今天要讲的习惯用语由floor或者ceiling组成。Floor是“地板”，而ceiling解释为“天花板”。好，让我们由下而上来学吧。一栋房子的底层常常叫作the ground floor。在生意场上你很可能会听到这样的说法：get in on the ground floor。Get in on the ground floor并不简单地解释为“从底层进来”。让我们听一个例子来琢磨它的意思。
例1: He got in on the ground floor when he bought a lot of stock in a new computer company. People thought he was crazy but the company was a big success and now the stock is worth many times more.
例2: This afternoon the New York Giants mopped the floor with the Washington Redskins. The score was 41-7, the biggest loss the Redskins had suffered in many years.
可见mop the floor with含义就是把对方打得一败涂地。
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接下来我们要转移方向，学和天花板ceiling有关的习惯用语。Glass ceiling，玻璃天花板，必然是粗看似乎没有，而实际上却挡在上方的一层障碍。好，我们来听一个例子，有个人在评论六名女律师控告她们所属的律师事务所的事情。
例3: I think these six women can certainly prove their firm has a glass ceiling: the firm has 19 senior partners and all of them are men. It's hard to believe that they've never had even one woman lawyer qualified for a top spot there.
从这段话能体会到glass ceiling形象地表达了阻碍某些人升迁的无形障碍。
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我们还要学一个带有ceiling这个词的习惯用语：hit the ceiling。想象一下，如果一个人跳得百丈高，甚至碰到了天花板，那他一定是恼怒极了。好，我们来听个例子。
例4: When I got home and saw what my dog had done , I really hit the ceiling. The dog got up on my desk and chewed up the papers there, including a long report I was writing for my boss.
他说：我回家一看到我的狗都干了些什么，简直气得发疯。它在我的书桌上把纸张都嚼烂了，其中包括我正写给上级的那份长篇报告。
你一定能想象说话人当时火冒百丈，hit the ceiling就是这个意思。作者: zhangxiaoyuan 时间: 2010-9-10 19:20
Thank you for sharing so many appreciating E grammmer , I will consistantly stand by this helpful site .作者: veryenglish 时间: 2010-9-10 20:43
