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Water Expressions

Expressions about water are almost as common as water itself. But many of the expressions using water have unpleasant meanings.
The expression ”to be in hot water” is one of them. It is a very old expression. “Hot water” was used five-hundred years ago to mean being in trouble. One story says it got that meaning from the custom of throwing extremely hot water down on enemies attacking a castle.
That no longer happens.  But we still get in “hot water.”  When we are in “hot water,” we are in trouble. It can be any kind of trouble -- serious or not so serious. A person who breaks a law can be in hot water with the police. A young boy can be in hot water with his mother, if he walks in the house with dirty shoes.

Being in “deep water” is almost the same as being in hot water. When you are in deep water, you are in a difficult position. Imagine a person who cannot swim being thrown in water over his head.
You are in deep water when you are facing a problem that you do not have the ability to solve. The problem is too deep. You can be in deep water, for example, if you invest in stocks without knowing anything about the stock market.
“To keep your head above water” is a colorful expression that means staying out of debt. A company seeks to keep its head above water during economic hard times. A man who loses his job tries to keep his head above water until he finds a new job.

“Water over the dam” is another expression about a past event. It is something that is finished. It cannot be changed. The expression comes from the idea that water that has flowed over a dam cannot be brought back again.
When a friend is troubled by a mistake she has made, you might tell her to forget about it. You say it is water over the dam.
Another common expression, “to hold water,” is about the strength or weakness of an idea or opinion that you may be arguing about. It probably comes from a way of testing the condition of a container. If it can hold water, it is strong and has no holes in it.
If your argument can hold water, it is strong and does not have any holes. If it does not hold water, then it is weak and not worth debating.
“Throwing cold water” also is an expression that deals with ideas or proposals. It means to not like an idea. For example, you want to buy a new car because the old one has some problems. But your wife “throws cold water” on the idea because she says a new car costs too much.


Переведите эти предложения на английский язык, чтобы мне определить - с чего начать с Вами заниматься:

1. Когда наступило утро, ураган прекратился, но дождь все еще шел. 2. Насколько мне известно, вчера к 8 часам он уже закончил всю работу, и когда я пришел к нему, он просматривал новую статью в журнале. 3. Я ожидаю разрешения выехать за границу уже в течение трех недель, но я еще не получил визу. 4. Все уже были у дверей музея, но мой друг еще не пришел. 5. Мы пили чай, когда зазвонил телефон. 6. Мы пили чай, а телефон звонил. 6. Джонни заметил, что все смотрят на него, и он стал чувствовать себя стесненным. 7. Свет движется быстрее, чем звук. 8. Когда я пришел к Петеру вчера, он читал мою книгу, которую я ему дал неделю назад. Он сказал, что он отдаст ее мне дня через два. Но я решил взять ее у него. И сейчас сам ее читаю. Я думаю, что я закончу чтение к пятнице. 9. Когда он, наконец, придет? Я ожидаю его уже полчаса. 10. Покидая зал, студенты поблагодарили профессора, который прочитал им лекцию о древней истории человечества. 11. Он был здесь пять минут назад, но тебя не было. Он попросил сказать тебе, что он опять придет вечером. 12. Ты уже читал Алана Силлитоу? – Нет еще, не читал. Я знаю, что это очень интересный английский писатель. Я начну читать его произведения, как только получу книги из библиотеки. 13. Когда мы пришли на вокзал, поезд уже ушел. 14. Когда мы пришли на вокзал, поезд подходил к станции. 14. Концерт имел больший успех, чем мы ожидали. 15. Он сказал мне, что, если его никто не встретит в аэропорту, он отправится в отель, где на всякий случай он забронировал себе номер. 16. Мы не могли выйти на улицу, потому что дождь лил как из ведра с раннего утра. 17. Он преподает в этом университете с 2000 года. 18. Вы можете мне позвонить, как только вернетесь домой? 19. Он начал писать эссе в 3 часа. Сейчас 7, а он все еще его пишет. Он говорит, что закончит эссе только к 10 часам. 20. Вы должны отдохнуть, вы много работали сегодня. 21. Я работал над этой проблемой до того, как присоседился к группе философов в прошлом году. 22. Где Том? – Он работает в своем офисе, он готовится к докладу. Он работает там уже три часа. Он говорит, что закончит писать доклад к вечеру. 23. Наступило лето, и теперь мы часто будем ходить в лес на прогулки. 24. Когда я вышел из офиса, какие-то люди играли в теннис на теннисной площадке, двое моих коллег сидели на скамейке, наблюдали за игроками в теннис. Один из них держал в руке книгу, которую он предлагал мне в офисе. 25. Он была очень удивлена, она еще никогда не видела столько много подарков. 26. Когда я проснулся, я увидел, что моя жена уже давно встала, и готовила завтрак. 27. До того, как приехал ее брат, она жила в этом коттедже уже десять лет. 28. Она меня спрашивает, кому я сейчас пишу предложение. 29. Она спросила меня, кому я пишу письмо. 30. Он спрашивает, кому я написал письмо. 31. Она спрашивает, кому я буду писать письмо. 32. Она спросила, кому я буду писать письмо. 33. Она хочет знать, читаю ли я эту книгу. 34. Она хочет знать, прочитал ли я эту книгу. 35. Она хотела знать, читаю ли я эту книгу. 36. Она хотела знать, прочитал ли я эту книгу. 36. Она хочет знать, когда я приду. 36. Она хотела знать, когда я приду. 37. Она хотела знать, когда я пришел. 38. Она хотела знать, пришел ли я до того, как собрание закончилось. 39. Я боюсь, что я заблужусь в этом незнакомом лесу. 40. Я боюсь, что я заблудился в этом незнакомом лесу. 

Простые истории: 

                                         A Bad Smell

It was a warm, sunny day. She put a hat on to keep the sun out of her eyes. She needed to visit her bank. She walked down to the corner. There were four buildings at the intersection. One was her bank. Opposite the bank was a fast food restaurant. The other two buildings were a dry cleaner and an office building.

Before she arrived at the corner, she could smell the fried chicken. The restaurant was open seven days a week, and the odor of fried chicken was in the neighborhood daily. She was a vegetarian.

She used to eat meat and fish. But that was before she found a dead cat in her dumpster one day. Of course, she had smelled the dead cat before she opened the dumpster lid. Everyone knows the smell of dead flesh. She knew that something in the dumpster was dead, but she didn't know what.

Just in case it was a human (some people dump their babies into dumpsters), she opened the lid. She saw the cat. Flies covered most of it. They were enjoying their meal. She loved cats. She had two of her own.

A week later at a restaurant, she ordered a hamburger. While she was eating it, she suddenly thought about the dead cat. She spit out the hamburger.

That was the day she became a vegetarian. 

                                       A Jealous Girlfriend

Gary and Alma were having problems, again.

"But you told me it was okay to call up Carol," said Gary. "I asked you if it was okay to talk to her, because it was her birthday and I've wished her a happy birthday every year for the last 10 years."

"But you had already promised me that you would never call her again. You promised me that. So, you lied to me."

"But I had forgotten that I told you that. You know that I forget things. I'm not going to argue with you; you have a memory like an elephant. But you've got to believe me, I completely forgot. And more important, Carol is just a friend."

"No, she isn't. She's still in love with you."

"But I'm not in love with her. She can love me all she wants, but I'm not in love with her. I never was!"

"Well, you say that. Maybe it's true. Maybe it isn't. But the important thing is that you never know what the future will bring. You say that nothing will happen between you and her, but you don't know that for sure, because you don't know the future."

"Yes, you're right. No one knows the future. I could fall in love with her again, and she and I might run off and get married and have nine or ten kids."

"Again? What do you mean 'again'?"

                                            Bad Dreams

“I had another bad dream,” she told her fiancé. “It was about you again. You and your ex-girlfriend were kissing. I yelled at you to stop it. You looked right at me, and then you laughed at me! She laughed, too. Then you both went back to kissing. I tried not to watch, but when I covered my eyes, something pulled my hands away. I tried to leave, but my feet were glued to the ground. Finally, I woke up. Of course, it was very difficult to get back to sleep.

“I had to drive home from Las Vegas this morning. It’s a wonder I didn’t crash 50 times. Instead of seeing traffic in front of me, all I saw was you and her. I can’t take any more dreams like this. We’re going to have to break up. We can be friends, but just friends. That way, I won’t be jealous anymore, and I won’t have these bad dreams anymore.”  “Why didn’t you call me up and tell me about your dream?” he asked. “They say that the more you talk about bad dreams, the sooner you’ll stop having them.”

She disagreed. She thought that the only solution was to break up and be just friends. She loved him, but these dreams had become so frequent that she was actually afraid to go to sleep. She was losing weight and having stomachaches from the stress. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted her to have pleasant dreams. He wanted her to have a life without stress. He wanted her to be his wife. This was it, she repeated; if she had just one more bad dream, they were through. He squeezed her hand, but said nothing.

                                       School Bus Crashes

An elementary school bus driver pulled into a gas station in Ohio because he had to use the bathroom. Instead of turning off the engine and taking the key with him, the driver left the bus running. “It was cold outside, and I didn’t want the kids to get chilly while I was using the bathroom,” he told a police officer. There were 20 kids on the bus. The driver forgot to set the emergency brake because he was in a hurry, he said.

The bus slowly started rolling away from the gas station. As the bus picked up speed, the kids began yelling and screaming. Ten-year-old Jake had the composure to run forward to the driver’s seat and grab the steering wheel. He pressed hard on the brake pedal and managed to stop the bus as it approached a guard rail overlooking a creek bed. Jake turned off the ignition. After the cops arrived at the scene, they congratulated Jake on his heroic effort.  “That is one cool kid,” said the police sergeant. “I told him he would make a great police officer when he grows up.”

Jake wasn’t impressed with what he had done. “Stopping the bus,” he said, “was easy compared to playing Grand Theft Auto III,” his favorite action video game. The bus driver, walking along the highway when arrested by the police, was initially charged with “leaving a child unattended while motor vehicle is running.” While that is only a minor driving violation, the county district attorney said he hoped to upgrade the charge to a felony because of the number of children involved.

“Whatever he is charged with,” the DA said, “I will see that he never drives a bus in this county again.”