Live and Learn English with Jean Lee

What’s the biggest obstacle in your journey of exploring English? It could be grammar, pronunciation, or huge amount of vocabulary that seems to be endless. Above all, idiomatic expressions that have hidden, figurative meanings. Without understanding the cultural background or conventional usage of idioms, one can hardly imagine what those words are supposed to mean. Using the given list of idioms and your imagination, try to choose a proper expression to fill in the blank of each sentence below. a.    make a mountain out of a molehill b.    pig out on (food) c.    hold one’s horses d.    draw a blank e.    (something) slip one’s mind f.     It’s in the bag. g.    give someone the cold shoulder h.    get a kick out of i.     get off one’s high horse j.     to feel like a fish out of water 1.    My boss normally enjoys golfing on weekends...

I have been an ardent member of DCCC , and every year I have donated some small money to make a bit of contribution to the committee. Since Donald Trump and the GOP rose to power , a lot of achievements gained by Obama administration have been repealed and whiplashed. Here I share the letter I received from DCCC leader Nancy Pelosi. “ The battle lines are drawn , and Donald Trump and the Republican Congress are, every day, attacking everything we accomplished over the past eight years. Destroy Medicare. Privatize Social Security. Dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Repeal Wall Street reform. Undo environmental safeguards. Restore the same trickle-down economies that ran over economy off a cliff in 2008. But, Congressional Democrats are fighting them every step of the way. We’re standing with the majority of Americans who reject Mr. Trump’s politics of fear, anger and resentment. We’re building an America based upon equality of opportunity and inclusion. We’re creating an economy ...

I can’t believe the first half chunk of this year has passed! Do you still faithfully keep at your new-year resolutions? Do some of you even remember what the resolutions are? Well….according to my conjecture , quite a lot of you out there have been gradually negligent towards your goals or objects of the year 2016. Alright, let us just drop such a punctilious attitude. If your new-year resolutions were realistic and viable enough or a true keeper , they must still have been achieved by you on a daily basis. If they were no more than a creation of ‘ demonstration effect ’, they must have long been a history by now. As for me, the new-year resolutions are as follows: 1.    “I would like to boost my VO2 max this year” 2.    “I will add relaxing yoga classes to help ease muscle pains” 3.    “I will resist the urge to run more each day just for the sake of injury prevention” On number 1, I tried several times of the VO2 max interval training by m...

What’s the biggest obstacle in your journey of exploring English? It could be grammar, pronunciation, or huge amount of vocabulary that seems to be endless. Above all, idiomatic expressions that have hidden, figurative meanings. Without understanding the cultural background or conventional usage of idioms, one can hardly imagine what those words are supposed to mean. Using the given list of idioms and your imagination, try to choose a proper expression to fill in the blank of each sentence below. 1. Little did I expect him to be ___________________________ when his love for Jane was gone.  2. Since he has been working hard in this field for all those years, he has the ______________________ the president. 3. Spencer is such a __________________________ who is strongly determined to achieve his dream no matter how long it takes. 4. After some down time due to her calf injury, Jean was ______________________________ to run at her full throttle again. 5. Cindy i...

It was 4:40 A.M. on  June 13, 2016. He did not show up yet. Five minutes, ten minutes,…..and even 20 minutes passed than his normal arrival time, but there was not even a shadow of the same old car, in which I saw a smiley old man that I adore as my cater-cousin in his driver’s seat humming his favorite jazz tune, that came into the outdoor parking lot of the local gym. With the bad gut feeling stealthily creeping inside of me, I got out of my car with heavy mind and saw another front desk staff (who became my best friend later on) urgently passing me in her car. She looked very bewildered and distressed. As she and I were walking closer to the gym gate, both of us could read each other’s concerns from the look upon our faces reflected by the dawning light of the day. I said “Well…I hope Ray is alright. Do you cover for him this morning, Patty?” It took her some moment to break the news to me….that I would never want to hear.  She took a deep breath and poured out the four...

Are you feeling secure and comfortable mingling with your colleagues at work? If so, you're lucky. If not, join the club! Here are some interesting expressions to describe those obvious or hidden enemies at work. Check them out! (source from dictionary.com) 1.    stuck-up-rich-sheltered-boss 2.    kissass 3.    gossip monger or gossip head 4.    snake in the grass 5.    psycho 6.    backstabber or frenemy 7.    weasel 8.    screwup 9. manipulative 10. bully 11. whistle-blower  Clues 1.    stuck-up-rich-sheltered : (adjective) someone who is generally stupid and arrogant and thinks he or she is better than everyone else 2.    kiss-ass : (noun) somebody who deliberately ingratiates themselves to authority figures in such a way as to be annoying to their peers. 3.    gossip monger or gossip head : (noun)  a person obsessed with...