97国产精东麻豆人妻电影,亚洲福利在线看,蜜桃av免费观看

Bury the hatchet& have an ax to grind

[ 2011-06-10 09:50]

字號

[大]

[中]

[小]

免費訂閱30天China Daily雙語新聞手機報：移動用戶編輯短信CD至106580009009

Bury the hatchet& have an ax to grind

Kim Bowden

While some bury the hatchet, others have an ax to grind

Could you explain "bury the hatchet& have an ax to grind"?

My comments:

To bury the hatchet with someone means to make peace and stop fighting, settling your differences. For example, you could say, my brother and I agreed to bury the hatchet after years of arguing. A hatchet is a type of short-handled ax. The saying, to bury the hatchet, is a reference to an American Indian custom, where a hatchet, or tomahawk, was buried in the ground by tribal chiefs to symbolize the end of a battle – although not many native English speakers would be aware of this origin.

Traditionally, an ax would have been taken to a blacksmith to sharpen using a turning grindstone. No one can really pinpoint exactly how it happened, but today, the saying has a much less literal meaning. When someone has an ax to grind they have a point of view, often a selfish one, although often they are not upfront in expressing it. For example, an employee might complain to their boss that a colleague is always late, when really, they are jealous this colleague received a promotion over them. We could say this person had an ax to grind.

Although both sayings are recognized and understood by native English speakers, their usage in everyday conversation is becoming less common.

Related stories:

Vocal proponent

Growing pains

Fleeting acquaintance

Right down the middle

Take my word for it

40-sometimes

Last but not the least

Call balls and strikes

Shove it under the carpet

the sky is the limit

hit it off

get my rib in my heart

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Kim Bowden hails from Auckland, New Zealand, where she recently completed AUT University’s Postgraduate Journalism Diploma.

中國日報網英語點津版權說明：凡注明來源為“中國日報網英語點津：XXX（署名）”的原創作品，除與中國日報網簽署英語點津內容授權協議的網站外，其他任何網站或單位未經允許不得非法盜鏈、轉載和使用，違者必究。如需使用，請與010-84883631聯系；凡本網注明“來源：XXX（非英語點津）”的作品，均轉載自其它媒體，目的在于傳播更多信息，其他媒體如需轉載，請與稿件來源方聯系，如產生任何問題與本網無關；本網所發布的歌曲、電影片段，版權歸原作者所有，僅供學習與研究，如果侵權，請提供版權證明，以便盡快刪除。