8. Shoulder

The shoulders can bear heavy things. Your father has a great responsibility for the family on his shoulder. When faced with difficulty, the family should stand shoulder to shoulder (肩并肩) to overcome it. You should not turn a cold shoulder (不理睬) to your family members. Nor should you give your friends the cold shoulder (冷落朋友). Both expressions mean treating others coldly.

9. Back

A good host is hospitable to his guests. But, if a guest is tiresome, the host is glad to see his back (他離開).

If your friend has done something really well, you may give him a pat on the back (輕輕拍背部) to show your appreciation.

If you turn your back on somebody (不理睬他人), you mean you do not like making friends with that person.

10. Heart

The heart is an extremely important organ inside the chest. It usually stands for something important or the centre of something, for example, the heart of the matter (問題的核心) or the heart of mystery.

Many other expressions make use of the word "heart". A lover can be called a sweet heart (情人). The Purple Heart (紫心徽章) is a medal given as an honor to American soldiers wounded in a battle.

If your friend is in trouble, you may encourage him by saying "Don't lose heart (不要灰心)."

11. Stomach

The stomach is naturally related to one's appetite. If you dislike heavy food, you have no stomach for it (反胃). The word is also related to one's interests or likings. If you find something boring or vulgar, you have no stomach for it, either. Bad food turns your stomach. Similarly, your stomach turns at a bad joke.

Stomach can also be a verb. Look at this example: "How could you stomach (忍受) such rude words?" Apparently, stomach here can be replaced by "tolerate".

12. Arm

Every person has two arms: the right arm and the left arm. The right arm is usually stronger, so we call a good helper the right arm (得力助手).

We all know an arm is not very long. But when you keep someone at arm's length (保持距離), the distance is long enough. For that means you do not like that person and you try your best to avoid him or her. We should indeed keep the bad friends at arm's length.

13. Hand

Quite a number of phrases formed from the word "hand" are very similar to their Chinese counterparts. Here are some obvious examples: a fresh hand (新手), short of hands (人手短缺), hand in hand (手拉手) and wash one's hands of something (洗手不干了). But do not always take this for granted. Study these examples and you will understand.(www.hz123456.com)

He lives from hand to mouth (He has just enough money to live on). We gave them a big hand (We gave them lots of applause).

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