，判断下列句子是否正确，对的涂（A），错的涂（B）。

Cats are the most popular pets among Americans. So it is not surprising there are many expressions about cats. Do you know any of them? Now let me introduce some to you.
Some cats like to catch small birds, like canaries. If someone looks very proud or satisfied with himself, we say he looks like the cat that ate the canary.
Sometimes, a cat likes to play with a small animal it catches. So if you play cat and mouse with someone, you change between different kinds of behavior when dealing with another person. For example, a child might offer something sweet to her little brother, and then take it away when reaches for it.
A cat will often catch a small animal and present it to its owner. The saying “that looks like something the cat dragged in (把…拖进来)” describes something in bad condition.
A fat cat is a person with a lot of money.
There are many other expressions about cats in America. How interesting! Which kind of cat are you, or which kind would you like to be?
【小题1】Americans don’t like cats as pets very much.
【小题2】The canary is a kind of bird.
【小题3】If you have much money, we can call you a sad cat.
【小题4】We can say he looks like the cat that ate the canary if someone is very pleased with himself.
【小题5】The passage introduces us four expressions about cats.

短文首字母填空

Only Mother Love is t   1   love. It gives everybody everything all his life. When you are still a b    2  , mother takes good care of you as much as p   3  . In your waking hours, she always holds you in her a  4   . When you are ill, she stops her work right now to look after you day and night and forgets about h  5  . When you are growing up day by day, she feels very happy. When you are old enough to go to school, mother still looks after you all the time. On cold winter days, she always tells you to put on m  6   clothes. She always stands in the wind waiting for your back from school. When you hurry to leave home w  7   little breakfast, she always feels worried about you at home. She usually knows about your study and spends much money on your school things. When you do well at school, you will see the brightest s   8  on her face.

Mother is always ready to give e  9   she has to her children, not to r  10 . What true love it is in the world! We will remember Mother Love for ever!

There are hundreds of funny and strange expressions in the English language. A lot of them include country names or nationalities. Take these examples:

The Dutch（丹麦人）are the target of most English expressions about nationalities. Why are there so many jokes about the Dutch in English? And what do these expressions mean? In the 17th and early 18th centuries, there were three wars between the British and the Dutch, and Dutch became a bad word. So double Dutch means something that has no meaning or is impossible to understand. A Dutch uncle is someone who gives much stronger advice than they need to. There are later expressions, which are funnier and kinder, like to go Dutch, which is nowadays a popular expression. It means to pay for your part of a bill. This often happens when a group of friends have a meal together, and each person pays for the food they ate. I’m a Dutchman is another commonly used expression. This means not being able to believe something.

An expression with a similar meaning to double Dutch is it’s all Greek to me, which means I don’t understand. The expression was made famous in Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar although the expression is actually hundreds of years older.

If you take French leave, you are not present or leave somewhere without permission. For example, you could take French leave from a classroom or the place where you work. This expression is from the 18th century when French people left parties without saying goodbye to the host or hostess.

There are Chinese whispers, which mean confused（令人困惑的）messages. This describes the fact that a message can often change as it is passed from person to person. This expression comes from the First World War when foreigners were often confused by Chinese language.

Many people find English expressions confusing, but now that you know about some of them, you can easily have fun finding out many more funny English expressions.

1.Are there many jokes about the Dutch in English?

2.When did Dutch become a bad word?

3.What does “French leave” mean?

4.Which three expressions mentioned above have similar meanings?

5.What do the funny and strange expressions in the passage have in common?