Idioms are phrases and sentences that do not mean exactly what they say. Even if you know the meaning of each word you see or hear, you may not understand the idiom because you don’t understand the culture behind it.
For example, if an American boy asks his mother what’s for dinner tomorrow, she may say “I’ll play it by ear”, that means she doesn’t have plans for dinner and she will decide later. "Play by ear" used to mean playing music using the sheet music, but now people often use it when they’re not talking about music.
There’re many idioms in English. If you learn to use them, your English will be more vivid and colorful. English idioms are more common in spoken English. They can be difficult to remember sometimes. Next time when you hear somebody saying to you, "Give me a hand", you don’t necessarily stretch out your hand to him/her, but you do need to be helpful. And when the situation is out of hand, you usually can do very little to manage all that. What about a green hand? It’s not about the color of your hand! You’re a green hand when you are very new at your work and don’t have much experience. If you and your partner always work together hand in glove, you two definitely work together very well.
Can you guess the meanings of some common English idioms to do with parts of your body?
【小题1】What is an idiom ?
【小题2】What does “ Can you give me a hand “ mean ?
【小题3】Are English idioms more common in written English or spoken English ?

Idioms are phrases and sentences that do not mean exactly what they say. Even if you know the meaning of each word you see or hear, you may not understand the idiom because you don't understand the culture behind it.
For example, if an American boy asks his mother what's for dinner tomorrow, she may say “I'll play it by ear”, that means she doesn't have plans for dinner and she will decide later. "Play by ear" used to mean playing music using the sheet music, but now people often use it when they're not talking about music.
There're many idioms in English. If you learn to use them, your English will be more vivid and colorful. English idioms are more common in spoken English. They can be difficult to remember sometimes. Next time when you hear somebody saying to you, "Give me a hand", you don't necessarily stretch out your hand to him/her, but you do need to be helpful. And when the situation is out of hand, you usually can do very little to manage all that. What about a green hand? It's not about the color of your hand! You're a green hand when you are very new at your work and don't have much experience. If you and your partner always work together hand in glove, you two definitely work together very well.
Can you guess the meanings of some common English idioms to do with parts of your body?

1. 1.

   What is an idiom ?

2. 2.

   What does “ Can you give me a hand “ mean ?

3. 3.

   Are English idioms more common in written English or spoken English ?

Hi Mary,

       Thank you for writing to me and I will try to give you some ideas about improving（提高） your written English. The bad news, of course, is that there is no e   77    way to do this. It takes work.

       Improving your English, like getting better at anything else, means lots of practice. I think you already know enough words and grammar in English to make sentences and to understand English, and the problem you have is as the problem all Chinese students have when they learn English. You go to English class a couple of times a week and the rest of the time you speak Chinese. If you come to Canada, your English would improve very         q  78    because you would use it all day, every day. It’s just practice.

       To improve your writing in English, you should do the following t   79    things. First, you should try to read English as much as possible. It doesn’t matter what you read, so pick something that interests you. Reading English will show you how English words are used together, how English speakers express themselves and so on, so you can learn a lot from that. Then you should practice writing. Ask your teacher if you can get extra assignments and write things like short stories. Your teacher can s   80    you where you make mistakes and how to correct them. You can also write more letters to English speakers on the Internet (I will be happy to exchange letters with you if that will help). Don’t worry if you make mistakes     b  81    that is how you learn.

       You say you can not obey your plans. In English we say, “Plan the work, work the plan.” You need a plan and then you need to follow your plan to improve.

I hope these ideas are u   82   . I wish you luck, and if you want to write to me I will be happy to try to help you. We can talk about China, about Canada or anything else you like.  

Best wishes,

Brad Flankin

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