There are a plenty of (other) fish in the sea.
meaning: there are other choices (refers to persons)
magyarul: van más is a világon, van még hal a vízben

to get/find/have one’s sea legs
meaning: the ability to adjust to a new situation
magyarul: belejönni valamibe

a spit/drop in the ocean
meaning: an inconsequential amount
magyarul: csepp a tengerben

to boil the ocean
meaning: to waste one’s time
magyarul: pazarolni az időt felesleges tevékenységgel

between the devil and the deep blue sea
meaning: having only two bad choices
magyarul: két tűz között, csak két rossz közül tudni választani

to be at sea
meaning: confused
magyarul: tanácstalan

to make waves
meaning: to cause difficulty, disturbance, controversy
magyarul: szándékosan problémát teremteni, hullámokat verni

a sea change
meaning: a complete change
magyarul: óriási változás

The coast is clear.
meaning: it is safe to go somewhere or do something because no one is watching or listening
magyarul: tiszta a levegő

to have a whale of a time
meaning: to really enjoy yourself
magyarul: nagyon jól érezni magát, állatira élvezni valamit

to rock the boat
meaning: to create a problem that wasn’t there, to challenge the status quo
magyarul: megzavarni a kialakult nyugalmat, megbillenteni a hajót

oceans of something
meaning: a very large amount
magyarul: sok, jelentős, rengeteg

like a fish out of water
meaning: a person who feels awkward or unhappy because they are in a situation that is not familiar or because they are different from the people around them
magyarul: mint a partra vetett hal

jump the shark
meaning: (usually of television shows) to reach a point where something stops becoming more popular or starts to decrease in quality
magyarul: kifogyni az ötletekből

a big fish only in a small pond
meaning: to have a lot of influence only over a small area
magyarul: kis helyen nagy ember

packed to the gills
meaning: completely full; having no room to spare.
magyarul: teljesen tele van/dugig van

to fish in troubled waters
meaning: to try to win an advantage from a difficult situation or from someone else’s problems.
magyarul: zavarosban halászni

to have other/bigger fish to fry
meaning: to have something more important to do
magyarul: jobb dolga is akad/fontosabb dolga van

to keep someone at bay
meaning: to prevent someone from moving closer
magyarul: sakkban tartani/védekezésre késztetni valakit

The world is your oyster.
meaning: you can do what you want, you have loads of opportunities
magyarul: Tiéd a világ/A világ a lábaid előtt hever.

sources: Cambridge Dictionary; The Free Dictionary by Farlex

Most gyakoroljuk az idiómák használatát a következő mondatok segítségével.

to get/find/have one’s sea legs
meaning: the ability to adjust to a new situation
magyarul: belejönni valamibe
example: She’s only had two lessons, she hasn’t found her sea legs yet. – Még csak két órát vett, még nem jött bele.

a spit/drop in the ocean
meaning: an inconsequential amount
magyarul: csepp a tengerben
example: Many companies donated medicine to help survivors, but it was just a drop in the ocean. – Sok vállalat adományozott gyógyszert a túlélőknek, de ez csak csepp volt a tengerben.

to boil the ocean
meaning: to waste one’s time
magyarul: pazarolni az időt felesleges tevékenységgel
example: You can’t get him to change. You’re just boiling the ocean. – Nem tudod megváltoztatni. Csak az idődet pazarlod.

between the devil and the deep blue sea
meaning: having only two bad choices
magyarul: két tűz között, csak két rossz közül tudni választani
example: I was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, when my father asked me to mow the lawn and my mother wanted me to write my homework. – Két tűz között voltam, apám azt akarta, hogy nyírjam le a füvet, anyám pedig azt, hogy írjak leckét.

to be at sea
meaning: confused
magyarul: tanácstalan
example: We had a lot to do, but with no Internet connection, we were at sea. – Sok dolgunk volt, de internetkapcsolat nélkül tanácstalanok voltunk.

to make waves
meaning: to cause difficulty, disturbance, controversy
magyarul: szándékosan problémát teremteni, hullámokat verni
example: We’ve finally settled, please don’t make waves. – Végre megállapodtunk, kérlek, ne csinálj problémát!

a sea change
meaning: a complete change
magyarul: óriási változás
example: The data represent a sea change in the corporate environment. – Az adatok óriási változást mutatnak a vállalati környezetben.

The coast is clear.
meaning: it is safe to go somewhere or do something because no one is watching or listening
magyarul: tiszta a levegő
example: You can come out of the bedroom now, the coast is clear. – Most már kijöhetsz a hálószobából, tiszta a levegő.

to have a whale of a time
meaning: to really enjoy yourself
magyarul: nagyon jól érezni magát, állatira élvezni valamit
example: We had a whale of a time at the pub yesterday. – Állatira élveztük a tegnap estét a pubban.

to rock the boat
meaning: to create a problem that wasn’t there, to challenge the status quo
magyarul: megzavarni a kialakult nyugalmat, megbillenteni a hajót
example: I think I should tell her the truth, but I don’t want to rock the boat. – Azt hiszem, el kellene mondanom neki az igazságot, de nem akarok bajt.

oceans of something
meaning: a very large amount
magyarul: sok, jelentős, rengeteg
example: After two weeks of vacation, there was an ocean of work to catch up with. – Két hét vakáció után tengernyi munkát kellett behozni.

I. Fill in the gaps with the idioms from the table.

1. It took only a day on the boat …………………. I got used to it very quickly.

2. Both choices seem quite bad, Jen is …………………….

3. Everyone seems contented now. You shouldn’t …………….., I don’t like controversy.

4. A thousand dollars may seem a lot, but it’s only ………………. compared to the millions that need to be spent.

5. Brad waited outside until ……………..

6. This was probably the party of the year. I had ……………..

II. Match each idiom to its definition.

Answers:  

I. 1-to find my sea legs 2-between the devil and the deep blue sea 3-rock the boat 4-a spit/drop in the ocean 5-the coast was clear 6-a whale of a time

II. 1-e 2-a 3-b 4-f 5-c 6-d

In 10 percent of drownings, adults are nearby but have no idea the victim is dying. Here’s what to look for.

The new captain jumped from the deck, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the couple swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach. “I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. “We’re fine; what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed. “We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard. ”Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not 10 feet away, their 9-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, “Daddy!”

How did this captain know—from 50 feet away—what the father couldn’t recognize from just 10? Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help that most people expect. The captain was trained to recognize drowning by experts and years of experience. The father, on the other hand, had learned what drowning looks like by watching television. If you spend time on or near the water (hint: that’s all of us) then you should make sure that you and your crew know what to look for whenever people enter the water. Until she cried a tearful, “Daddy,” she hadn’t made a sound. As a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer, I wasn’t surprised at all by this story. Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares us to look for is rarely seen in real life.

The Instinctive Drowning Response is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it does not look like most people expect. There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind. To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this: It is the No. 2 cause of accidental death in children, ages 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents)—of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. According to the CDC, in 10 percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch the child do it, having no idea it is happening. Drowning does not look like drowning— Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene magazine, described the Instinctive Drowning Response like this:

“Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled before speech occurs.

Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.

Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.

Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.

From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.”

This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble—they are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present before the Instinctive Drowning Response, aquatic distress doesn’t last long—but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.

Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:

Head low in the water, mouth at water level

Head tilted back with mouth open

Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus

Eyes closed

Hair over forehead or eyes

Not using legs—vertical

Hyperventilating or gasping

Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway

Trying to roll over on the back

Appear to be climbing an invisible ladder

So if a crew member falls overboard and everything looks OK—don’t be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them, “Are you all right?” If they can answer at all—they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents—children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.

source: slate.com

Tekintsük át a legfontosabb információkat újra. Válaszolj a kérdésekre magyarul!

1. Miért nem veszik észre gyakran a fuldoklókat?

2. Mi akadályozza meg a fuldoklókat abban, hogy felhívják magukra a figyelmet?

3. Mi az egyik leggyakoribb jele annak, ha valaki fuldoklik?

4. Hogyan lehet meggyőződni arról, hogy mi a helyzet valójában?

5. Mire kell figyelni a szülőknek?

Válaszok:

1. Mert nem olyan drámai, mint a tévében. Csendben történik. A fuldokló nem csapkod a karjaival és nem kiabál.

2. Nem tudnak segítségért kiáltani, mert a beszéd csak másodlagos funkció a légzés után. és amikor kidugják a szájukat a vízből, lélegezni próbálnak, mielőtt újra lesüllyednek.

Nem tudnak integetni, mert a karjukat ösztönösen oldalt nyújtják ki és megpróbálnak a vízre támaszkodni, hogy felemeljék a testüket és lélegezni tudjanak.

Nem csak integetni nem tudnak, hanem a megmentőjük felé közeledni vagy az életmentő felszerelés felé kinyúlni sem.

3. Az, hogy nem néznek ki úgy, mintha fuldokolnának. Lehet, hogy csak úgy néznek ki, mintha taposnák a vizet és néznek fel a fedélzetre.

4. Meg kell kérdezni tőlük, hogy jól vannak-e.

5. Arra, hogy a gyerek ad-e hangot. A vízben játszó gyerek nem szokott csendben lenni. Ha elcsendesedik, menjenek oda hozzájuk, hogy lássák, miért van csendben.

Two years at sea have fostered a close relationship between the two fellow sailors as they cross the globe, through warm weather and cold.

One is a 24-year-old male. The other is a hen.

Guirec Soudee – the 24-year-old – is the one who does most of the hard work on board the boat.

Monique is the hen, who spends most of her time admiring the view from the deck, and laying the occasional egg.

The two have started building up a close following online in recent months as French media have picked up on their unusual adventure.

Guirec, who is from Brittany in France, began his trip around the world with Monique in May 2014.

After starting from the Canary Islands, Spanish territory near Africa’s west coast, the pair sailed to St Bart’s in the Caribbean before moving into the Arctic last August.

“I knew she was the one straight away,” Guirec tells the BBC from western Greenland, where he is now moored.

“She was only about four or five months old then, and had never left the Canary Islands. I didn’t speak any Spanish and she didn’t speak any French, but we got along.”

Guirec had planned to bring along a pet for company, but a hen wasn’t originally on the cards.

“I thought about a cat, but decided it would be too much effort to look after it,” he says.

“The hen was an ideal choice. It doesn’t need that much looking after and I’m able to get eggs at sea. People told me it wouldn’t work, that the hen would be too stressed and wouldn’t lay eggs.

“But there was no problem, she laid eggs straight away. She adapted to it perfectly – she was very comfortable very quickly.”

Over an average week, Monique lays six eggs, even in the cold climate of Greenland and even during three months there without sun.

Guirec says locals in Greenland have reacted with some curiosity to her presence – understandable, perhaps, given there is no poultry farming there.

Life is pretty comfortable for Monique on board the 11.8-metre (39ft) boat, named Yvinec after the island on which Guirec grew up.

While she is free to roam the deck most of the time while at sea, Guirec makes sure to put her back into her hutch when the weather worsens.

“At the beginning, I was very worried – there would be huge waves and she might stumble, it would look for a second like she might go overboard, but she would always regain her footing. She’s very brave.

“But when there are bad winds now, I’m much more careful and she goes inside.”

One thing Guirec may also have to be careful about is quarantine regulations. While his and Monique’s friendship survived its only encounter so far with customs officials, in Canada, he acknowledges it may not be so easy next time.

Not that Guirec is apprehensive about the prospect of their relationship being broken up. “I’m not too worried about that,” he says. “I’m a positive person.”

There are positives to be taken, too, from having a hen instead of another person on board. “Compared with people, she doesn’t complain at all.”

“She follows me everywhere, and doesn’t create any problems. All I need to do is shout ‘Monique!’ and she will come to me, sit on me, give me company. She is amazing.

“But I won’t lie, she can get on my nerves sometimes.”

Monique’s diet is grain, corn and the occasional fish. “She’ll eat absolutely anything,” Guirec says

So what do Guirec’s family and friends make of his choice of seafaring companion?

“They found it very funny,” he says. “They’ve always known I’m not totally normal, anyway.”

The next part of the trip will take the pair through the Arctic and down the Bering Strait towards Nome in Alaska.

And from there?

“We’re not sure yet,” Guirec says. “We haven’t talked about it yet, but we will.

“We talk a lot, Monique and I.”

You can follow Guirec and Monique on Instagram and on Facebook.

source: bbc

Here are a few expressions from the text for you. Can you make pairs of the adjectives and the nouns?

Key:

1. e.

2. a.

3. g.

4. j.

5. b.

6. d.

7. c.

8. i.

9. f.

10. h.