The business world is full of animal idioms like fat cats, loan sharks and other animals.
商務中充滿了像fat cats——有錢有勢的人，loan sharks——高利貸債主，和含有其它動物的習語。
Indeed, the business idiom fat cats has been widely used in the last few years to describe all those bankers who have earned huge bonuses during the credit crunch.
事實上，fat cats近幾年用來形容所有在信貸危機中賺了一大筆的銀行家。
As an English Language Learner, if you want your English to sound more natural especially when dealing with native speakers, using some of these business idioms in the correct way would certainly help.
作為英語學習者，如果你想要你的英語聽起來更自然，特別是在和英語母語的人交談的時候，正確地在使用這些商務俗語很有幫助。
In this blog post, I’d like to concentrate on our two favourite domestic animals, the cat and dog. I’ve selected just ten, but there are plenty more out there.
以下我主要集中在我們最喜歡的兩種動物，貓和狗。我選了10個習語，但是相關習語還有很多。
1. Let sleeping dogs lie – do not make trouble if you don’t have to.
1. Let sleeping dogs lie——不要自找麻煩
Ex: “There’s absolutely no point pursuing this issue. We should just let sleeping dogs lie“.
例句：在這個問題上深究沒有意義。我們不要自找麻煩了。
2. Not enough room to swing a cat – not enough space.
2.Not enough room to swing a cat——沒有足夠的空間
Ex: “You should see my new office, it’s tiny. There’s not enough room to swing a cat!” (In old English, a cat was a whip not a real cat!)
例句：你真應該看看我的新辦公室。太小了。連轉身的空間都沒有。(在舊式英語里，cat是指鞭子而不是真的貓。)
3. To be dog tired – to be exhausted
3. To be dog tired——累趴下
Ex: ” I have worked 70 hours this week. I am dog tired“.
例句：我這周工作了70個小時。我都累趴下了。
4. Let the cat out of the bag – to reveal a secret
4. Let the cat out of the bag——透露秘密
Ex: ” Great! George in Finance knows about our new product. That’s all we need. Who let the cat out of the bag?”
例句：太棒了。財政部的喬治知道了我們的新產品。這就是我們要的結果。誰說出去的?
5. Go to the dogs – not as successful as in the past (usually used in the continuous tense)
5. Go to the dogs——不如過去成功(通常使用進行時)
Ex: “That company will go bankrupt if it’s not careful. It’s going to the dogs“.
例句：那家公司要是不小心的話就會破產的。它可能會完蛋的。
6. To put the cat among the pigeons – to cause trouble
6. To put the cat among the pigeons——惹出亂子
Ex: ” Sending the most unpopular manager to talk to the team was like putting the cat among the pigeons.”
例句：把最不受歡迎的經理派去和隊伍談話一定會惹出亂子的。
7. A dog’s dinner or dog’s breakfast – to make a mess
7. A dog’s dinner or dog’s breakfast——搞砸了
Ex: “They made a real dog’s dinner of the website. It’s terrible.”
例句:他們把網站搞砸了。這可太糟了。
8. To fight like cats and dogs – to argue and fight with someone
8. To fight like cats and dogs——和某人爭吵
Ex: ” It’s a miracle how Sally and John manage this company. They’re always fighting like cats and dogs.
例句：薩利和約翰來管理公司真是個奇跡。他們總是吵得不可開交。
9. Top dog – the most important person in an organization
9. Top dog——公司里最重要的人物
Ex: “If you want a decision on that, you’re going to have to get it approved by the top dog“.
例句：如果你想要決定這件事，你需要讓它得到老板的同意。
10. More than one way to skin a cat – more than one way to do something
10. More than one way to skin a cat——不止一種方法
Ex: “No problem. If we cannot get our proposal through this way, we’ll try something else. There’s more than one way to skin a cat“.
例句：沒問題。如果這樣我們的提議沒法通過的話。我們試試別的方法。還有很多方法的。
