我是一名护士。初来美国时有幸在一家养老院工作。由于英语水平差，我的宗旨是“多干活，少开口。”有一天，我给一位年龄90多岁身患老年性痴呆症的老太太琳达喂药。试了几次，琳达就是不肯张嘴。情急之下，我脱口而出：“Linda， open your big mouth。”不料琳达太太生气起来，大声叫喊道，“You have a big mouth. Leave me alone！”（你才是大嘴巴，走开，别管我！）我一下子呆住了，不知错在哪里。
后来经人指点我才知道，“Big mouth”在美国俚语中指喋喋不休、随便乱说的人，难怪琳达太太听了会生气。我当时应该说：“Open our mouth wide。”
4.Black Meat or Dark Meat 黑肉还是鸡腿肉
This story happened when I just came to America. One day I went to the fried？chicken fast？food restaurant attached to the school. A waiter asked me，“What kind of meat would you like？”At that time it occurred to me that I had learned in my college English class that“white meat”refers to chicken breast while“dark meat”means chicken leg. However， when I spoke it went like“Black meat， please.”Suddenly I found the waiter looking angry（for he happened to be a black）.Then I realized that I had said something wrong. Af？ter I explained time and again that I just came to America and knew very lit？tle about slang， he became happy again.
故事发生在我刚刚到美国的时候。一天，我到学校附设的快餐炸鸡店用餐，服务员问我：“要吃哪种鸡肉？”当时我想起大学英文课所学的“white meat”是鸡胸肉，“dark meat”是鸡腿肉。但是口中却说成“Black meat， please”。这时只见这位服务员面呈怒色（他正好是位黑人），我才意识到自己说错话了。几经解释，本人初到美国不懂英文俚语，他才转怒为喜。
5.Blow Your Own Horn 自吹自擂
Mr. Z just graduated from university and was hunting for a job.One day he was driving a car to go on an outing with several friends. They were caught in a traffic jam downtown， so they had to wait patiently in their car. They began to talk one after another about their experiences in looking for a job and exchange ideas on how to write a curriculum vitae.
One of his friends patted Mr.Z on the shoulder and said，“You should blow your own horn！”
As soon as that friend finished speaking， a burst of sounds of horn washeard. His friend quickly stopped him，“Hey， what will be you doing？ Sound？ing your horn is forbidden here， otherwise fines will be imposed. Did you see the sigh broad‘Don't Horn'over there？”
Mr.Z felt wronged and said，“Didn't you ask me to blow the horn？ I thought you wanted me to sound the horn to hurry the unmoving car in front.”
Later Mr. Z figured out that“blow your own horn”means“publicize or boast one's abilities or achievements.”There his friends meant that Mr.Z should not modest but show off his strong points and merits when writing his resume.
小张刚从大学毕业，正在找工作。一天他与几个朋友一起开车旅游。在市区遇上了交通堵塞，他们只好耐心地坐在车中，朋友们纷纷谈找工作的经历，以及怎样写个人简历。
其中一位朋友拍着小张的肩膀说：“You should blow your own horn！”
话音刚落，只听到阵阵的喇叭声。朋友急忙制止：“喂，你干什么？这里不准鸣喇叭。”
小张委屈地说：“不是你叫我blow the horn吗？我还以为你想让我按喇叭催前面停着不动的车呢？”
后来小张弄清楚了，原来“blow the horn”有“自吹自擂”的意思。在这里，小张的朋友是指写简历时不要谦虚，而要展示自己的长处和优点。
6.Can You Dig It？ 你能弄明白吗？
One day， not long after I started working in a surveying company， I was assigned to work done outside the office with a colleague at a construction site for surveying boundary markets. Perhaps due to the construction， the fixed maker ，which was previously surveyed and set up， was removed and lost .My colleague and I make a great deal of effort to look for the market but could not find it. As a result， it was almost impossible for us to proceed with our work. Therefore， my colleague decided to phone our company for con？struction in a public telephone booth.
Before he left， he gave the computer forms for reporting statistics to me and said，“I know it's got to be somewhere around here， I want you to take a ；look at the sheets see whether you can dig it .”
After a while， my colleague came back. He was really startled by what he saw.
It turns out that“dig”in American English has another meaning than the dictionary definition. The second meaning is understanding or finding out by searching or looking for information， etc. However， I had already dug a big hold half a person's depth in the ground.
刚进测量公司上班不久，一日我被指派与一位同事外出到一处工地勘测界桩。可能由于工地正在施工的缘故，早先测设的固定桩被移掉了，我跟同事两人费尽力气也没有找到界桩，以致接下来的工作几乎不可能进行，于是同事决定到公共电话亭与公司商量。
他临走前，将电脑报表交给我说：“我知道它就在这一带，我想让你看看这些报表，看你能否‘挖出’它来。”
过了一会儿，同事回来了，看到眼前景象，他吓了一跳。
原来美语所谓“Dig”有另一层含义，是探究一番以查明真相。可是地上已被我用铁锹挖出一个半人深的大坑了。
7.Calling Card“电话卡”——特点、特征
I was describing a friend whom I met at the supermarket the other day to my American friend Susan， for Susan also knew her. However， Susan could not think of whom I was talking about form beginning to end. She asked me，“What's her calling card？”What she said kept me in the dark. I wondered what this had to do with the calling card of that friend. Did Susan ；have the ability of recalling whom her friend was by the calling card that her friend was using？
After I queried her about it， Susan couldn't help laughing and explained that“calling card”could also have the meaning of“distinguishing features or characteristics”of a person beside meaning“telephone card”.
我向我的美国朋友苏珊描述前一天我在超市遇到的一个朋友。这个朋友她也认识。可是，苏珊却始终想不起来我说的是谁。她问我：“What's her calling card？”我丈二和尚摸不着头脑，这关那个朋友的电话卡什么事呢？通过她朋友使用的电话卡而想起她的朋友是谁，苏珊有这种能力吗？
我提出疑问后，苏珊忍不住笑着跟我解释说，“calling card”除了是“电话卡”以外，还可以指人的“特点、特征”。