1. Work the System: To take advantage of the system, often in an unethical way, to get what you want. (ex: Once elected, the corrupt politician began to use his power to work the system and increase his personal fortune).
利用制度，常指用一種不道德的方式去得到想要的東西。（例如：一旦被選上，腐敗的政治家就會(huì)利用他的權(quán)力去鉆制度的空子，從而牟取個(gè)人利益。）

2. In the Works: When an item or project is currently being produced or developed. (ex: While the band was touring for their newest album, they revealed that their next album was in the works and would soon be available.)
一個(gè)產(chǎn)品或者項(xiàng)目正在產(chǎn)生或發(fā)展。（例如：當(dāng)一個(gè)樂(lè)隊(duì)為最新專(zhuān)輯巡回演出的時(shí)候，他們發(fā)布了他們的下一張專(zhuān)輯正在制作中，并且很快發(fā)售。）

3. Work(s) like a charm: When something functions perfectly. (ex: After his friend fixed his computer, it worked like a charmfor the rest of the year.)
當(dāng)某樣?xùn)|西正在完美地運(yùn)作。（例如：電腦在被他的朋友修好好，在這一年剩下的時(shí)間里都運(yùn)行得很好。）

4. Work Wonders: To have a very positive effect to solve a problem. (ex: He soon discovered that listening to RealLife Radio every day worked wonders for his listening comprehension)
在解決某個(gè)問(wèn)題上有很好的影響（例如：他很快就發(fā)現(xiàn)，每天聽(tīng)真生活錄音對(duì)提高聽(tīng)力理解有很大幫助。）

5. Put to Work: To assign a job or to make somebody work [who was previously inactive] (ex: His school vacation didn’t last long, as his parents soon put him to work in the family business.)
給某人布置一項(xiàng)工作（那個(gè)人之前工作并不積極）（例如：他的假期并不長(zhǎng)，因?yàn)樗母改附o他安排了很多家族生意的工作。）

6. Out of Work: To be unemployed, or to not have a job [when one previously had a job] (ex:After losing his job last year, he was out of work for 6 months)
失業(yè)或沒(méi)有工作（以前是有工作的）（例如：自從去年被解雇以后，他失業(yè)了六個(gè)月。）

7. All in a Day’s Work: Used to express that something is very routine (even though it’s often difficult), and it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. (ex: You may say this after finishing a day filled with difficult tasks that are expected in your job.)
用于描述某些常規(guī)的東西（盡管這些東西經(jīng)常是難度很大的），或是描述一個(gè)不出彩的東西（例如：你可能會(huì)在完成了一天艱難而又常規(guī)的工作后，說(shuō)這句話。）

8. All Work and No Play (Makes Jack a Dull Boy): When one is working so hard that they don’t have the time to enjoy life or cultivate joy for living.
描述某人努力工作，以致于沒(méi)時(shí)間找樂(lè)子、享受生活。

9. Piece of Work: An expression meaning that somebody is difficult to get along with in a complex way. Usually said with some degree of disgust. (ex/common collocation: After getting upset with a person for mistreating you in a clever way, you might say “she/he’s a real piece of work.”)
意思是某人很難相處，經(jīng)常是帶有一些厭惡的感覺(jué)。（常有的含義：因?yàn)楸荒橙饲擅畹嘏按械绞浜螅憧赡軙?huì)說(shuō)，他/她真難相處。）

10. Dirty Work: The work nobody else want’s to do. “To do somebody’s dirty work” is to do the unethical, dishonest work that the person doesn’t want to do.(i.e. A mob boss might have somebody do their dirty work- i.e. kill people, get money, conduct deals, etc)
骯臟的活：沒(méi)人想做的工作?！白瞿橙说呐K活兒”是指做別人不想做的不道德的不老實(shí)的活兒。（例如：一個(gè)暴民老板可能會(huì)讓別人去干臟活兒，像殺人、賺黑錢(qián)、干臟買(mǎi)賣(mài)等。）

11. Work Up a Sweat: To put a lot of effort into something, to work hard enough to start to sweat. Often used figuratively.
為某事投入很大心力，因?yàn)榕ぷ?，以致流汗。這個(gè)詞經(jīng)常用于比喻。

12. Have your work cut out for you: To have a lot of work to do in order to achieve a goal/objective. (ex:before starting a job that’s going to be difficult and last all day, “We better get started. We’ve got our work cut out for us.” )
為了實(shí)現(xiàn)一個(gè)目標(biāo)而做大量的工作。（例如：在開(kāi)始一天艱難工作之時(shí)，“我們最好現(xiàn)在開(kāi)始，我今天有大量棘手的工作。”）

13. Working Hard or Hardly Working? A friendly play on words you can ask somebody to discover how much they are working. Working hard, obviously, means to exert a lot of effort, while hardly working means to not be working very much at all. The humor is that they sound the same but are complete opposites.
一個(gè)善意的語(yǔ)言游戲，你可以問(wèn)一下別人，他們到底干了多少活兒?！癢orking hard”，很明顯，意思是做很多工作，但是“hardly working”的意思是一點(diǎn)兒也不工作。這里面的幽默是，他們聽(tīng)上去差不多但是反應(yīng)的是截然不同的意思。