Office series 10: last meeting before Chinese New Year

Expressions with "Thin"

In today's dialogue, Brad suggests that he and Zach didn't want to "spread ourselves too thin," which means doing too many things at the same time, so that you cannot give enough time or attention to any of them. Even though a lot of people want to be thin themselves, in a lot of expressions, "thin" is rather negative. The same is true for a lot of the common phrases below:

今天的对话里，Brad说他和Zach不想 "spreading ourselves too thin"。这个短语的意思是同时做很多事情，因此力不从心。虽然很多人都想自己变得thin(苗条），但是在许多英语短语中，thin是负面词。比如下面的这些例子：

1) Through thick and thin:好日子、坏日子

2) To have thin skin / To be thin-skinned:脸皮薄、受不起批评

3) Out of thin air:凭空捏造

4) Walking on thin ice:如履薄冰

Sample sentences:

MywifeandIhavebeentogetherthrough thick and thin.

我跟妻子一起同甘共苦，患难与共。

Althoughheisveryarrogant,heisalsoquitethin-skinned.

尽管他很自大，但他脸皮很薄。

Thegovernmentisjustprintingmoneyout of thin air.

政府突然间宣布印钞。

Afteruniversity,shedisappearedinto thin airandweneversawheragain.

大学毕业以后她就失踪了，我们再也没有见过她。

I'dbetternotgototheparty.I'vebeenwalking on thin icewithmygirlfriendeversinceIforgotherbirthday!

我最好还是不去派对了。自从我忘记她的生日之后，我在女友面前凡事都得小心翼翼。

Is Spring Festival a Holiday in America?

春节美国放假吗？

America is home to millions of Chinese immigrants, citizens, and workers. With very few expections, most of them will celebrate Spring Festival each year. So the question is, is Spring Festival a holiday in America? Actually this is not an easy question to answer, because the word "holiday" has a few different meanings. Originally, "holiday" meant something like vacation, as in time to rest: In other words, time spent NOT working. However, over time this word has grown to mean "a special day that people observe." So, when people say holiday, they might not always be talking about a day off. In this sense, Spring Festival is definitely a holiday.

在美国生活、安家立业的中国人特别多。他们自然也会庆祝春节。但是春节在美国放假吗？嗯，这实际上是个很难回答的问题，因为假期这个词语有很多不同的意义。原始意义上，假期就意味着度假就意味着休假的时间，换句话说，假期就是不用工作的那一天，然而随着时间的推移，假期这个词已经演变成一个特殊的节日人们庆祝的节日。所以当人们谈到假期的时候，不一定在说休假。从这个角度说，春节是个节目。

However, Chinese New Year is not a statutory holiday in America. But in areas with a large number of Chinese population or Chinese businesses, many bosses will give their employees a day off to celebrate the New Year.

但是，春节在美国并不是一个法定假期。不过在华人聚集的地区，或是华人经营的公司，很多老板自己会给员工放假过年。