Apple:

　　be the apple of someone's eye (心爱之物或人，掌上明珠)

　　Mr Grant dotes on his granddaughter. She's the apple of his eye. 格兰特先生很溺爱他的孙女，她是他的掌上明珠。

　　Fred's new car is the apple of his eye. He's always polishing and tuning it. 弗雷德的新车是他的宝贝，他经常擦洗、调试。

　　a bad apple坏蛋

　　Stay away from Peter. He's a bad apple. 不要接近彼特，他不是好人。

　　polish the apple阿谀奉承，拍马屁

　　The boss hasn't accepted our plan yet. I guess I'd better go in and polish the apple a bit. 头儿还没有批准我们的计划，我想我最好去一趟拍拍马屁。

　　The kids don't like Carl very much. He's the biggest apple polisher in our class. 同学们不太喜欢卡尔，因为他是我们班上最大的马屁精。

　　Banana

　　go banana: become mad, angry or excited 发狂

　　She went banana when I said I was going to leave the job. 当我说我要辞职时，她很生气。

　　top or big banana: 重要而有影响的人物

　　Bean

　　be full of beans

　　(1)精神饱满

　　This child seldom gets sick. He's full of beans. 这孩子很少生病，他总是活蹦乱跳的。

　　(2)非常无聊

　　I don't believe it, you are full of beans. 我不信那种事，你的话太无聊。

　　be not worth a hill of beans 没有价值

　　Let him say whatever he likes. His opinion isn't worth a hill of beans. 他爱讲什么就让他讲去，他的意见一点价值都没有。

　　spill the bean泄露秘密

　　I was hoping to surprise Martha with the good news, but someone had already spilled the beans. 我原想告诉马莎这个好消息，让她大吃一惊，可已有人向她泄密。

　　Carrot

　　carrot and stick胡萝卜加大棒子，即有奖有罚

　　My father believed in the carrot-and-stick approach with us, but the carrots were usually pretty scarce. 我父亲对我们采取胡萝卜加大棒子的教育方法，但通常“胡萝卜”很少。

　　Chestnut

　　an old chestnut 老掉牙的笑话、故事等。

　　My grandpa is full of jokes and stories, but unfortunately they are all old chestnuts. 我爷爷有一肚子的笑话和故事，遗憾的是，全都是老掉牙的东西。

　　Cucumber

　　as cool as a cucumber非常沉着

　　The pilot appeared to be as cool as a cucumber even when one of the engines was on fire. 即使在飞机引擎着火时，飞行员也表现得镇定自若。

　　Grape

　　sour grapes由于得不到而说不好

　　Judy says she wouldn't date Fred if he were the last boy in the world, but I know that's only sour grapes. 朱迪讲即使弗雷德是世界上唯一的小伙子，她也不会和他约会。但我知道她只是吃不到葡萄说葡萄酸罢了。

　　hear through the grapevine道听途说

　　I hear through the grapevine that you are going to New York. 我听说你要到纽约去了。

　　Potato

　　a hot potato 棘手问题

　　Soon after he allowed the young man to work in his office, the boss realized that he had been handed a hot potato. 老板刚一允许这个年轻人在他那里工作，他就意识到引来了麻烦。

　　drop something or someone like a hot potato赶紧抛弃

　　He learned that his idea would cost such a pile of money, he dropped it like a hot potato. 当他意识到他的方案需要很大一笔经费时，马上放弃了。

　　be small potato 微不足道

　　My brother is obviously a smart scientist, but small potato compared to someone like Einstein. 我哥哥的确是位优秀的科学家，但和爱因斯坦这样的人相比，就“小巫见大巫了”。

　　lettuce(莴苣), cabbage(卷心菜), spinach(菠菜)等可表示“钱”。

　　I wish I knew a quick way to get my hands on a little lettuce. 我要是知道用什么简便方法能弄到钱，那该多好！

　　Onion

　　know one's onions精明能干

　　He is a doctor, and he knows his onions. 他是一个经验丰富、精明能干的医生。

　　off one's onions精神失常

　　(文/马雪梅；英语辅导报 大学二年级版 04～05学年第21期； 版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)