英语讲义【165】有长有短的惯用语

英语有些惯用语中含“长”或“短”这两个形容词，可以分别来学来记。

　　（1） At long last：最后；终于
　　Jimmy has been expecting a letter from his parents. At long last, it came.

　　（2） Go a long way towards……：对……很有帮助
　　The extra income will go a long way towards paying the housing loan for him.

　　（3） In the long run：终于
　　As long as a person works hard; he will succeed in the long run.

　　（4） Too long drawn out：太冗长缓慢
　　“What did you think of the professor's talk?” “Not bad, but too long drawn out.”

　　（5） The long and the short of it：概括起来
　　Mr Hancock has given some reasons against employing Betty, but the long and short of it is that he does not like to work with such a young lady.

　　（6） Before long：不久以后
　　Jason's new book will come out before long.

　　（7） A short cut：捷径
　　Don't go along the main road. There is a short cut to your destination.

　　（8） At short notice：临时通知
　　No one can expect others to do a good job at short notice.

　　（9） Short with……：对……暴躁无礼
　　（i） Sorry for being short with you on the phone this morning.
　　（ii） Have l done anything wrong? Why are you short with me?

　　（10） Short of……：缺乏，除了……之外
　　（i） Is our country short of manpower?
　　（ii） Don't provoke the rascal who will do anything short of murder.

　　（11） Cut……short：中止……
　　As something urgent cropped up, they had to cut the meeting short.

　　（12） Fall short of one's expectations：令人失望
　　The short-listed candidates were good but their experience fall short of our expectations.

　　（13） For short：缩写体
　　He is William, but we can call him Bill for short.

　　（14） Have a short temper：脾气暴躁
　　I have a short temper, especially when speaking to someone devoid of common sense.

　　（15） In short：简言之
　　The hotel accommodation was good, the food was wonderful, and the staff were friendly. In short, we had a good time.

　　（16） In short supply：供应不足
　　Dedicated office staff seem to be in short supply nowadays. Very few have worked until they retire.

　　（17） Nothing short of……：简直就是……
　　What you have just said is nothing short of a threat.

　　（18） Make short work of……：迅速处理……
　　Since these letters of inquiry have to go out by tomorrow, we will have to make short work of them.

　　（19） Give short shrift of……：对……漠不关心
　　Tony looked disappointed when the commitee gave short shrift of his proposal.

　　（20） Pull…… up short：使……中止正在做的事
　　The sight of the intruder pulled all the shop assistants up short.