1. Work the System: To take advantage of the system, often in an unethical way, to get what you want. (ex: Once elected, the corrupt politician began to use his power to work the system and increase his personal fortune).

利用制度，常指用一種不道德的方式去得到想要的東西。（例如：一旦被選上，腐敗的政治家就會利用他的權(quán)力去鉆制度的空子，從而牟取個人利益。）

2. In the Works: When an item or project is currently being produced or developed. (ex: While the band was touring for their newest album, they revealed that their next album was in the works and would soon be available.)

一個產(chǎn)品或者項目正在產(chǎn)生或發(fā)展。（例如：當(dāng)一個樂隊為最新專輯巡回演出的時候，他們發(fā)布了他們的下一張專輯正在制作中，并且很快發(fā)售。）

3. Work(s) like a charm: When something functions perfectly. (ex: After his friend fixed his computer, it worked like a charmfor the rest of the year.)

當(dāng)某樣?xùn)|西正在完美地運作。（例如：電腦在被他的朋友修好好，在這一年剩下的時間里都運行得很好。）

4. Work Wonders: To have a very positive effect to solve a problem. (ex: He soon discovered that listening to RealLife Radio every day worked wonders for his listening comprehension)

在解決某個問題上有很好的影響（例如：他很快就發(fā)現(xiàn)，每天聽真生活錄音對提高聽力理解有很大幫助。）

5. Put to Work: To assign a job or to make somebody work [who was previously inactive] (ex: His school vacation didn’t last long, as his parents soon put him to work in the family business.)

給某人布置一項工作（那個人之前工作并不積極）（例如：他的假期并不長，因為他的父母給他安排了很多家族生意的工作。）

6. Out of Work: To be unemployed, or to not have a job [when one previously had a job] (ex:After losing his job last year, he was out of work for 6 months)

失業(yè)或沒有工作（以前是有工作的）（例如：自從去年被解雇以后，他失業(yè)了六個月。）

7. All in a Day’s Work: Used to express that something is very routine (even though it’s often difficult), and it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. (ex: You may say this after finishing a day filled with difficult tasks that are expected in your job.)

用于描述某些常規(guī)的東西（盡管這些東西經(jīng)常是難度很大的），或是描述一個不出彩的東西（例如：你可能會在完成了一天艱難而又常規(guī)的工作后，說這句話。）

8. All Work and No Play (Makes Jack a Dull Boy): When one is working so hard that they don’t have the time to enjoy life or cultivate joy for living.

描述某人努力工作，以致于沒時間找樂子、享受生活。

9. Piece of Work: An expression meaning that somebody is difficult to get along with in a complex way. Usually said with some degree of disgust. (ex/common collocation: After getting upset with a person for mistreating you in a clever way, you might say “she/he’s a real piece of work.”)

意思是某人很難相處，經(jīng)常是帶有一些厭惡的感覺。（常有的含義：因為被某人巧妙地虐待而感到失落后，你可能會說，他/她真難相處。）

10. Dirty Work: The work nobody else want’s to do. “To do somebody’s dirty work” is to do the unethical, dishonest work that the person doesn’t want to do.(i.e. A mob boss might have somebody do their dirty work- i.e. kill people, get money, conduct deals, etc)

骯臟的活：沒人想做的工作。“做某人的臟活兒”是指做別人不想做的不道德的不老實的活兒。（例如：一個暴民老板可能會讓別人去干臟活兒，像殺人、賺黑錢、干臟買賣等。）

11. Work Up a Sweat: To put a lot of effort into something, to work hard enough to start to sweat. Often used figuratively.

為某事投入很大心力，因為努力工作，以致流汗。這個詞經(jīng)常用于比喻。

12. Have your work cut out for you: To have a lot of work to do in order to achieve a goal/objective. (ex:before starting a job that’s going to be difficult and last all day, “We better get started. We’ve got our work cut out for us.” )

為了實現(xiàn)一個目標而做大量的工作。（例如：在開始一天艱難工作之時，“我們最好現(xiàn)在開始，我今天有大量棘手的工作?！保?/P>

13. Working Hard or Hardly Working? A friendly play on words you can ask somebody to discover how much they are working. Working hard, obviously, means to exert a lot of effort, while hardly working means to not be working very much at all. The humor is that they sound the same but are complete opposites.

一個善意的語言游戲，你可以問一下別人，他們到底干了多少活兒?！癢orking hard”，很明顯，意思是做很多工作，但是“hardly working”的意思是一點兒也不工作。這里面的幽默是，他們聽上去差不多但是反應(yīng)的是截然不同的意思。

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