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Proverbs
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R: Hi. Welcome to 'Let's Talk. Today we're going to discuss proverbs. And these are wise sayings.
E: Cheng yu.
R: Right. But we wanted to make sure you knew that there are wise sayings in every country. And some are just like Chinese sayings but some are very strange and different but they always give you some food for thought.
E: Yes, or some good advice. And today we thought we keep the theme of 'water.'
R: Don't rock the boat. And that's very simple, obviously. You're sitting in the boat, don't rock it, or there will be bad consequences.
E: This is often used when somebody wants to make some changes, make too many changes, or too big a change. And then people will say to him 'Don't rock the boat.' Everything is good the way it is now. Don't many too many changes.
R: Of course if you did rock the boat, here is another one, 'you will be in hot water.'
E: What's 'hot water. '
R: If you're in hot water, you're in trouble.
E: Yeah. You're in big trouble.
R: Here is another water proverb for you. See if you can understand this one. 'He is a fish out of water. What do you think that mean? A fish out of water would die.
E: Yeah. Indeed, a fish out of water would die. But I think you have a phrase like this. In Chinese, its "liulaolao", it's like an old lady from the country who comes to the city and goes to a disco. She is like a fish out of water. She is out of her environment.
R: She is in the wrong place. There is another one too. Don't cross that bridge until you come to it. That's similar to a Chinese saying.
E: Yes it is. "Che dao shan qian bi you lu." It means when you are going somewhere you shouldn't try to cross a bridge before it's arrived.
R: Of course some of the proverbs are just descriptive, like, 'It's raining cats and dogs.' There's no moral there, but it's about water, describing how hard the rain is.
E: If 'it's raining cats and dogs' you know how big the drops of water are. They're very big.
R: What about the one we were discussing that has many meanings. And it's called 'sink or swim.' This is a good one.
E: Yeah. 'Sink or swim' is so simple. Three little words, 'sink', which means to go down; or swim. And you can use this in different situations. For example, if you were training a child even how to swim or how to go ice skating, you could take them down and from the very beginning, show them every little step, and be standing by their side, and helping them with everything. Or you can say 'Well, he is just going to learn it himself, sink or swim.'
R: You could also apply it to an adult who is working hard on a project at work, for instance. And comes to a point where there's no turning back. Now you've left the shore; you're in the water and you must go forward. You'll sink or you'll swim. So it has different meaning.
E: That's a good one. If you have a business that you're thinking of planning, you can plan and plan and plan, but some day you have to put the money in and open the shop. And that's the day when you decide that you'll sink or swim.
R: Yeah. It involves risk. Another good one for business is 'save it for a raining day.' That applies to saving money.
E: Yes. So if you're saving something for a raining day, it means that you are putting your money into the bank or saving it up, in case something bad happens. In this case the 'rain' means the day when something bad happens.
R: Trouble.
E: And I bet you'd wonder if somebody said don't be a wet blanket. What's a wet blanket? Well if you have people having a fun time and they're just very excited, very happy, laughing and having a very good time, and maybe someone comes in and they're very serious. And all of a sudden everyone is sad. Or, not sad but you can't be happy anymore. That person is called a 'wet blanket.' Because if you have a fire and you put a blanket that has water on it, it puts the fire out. So it's someone, let's say, maybe the teacher came, or your leader came. Or maybe?? I don't know.
R: You can apply that now with some of these phrases. 'Take the plunge' and use some of our proverbs with your friends when you are speaking English.
E: Proverbs are good for you. There're like Chinese "Chengyu"too. We hope you enjoy them.
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成语
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大家好，欢迎收看“你说我说”。今天我们要谈谈成语。
世界各国都有充满智慧的成语，有些成语就像中国成语一样，有些奇怪的成语则不太一样，但它们同样提供了智慧的思想。
还提供了好的建议。今天我们要谈一些和水有关的成语。
Don't rock the boat.请保持现状。这个成语很形象，坐在小船里，千万不要摇晃，否则结果会很糟。
这个成语通常是用在当某人要作出很多改变或一个很大的改变时，别人可能会对他说：Don't rock the boat.请保持现状，事情进行得很顺利，别做太大改变。
如果有人坚持要作改变，结果可能是 You will be in hot water. 陷入麻烦。
hot water 在这里指的是什么？
如果身处热水中那肯定是有麻烦了。
对，你有大麻烦了。
下一个成语不知你们能不能明白，He is a fish out of water.离开水的鱼是要死的。
是这样的，这个成语有这样一种意思。在中文里有个关于“刘姥姥”的成语，当一个乡下老太太走进城里的Disco舞厅
，她就像是条离开水的鱼，脱离了适合她的环境。
她走错地方了。下一个成语是
Don't cross that bridge until you come to it.这与一个中国成语很像。
对，车到山前必有路。就是说在你走到桥边之前，不要尝试跨越它。
还有一些描述性的成语，比如 It's raining cats and dogs.
这是形容雨下得非常大。
如果 It's raining cats and dogs. 你就知道雨滴有多大了。
我们刚谈到了一个有很多意思的成语，就是 sink or swim 。
sink or swim 只有三个单词，sink意思是沉到水里，这个成语可以在很多情况下使用。比如当你教一个孩子如何游泳或如何滑冰时，你可以手把手从头教他们
，在旁边帮助他们，或者你会说
他应该自己学习，依靠自己。
这个成语也可以用来形容一些正在进行艰苦工程的成年人，当他们到了后无退路的时候，成功或失败就在此一举，这时必须坚持向前。
当你做生意时，可以不断地计划
。但到某一天，你必须投入资金让商店开张。这一天是你成败攸关的时刻。
这里包含着冒风险的意思。另一个和生意有关的成语是
save it for a raining day 有备无患，常用来形容存钱。
Save it for a raining day，意味着你把钱存进银行，以备不时之需。这里的rain（雨）指的是
发生什么意外。
或麻烦。
如果有人对你说：Don't be a wet blanket，你知道是什么意思吗？如果你正和朋友兴奋地聚会，享受美好时光，突然进来了一个非常严肃的人，所有人一下子不能那样高兴了。这个人就被称为 wet blanket（湿毯子，破坏气氛的人），因为当火烧地正旺时，你把一条湿毯子扑在上面，火就会灭了。所以当一些比较严肃的人走进来时，气氛就会不一样了。
现在你可以在与朋友讲英语时试着运用这些成语，成语对你们很有好处。
希望你们喜欢。
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