胡鬧，惡作劇——愚蠢、惡作劇或欺騙行為；愚蠢或浪費時間的活動

Our accountant has been fired as there was some monkey business with the books.

我們的會計被解雇了，因為他做了一些與賬本有關的蠢事。

Are you still fiddling about with those old tools? Stop the monkey business and get some new ones.

你還在擺弄那些舊工具嗎？別再胡鬧了，買些新的吧。

2 Rat race – an exhausting and repetitive routine, a hectic struggle for success

瘋狂競爭——一種令人精疲力竭、重復性的日常活動，一場為成功而進行的激烈的斗爭。

I’m so tired of the rat race. I’d love to retire and move to the country.

我厭倦了這場激烈的競爭。我想退休后搬到鄉下去。

She started to work from home as she couldn’t stand the rat race at the office.

她開始在家工作，因為她無法忍受辦公室里的激烈競爭。

3 Cat burglar – a stealthy burglar who climbs into buildings, usually through upper windows, skylights, etc.

飛賊——一種潛入建筑物的竊賊，通常通過上部窗戶、天窗等進入建筑物。

Grandfather’s old telescope has disappeared from the loft. It must have been a cat burglar that took it.

祖父的舊望遠鏡從閣樓上消失了。一定是一個飛賊拿走了它。

The inspector was surprised by the exploits of a cat burglar who only stole from upper floors and attics.

探長對一個只從樓上和閣樓偷東西的飛賊的行為感到驚訝。

4 Top dog – the most important person in a group, somebody with the dominant position or highest authority

頭號人物——一個群體中最重要的人，具有主導地位或最高權威的人。

I don’t want to be the top dog at our company. I just do my job as well as I can.

我不想成為我們公司的佼佼者，我只是盡我所能做好我的工作。

Peter is the top dog at English in our class.

彼得是我們班英語最好的學生。

5 Cash cow – a dependable source of income; a product or service that makes money

搖錢樹——可靠的收入來源；賺錢的產品或服務

Our company’s cash cow is the sales department, which makes enough income to finance the developers.

我們公司的搖錢樹是銷售部，它的收入足以為開發商提供資金。

The publisher saw the new bestseller as a cash cow.

出版商把這本新暢銷書看作是搖錢樹。

6 Eager beaver – an enthusiastic hard worker; someone very excited to start a task

干活特別賣力的人——一個熱心的辛勤工作的人；一個非常興奮地開始一項任務的人。

The new secretary is an eager beaver. Although she comes to work at seven every day, she’s the last to leave in the evening.

新秘書是個勤奮的人。雖然她每天七點來上班，但她是晚上最后一個離開的人。

Don’t be an eager beaver, we have plenty of time to do this job.

不要那么賣力，我們有足夠的時間來做這項工作。

7 Road hog – a dangerous or inconsiderate driver, someone who drives carelessly and selfishly

路霸——一個危險或不體貼的司機，一個粗心大意、自私駕駛的人

Sorry that we’re so slow, but there is no way to overtake that road hog in front of us.

對不起，我們太慢了，但是我們沒法追上前面的那個路霸。

A road hog nearly ran me over at the crossing as he failed to stop at the sign.

在十字路口，一個闖紅燈的家伙差點把我撞倒，他并沒有看信號燈停車。

8 Black sheep – an undesirable member of a group, a disliked person, somebody who causes shame or embarrassment due to deviation

害群之馬——一個不受歡迎的群體成員，一個不受歡迎的人，一個因偏差而導致羞恥或尷尬的人。

Don’t be surprised that he doesn’t want to take over father’s business, he’s always been the black sheep of the family.

別驚訝他不想接管父親的生意，他一直是家里的敗家子。

They called me the black sheep as I didn’t want to go to the pub and play billiards with them.

他們叫我“害群之馬”，因為我不想去酒吧和他們打臺球。

（來源：滬江英語 ）