bbc成语老师--动物系列: Horse（在线收听）

BBC Learning English   

The Teacher 

Horse idioms 

In this episode, The Teacher introduces you to three idiomatic phrases connected with horses.  

1. To eat like a horse 

2. Straight from the horse's mouth  

3. To flog a dead horse 

Hello, I’m a very interesting and intelligent man. 

And this is Fred, who, as you may have noticed, is a horse. Today Fred and I are going to be 

helping you to improve your English. 

I bet you’ve never been taught by a horse before. 

Hungry, isn’t he? In fact, he eats all the time. He eats like a horse – of course he does – he is a 

horse.   

In English, if someone eats a lot we can say ‘he eats like a horse’.  

To eat like a horse. To eat a lot. 

[Neighing and other horsy noises.] 

. 

What's that you say Fred? Ah, just that silly noise horses make. 

Anyway, I heard it straight from the horse’s mouth. 

We use this idiom when we've got some information directly from the person responsible for 

it. For example: my boss is going to fire me. Yes, it’s true. I heard it straight from the horse’s 

mouth. 

It means my boss told me directly. I didn’t hear it from anyone else. 

Sad news, I’m afraid… Fred’s died. 

Which means there's no point in trying to get him work any more.  

How do we make a horse work? Yes, that's right, by hitting it, or as we say, ‘flogging it’. 

Our next horse idiom: ‘to flog a dead horse’. Which as you can see is completely pointless. 

‘To flog a dead horse’. This means to waste effort on something that we have no chance of 

succeeding at. 

I sometimes feel like I’m flogging a dead horse when I’m teaching. My students, they never 

seem to learn… I don't quite understand what the problem is…..very frustrating… 

[Horse noises]