友情提示：本文共有 5216 个字，阅读大概需要 11 分钟。
So, I"d like to talk to you about idioms and IELTS. There is a common question that students ask me and that"s: Should I use a lot of idioms in my IELTS speaking test?
我想跟大家谈一下习语和雅思考试。学生经常问我同一个问题，那就是：在我的雅思口语考试中，我应该大量使用习语吗？
Well, the short simple answer is: No, don"t use a lot of idioms. Because first of all, idioms are quite rare in our natural spoken conversations.
嗯，简单的回答是：不，不要大量使用习语。因为，首先，在我们的自然口语对话中，习语很少见。
When Collings dictionary did their research on idioms in corpora, they found out that even the most common idioms only appear once in every 10 million words. That"s not a lot.
科林斯词典对语料库中的习语进行了调查，发现即使最常用的习语，也只在一千万个单词中出现一次。这真不多。
You see, we just don"t use idioms that frequently in conversation and as IELTS is a test of natural spoken conversation, you don"t want to use too many, one or two is fine. You"ll notice journalists and politicians use a lot of idioms because it"s creative, it catches your attention that they do overuse them.
你瞧，我们在对话中并不常用习语，由于雅思口语考的是自然对话，所以你还是不要用太多习语，一个或两个就好。你会注意到记者和政客们使用很多习语，因为这样吸引眼球，抓住你的注意力，因此他们过量使用习语。
So, if you"re listening to the news or watching the news, you may hear a lot of them but that"s not how we naturally use them every day. So, that"s the first thing.
如果你听新闻或看新闻，你也许会听到很多习语，但这并不是我们每天使用它们的方式。这是第一点。
Secondly, the IELTS examiner has a little book, well, a piece of paper to evaluate you. It"s the band descriptors and there is nothing in the band descriptors about idioms, nothing.
第二，雅思考官有一本小书，嗯，一张评分纸。是分数描述，而且上面并没有关于习语的，啥都没有。
It talks about idiomatic expressions and collocation, but not idioms. So, here"s the thing, you need to know: the difference between idioms and idiomatic expressions.
上面有惯用语和搭配，但没有习语。问题来了，你需要知道：习语和惯用语的区别。
Let"s put it like this. Imagine a big tree, and on the tree, there are different branches.
我们这样理解。想象一棵大树，在树上有很多不同的树枝。
The tree is the idiomatic expressions; it"s the big picture. And then, you have branches which are idioms, branches which are phrasal verbs, branches which are collocations, and others which maybe turn a phrase.
这棵树是惯用语；它是总体。然后，上面有些树枝是习语，有些树枝是短语动词，有些树枝是搭配用语，还有其他的可能是短语。
All of these make up idiomatic expressions. But it"s the idiomatic expression is the big tree; it"s all of them.
所有的这些组成了惯用语。但惯用语是这个大树；它包含所有这些。
So, idioms are a part of that, okay? So, should you use idiomatic expressions in IELTS speaking?
因此，习语是它的一部分。那么，你应该在雅思口语中使用惯用语吗？
Absolutely, use lots of them and that includes what I mentioned. So, let"s be clear about idiomatic expressions.
绝对要，大量使用它们，包括我提到那些的。那么，我们来弄清楚惯用语是什么意思。
This basically means you cannot work out the meaning looking at the individual words. The meaning is something slightly different, often metaphorical, and this is true of all idiomatic expressions.
就是你不能从单个单词来看出它的意思。它的意思稍微不同，经常有隐喻性，而且所有的惯用语都是这样。
Let"s look at some examples. Let"s take the idiom "kick the bucket". That doesn"t mean you"re going to kick a bucket on the ground it means you die.
我们来看看一些例子。我们拿习语“kick the bucket”作为例子。它的意思不是你要去踢地上的一个水桶，而是说你死了。
Likewise, the phrasal verb "pass away" doesn"t mean you"re passing away to another place, well kind of, it means to die. So, let"s give some other examples. We mentioned collocation.
同样，动词短语“pass away”意思不是你要离开去另一个地方，而是“去世”。再来看看其他例子。我们提到搭配用语。
Collocations are when you have two or three words that usually sit together.?So, we may say "spread the word".
搭配用语就是两到三个单词搭配使用。例如，我们说“spread the word”。
If you want to let people know about something, you spread the word. We don"t "spill the word" or "give out the word", we "spread the word".
如果你想让人们知道一些事情，你就”spread the word（传播信息）”。我们不说“spill the word”或“give out the word”，我们说“spread the word”。
It"s a collocation; it"s an idiomatic expression. I also mentioned turns of phrase.
它是一个搭配用语；它是一个惯用语。我还提到短语。
Now, these are more popular phrases that are slightly more creative and we use them to express special meanings and they"ve become common use. For example, my "other half". That refers to my wife.
如今，它们更流行，它们更有创意，我们用它们来表达特殊的意思，而且它们成为了常用的用法。例如，我的“另一半”。指的是我妻子。
So, your husband, wife, partner can be your "other half". It"s just a turn of phrase.
所以，你的丈夫、妻子、伴侣都可以是你的“另一半”。这是一个短语。
So, all of these are idiomatic expressions and yes, you really need to be using lots of them in the IELTS test because that"s how we speak English. But only one or two idioms.
那么，所有的这些惯用语，是的，你真的需要把它们用在雅思考试中，因为这就是我们说英语的方式。但只需用一到两个习语。
And just a note about idioms and how we use them, and in fact this is true for all vocabulary. I would strongly recommend you only use idioms you are comfortable with.
关于习语以及它的使用，我再说一点，事实上，对于所有的词汇都是这样。我强烈建议你只使用你熟悉的习语。
That you know what they mean and you"ve used before. When learning new words and idioms, you need to see it in at least three or four different contexts.
你理解它们的意思，你曾经用过它们。习生词和习语时，你至少需要在三到四种不同的语境中去看它们的用法。
And then to have used it at least three or four times. And only then, will you feel comfortable to use it.
然后至少使用过它们三到四次。只有那样，你才会熟练使用它。
And that"s it. So, idioms, you can use one or two, but focus on your idiomatic expressions. Start seeing them, start using them and good luck with your IELTS speaking test.
就这样。你可以使用一到两个习语，但重点是多使用惯用语。开始留意它们，开始使用它们，祝大家雅思口语考试顺利。
This is Keith from IELTSspeakingSuccess. You can find out more details on the website ieltsspeakingsuccess. com. See you soon.
我是 IELTSspeakingSuccess 的基斯，再见。
本文如果对你有帮助，请点赞收藏《雅思口语中习语的运用 How to use idioms in IELTS Speaking》，同时在此感谢原作者。
