The world of idioms, страница 2

UNIT 2

HEART, the organ that circulates the blood; the seat of life.

You can't exist without your heart. It circulates your blood, and it is also the place where you experience all your feelings, or so people believed many years ago. Our language shows that, in our heart of hearts, we still believe this.

The heart can be a painful place or a happy one, according to the feeling we are experiencing. If your heart is in your mouth, you are nervous or fright­ened. If your heart sinks into your boots, you are feeling very uncomfortable, too, because something very unpleasant has just happened or is about to happen. To lose one's heart can be a happy or a sad experience because it is always lost in love. But to break one's heart — usually in love, too — is never a good thing. It is important not to set your heart on things you cannot have, as this can lead to a broken heart. If you feel something very deeply — perhaps a criticism or a sad event — you are taking it to heart too much.

Often, after experiencing strong feelings, people need to have a heart to heart talk with someone, per­haps a close and kind-hearted friend to whom they can tell everything. A person who wears his heart on his sleeve usually talks to everyone about everything. The whole world knows his problems, his dreams,  who he is in love with. Even so, if he is a kind and decent person, most people would say that his heart is in the right place, and that is the important thing. We hope with all our hearts that these idioms have not confused you. If you try wholeheartedly to learn them, they should not be too difficult. In fact, why not learn by heart the whole page? That should keep you busy until next month!

UNIT 3

HAND, the extremity of the arm below the wrist.

Hands are perhaps the most useful part of the body. We carry, write, cook, sew, drive end gesture with our hands, to name only a few things. The hand is often seen as a symbol of strength or benediction. Two hands together mean agreement or trust: we shake hands to show that we are ready to be on friendly terms. Because hands are so important, there are dozens of idioms concerning them. Here are a few.

Expressions including the word hand often have someth­ing to do with capability and responsibility. For example, we say that our hands are full when we are very busy. When a job is fully under control or something is being prepared, we say that it is in hand. People who have a lot on their hands have a lot of things to deal with — either work or problems to sort out. If they are lucky, a kind friend or helper might give them a hand with the work, or even take some of it off their hands altogether. Someone who is always a great help in a working situation — a good assistant of secretary, for example — is often referred to by the boss as his right hand. When an assistant is capable and reliable, things can often be left in her hands entirely. This is especially true if she is an old hand at the job — that is, if she has been doing it for a long time and has a lot of experience. Someone who is not so experienced has to get his hand in before he can really start to do anything well; in other words, he needs practice. Some lucky people find that certain sports or skills come to hand very easily. If you really master a skill, sport or game, you may find that you may often win hands down — or in other words, very easily.