1. Monkey business

-意为：猢狲把戏, 愚蠢行为或欺骗行为；毫无意义或浪费时间的举动
-Us Slang, wasting time, or effort, on some foolish project.
e.g.: Our accountant has been fired as there was some monkey business with the books.
会计师对账单做了手脚，已经遭到解雇。
e.g.: Are you still fiddling about with those old tools? Stop the monkey business and get some new ones.
还在摆弄这些旧工具吗？别浪费时间了，换套新的吧。

 
2. Rat race
-意为：激烈的竞争, 累人的工作，为了成功拼命奋斗
-an exhausting routine, a hectic struggle for success

e.g.: I’m so tired of the rat race. I’d love to retire and move to the country.
这里竞争过于激烈，让人感到精疲力竭。我打算退休，移居他国了。

e.g.: She started to work from home as she couldn’t stand the rat race at the office.
由于不能忍受办公室激烈的竞争环境，她开始在家办公了。

 
3. Cat burglar
-意为：飞贼, 鬼鬼祟祟的盗贼，通常通过窗户、天窗进入建筑物内
-a stealthy burglar who climbs into buildings, usually through upper windows, skylights, etc.

e.g.: Grandfather’s old telescope has disappeared from the loft. It must have been a cat burglar that took it.
阁楼里祖父珍藏已久的望远镜不见了，一定是飞贼把它偷走了。

e.g.: The inspector was surprised by the exploits of a cat burglar who only stole from upper floors and attics.
有个飞贼只从窗户和阁楼偷窃，这令巡视员吃惊不已。

4. Top dog
-意为：一群人中的关键人物，占主导地位或极有威信
-the most important person in a group, somebody with the dominant position or highest authority

e.g.: I don’t want to be the top dog at our company, I just do my job as well as I can
我从未想过成为公司的主要人物，只是尽我所能做好工作。

e.g.: Peter is the top dog at English in our class.
皮特是我们班英语成绩最好的人。

5. Cash cow
-意为：可靠的收入来源；赚钱的产品或服务
-a dependable source of income; a product or service that makes money

e.g.: Our company’s cash cow is the sales department, which makes enough income to finance the developers.
销售部是我们公司的摇钱树，向开发部提供了大量资助。

e.g.: The publisher saw the new bestseller as a cash cow.
出版商把最新的畅销作品视为摇钱树。

6. Eager beaver
-意为：做事勤奋的人；做事卖力的人
-an enthusiastic hard worker; someone very excited to start a task


e.g.: 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.
新来的秘书做事勤奋。虽然每天七点就来上班，但总是最晚下班的人。

e.g.: Don’t be an eager beaver; we have plenty of time to do this job.
别那么卖命，我们有的是时间。

7. Road hog
-意为：鲁莽的驾驶员，不顾他人安危的司机
-a inconsiderate driver, someone who drives carelessly and selfishly


e.g.: Sorry that we’re so slow, but there is no way to overtake that road hog in front of us.
抱歉速度太慢，但是我们无法超越前面那个乱抢路的司机。

e.g.: A road hog nearly ran me over at the crossing as he failed to stop at the sign.
在十字路口，一位鲁莽的司机从我身边开车而过，一点停车的迹象也没有。

8. Black sheep
-意为：害群之马，群体中不受欢迎之人，给群体抹黑、危害集体的人
-an undesirable member of a group, a disliked person, somebody who causes shame or embarrassment due to deviation


e.g.: 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.
他本来就不打算继承父业，别惊讶，他一直是家里的败家子。

e.g.: They called me the black sheep as I didn’t want to go to the pub and play billiards with them.
就因为我不想去酒吧跟他们打台球，他们就说我不合群。