1 Monkey business – silly, mischievous or deceitful behaviour; stupid or time-wasting activity

胡闹，恶作剧——愚蠢、恶作剧或欺骗行为；愚蠢或浪费时间的活动

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

我们的会计被解雇了，因为他做了一些与账本有关的蠢事。

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

你还在摆弄那些旧工具吗？别再胡闹了，买些新的吧。

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

疯狂竞争——一种令人精疲力竭、重复性的日常活动，一场为成功而进行的激烈的斗争。

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

我厌倦了这场激烈的竞争。我想退休后搬到乡下去。

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

她开始在家工作，因为她无法忍受办公室里的激烈竞争。

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

飞贼——一种潜入建筑物的窃贼，通常通过上部窗户、天窗等进入建筑物。

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

祖父的旧望远镜从阁楼上消失了。一定是一个飞贼拿走了它。

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

探长对一个只从楼上和阁楼偷东西的飞贼的行为感到惊讶。

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

头号人物——一个群体中最重要的人，具有主导地位或最高权威的人。

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

我不想成为我们公司的佼佼者，我只是尽我所能做好我的工作。

Peter is the top dog at English in our class.

彼得是我们班英语最好的学生。

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

摇钱树——可靠的收入来源；赚钱的产品或服务

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

我们公司的摇钱树是销售部，它的收入足以为开发商提供资金。

The publisher saw the new bestseller as a cash cow.

出版商把这本新畅销书看作是摇钱树。

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

干活特别卖力的人——一个热心的辛勤工作的人；一个非常兴奋地开始一项任务的人。

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.

新秘书是个勤奋的人。虽然她每天七点来上班，但她是晚上最后一个离开的人。

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

不要那么卖力，我们有足够的时间来做这项工作。

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

路霸——一个危险或不体贴的司机，一个粗心大意、自私驾驶的人

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

对不起，我们太慢了，但是我们没法追上前面的那个路霸。

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

在十字路口，一个闯红灯的家伙差点把我撞倒，他并没有看信号灯停车。

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

害群之马——一个不受欢迎的群体成员，一个不受欢迎的人，一个因偏差而导致羞耻或尴尬的人。

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.

别惊讶他不想接管父亲的生意，他一直是家里的败家子。

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

他们叫我“害群之马”，因为我不想去酒吧和他们打台球。

（来源：沪江英语 ）