Red is used in many American expressions. It can be used to show happiness, as in the expression “a red-letter day”. This is a day when something special happens. The expression is probably based on church customs. For almost 600 years, church calendars have been marked with red to show special holy(神圣的)days. Today’s calendars are still marked that way with the dates of holidays and special days printed in red.

The expression “a red-letter day”is often heard in daily life. “A red-letter day” is a day that people are especially happy. It may be a day that you have waited for a long time, a wedding day, for example. Or it may be a day with a happy surprise. You might tell a friend that yesterday was a red-letter day, because you won some money in the lottery.

“Rolling out the red carpet” is another commonly heard expression. It describes an especially warm welcome of any kind. A city may “roll out the carpet ”for its baseball team, when the team arrives home after winning a championship. A group of supporters go to the air port to the greet the team. The red-carpet welcome includes a lot of cheering by thousands of fans, a parade, music and speech of praise by local statesmen.

Red is also used in some expressions that are not happy. “Red-handed ” is an example. To be caught “red-handed” is to be found in an act of wrong doing. The evidence is clear. You are guilty. Today we use the expression “ to be caught red-handed ”in situation(情况)that are not serious. For example, a mother might say she caught her son red-handed, taking cookies out of the cookie jar.

Some American Expressions with __1.___

Expressions about water are almost as water itself．But many of the expressions using water have unpleasant meanings．The expression to be in hot water in one of them．It is a very old expression．Hot water was used five hundred years ago to mean being in trouble．One story says it got that meaning from the custom of throwing boiling water down on enemies attacking a castle．That is no longer the custom, serious and not so serious．A person who breaks a law can be in hot water with the police; a boy can be in hot water with his mother if he comes into the house with muddy shoes．

    Being in deep water is almost the same as being in hot water．When you are in deep water, you are in difficulty．You are in deep water when you are facing a problem which is too deep for you．You can be in deep water, for example, if you invest (投资)in stocks （股票）without knowing anything about the stock market．

    To keep your head above water is a colorful expression that means staying out of debt．A company that can keep its head above water can survive economic hard times．Water over the dam is an expression about a past event．It’s something that is over and done with． It cannot be changed．When a friend is troubled by a mistake he has made, you might tell him to forget about it．You say it is water over the dam．

    Another common expression to hold water is about the strength or weakness of an idea, opinion or argument．It probably comes from the way of testing the condition of a container．If it can hold water, it is strong．The expression is used the same way to describe an idea or argument．If the argument can hold water, it is solid and strong without any holes．If it doesn’t hold water, then, it is weak, and cannot be proved．

Throwing cold water  also is an expression that deals with ideas or proposals．It means, not to like an idea．For example, you want to buy a new computer, so you can do some of your work at home, but your wife throws cold water on the idea, because a computer costs too much．

1．The expression “ get in hot water” means “ be in trouble”． The trouble refers to ____．

A．not serious trouble

B．serious trouble

C．any kind of trouble

D．the possibility to be arrested by policemen

2．Galileo’s theory about falling objects can ___________．

A．keep his head above water                B．hold water

C．be in hot water                         D．be water over the dam

3．“ Your boss throws cold water on your proposal” means ___________．

A．your boss agrees to your proposal

B．your boss has no idea about your proposal

C．your boss dislikes your proposal

D．your boss feels puzzled about your proposal

4．If your friend has made a mistake, you may say_________．

A．you should be thrown cold water on

B．you should keep your head above water

C．you can hold water

D．it’s water over the dam and don’t think about it any more

5．The passage mainly tells us ______________．

A．something about water                  B．some expressions about water

C．origins of some phrases                 D．stories of some idioms

Even teachers can't understand some expressions ________ their students use in daily life．

1. A.
   whose
2. B.
   who
3. C.
   that
4. D.
   whom

You might have a chance to visit England to study or for a holiday. If you go there, you should remember one thing:English people like to talk about the weather. When you meet someone in England ,just talk about the weather. That's their favorite topic. Here are some expressions about weather.

★For good weather

　　 Lovely day,isn't it?

　　 What a beautiful day!

　　 Looks like it might be a pleasant day.

　　 ★For bad weather

　　 It's freezing, isn't it .9

　　 What a windy day!

　　 It's so cloudy. I'm sure it'll rain.

　 Looks like showers ,doesn't it?

I hope you'd better remember these expressions. They must be useful when you visit England. They are good sentences to start a conversation with Englishmen.

The further south you live, the better the weather. So houses in the south of England are more expensive than those in the north. It's very interesting,isn't it?

(　 )11. English people like to talk about ________.

　A. the sports　　　　　　　　　 B. the food

　C. the weather　　　　　　　　 D. the tradition

(　 )12. What does the underlined word "expressions" mean in Chinese?

　 A.表情　 　　B.表达方式 　 C.方法　　　　　　 D.建议

(　 )13. According to the passage, there are ______sentences for weather mentioned in the passage.

　　A. two　 　　　B. three 　C. four　　 　　 D. seven

(　 )14. Houses in the ______of England are more expensive according to the passage.

　 　 A. east　 　　B. west　 　C. south　　　 　　D. north

(　 )15. What's the main idea of the passage?

A. It's about the weather in England.

B. It's about some good ways to start a conversation.

C. It's about Englishmen's everyday life.

D. It's about how to learn English.