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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Patrick Woodward.

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<v Speaker 2>And I'm Megan Nolette. Spotlight uses a special English method

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<v Speaker 2>of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no

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<v Speaker 2>matter where in the world they.

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<v Speaker 1>Live, animals are everywhere, even when we cannot see them.

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<v Speaker 1>There are bugs in the dirt, there are fish in

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<v Speaker 1>the sea. Antarctica, the coldest desert in the world, is

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<v Speaker 1>still home to millions of animals. There is even one animal,

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<v Speaker 1>the tardigrade, that can survive in outer space.

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<v Speaker 2>It is no wonder, then that people talk about animals

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<v Speaker 2>a lot. This is true in every language, including English,

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<v Speaker 2>but you may have noticed that many of these sayings

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<v Speaker 2>make no sense. A Native English speaker may talk about

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<v Speaker 2>flying pigs. They may say something about a wolf putting

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<v Speaker 2>on the clothing of a sheep, as if animals wore clothes.

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<v Speaker 1>Native English speakers often use idioms in their speech. Idioms

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<v Speaker 1>are words and sayings where the meaning is not clear

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<v Speaker 1>from the individual words. They are simply phrases that Native

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<v Speaker 1>speakers say that makes sense to other native speakers, but

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<v Speaker 1>these phrases are difficult for non native speakers to understand.

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<v Speaker 2>So on this week's Spotlight, we are exploring seven common

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<v Speaker 2>animal idioms. Most are not about animals at all, but

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<v Speaker 2>using them will help you learn new words and sound

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<v Speaker 2>like a native speaker.

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<v Speaker 1>Our first animal idiom is the phrase the elephant in

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<v Speaker 1>the room. People use this phrase when they are speaking

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<v Speaker 1>about a subject that no one wants to talk about.

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<v Speaker 1>The avoided subject is usually very important to talk about.

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<v Speaker 1>It will be very clear as if it were a

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<v Speaker 1>large gray animal sitting in the corner of the room.

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<v Speaker 2>Imagine that two married people are throwing a party. Everyone

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<v Speaker 2>who comes knows that these two are getting a divorce.

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<v Speaker 2>The party is no fun. No one wants to start

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<v Speaker 2>talking about their marriage difficulties. You might say that these

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<v Speaker 2>problems are the elephant in the room. They are a

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<v Speaker 2>huge issue. They affect everyone in the group, but no

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<v Speaker 2>one wants to talk about them because they are too

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<v Speaker 2>large or too strange to bring up.

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<v Speaker 1>Our second animal idiom is to kill two birds with

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<v Speaker 1>one stone. Do not worry, animal lovers, You do not

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<v Speaker 1>need to kill anything to use this phrase. Instead, the

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<v Speaker 1>phrase means to achieve many things in one attempt.

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<v Speaker 2>Imagine that a woman needs to visit her sister. It

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<v Speaker 2>is her sister's birthday, but the woman also owes her

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<v Speaker 2>sister money. She can celebrate the birthday and pay the

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<v Speaker 2>money back in one trip. So she might say that

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<v Speaker 2>she is killing two birds with one stone by going.

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<v Speaker 1>A third animal idiom is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

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<v Speaker 1>No wolves, fierce creatures like a wild dog or sheep

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<v Speaker 1>are involved in this idiom. Instead, the phrase means that

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<v Speaker 1>a person appears gentle but is not.

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<v Speaker 2>This phrase first appeared in the Christian Bible. This Holy

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<v Speaker 2>book often compares sheep to innocent people. A wolf will

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<v Speaker 2>hunt sheep, but a sheep can sometimes tell when a

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<v Speaker 2>wolf is coming. It can run away from the wolf.

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<v Speaker 2>But if a wolf could make itself look like a sheep,

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<v Speaker 2>the animal would not recognize its hunter. The wolf could

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<v Speaker 2>kill and eat the sheep easily. Someone who is a

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<v Speaker 2>wolf in sheep's clothing is similar. They fake meaning well

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<v Speaker 2>when they do not.

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<v Speaker 1>A fourth animal idiom is to take the lion's share.

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<v Speaker 1>A lion is a large cat, much bigger than a person.

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<v Speaker 1>To Native English speakers, the lion's share is the largest

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<v Speaker 1>part of something. A person who has taken the lion's

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<v Speaker 1>share of something received most of it.

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<v Speaker 2>People often use this phrase in financial situations Imagine a

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<v Speaker 2>group of people started a company, but one of these

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<v Speaker 2>people spent more time, money, and effort. If the company's

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<v Speaker 2>art's making money, he might expect a greater part of

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<v Speaker 2>the profits. He would want the lion's share.

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<v Speaker 1>This phrase comes from the Greek storyteller Esop, who lived

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<v Speaker 1>around sixteen hundred BCE. In one of his stories, Esop

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<v Speaker 1>tells about a hunting party between a lion and three

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<v Speaker 1>animals that do not usually hunt, a cow, a goat,

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<v Speaker 1>and a sheep. When the animals succeed, the lion takes

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<v Speaker 1>the whole kill. He threatens the other animals if they

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<v Speaker 1>try to stop him. This story taught that people should

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<v Speaker 1>not partner with those who are more powerful than they are.

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<v Speaker 1>The powerful person will always take the lion's share.

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<v Speaker 2>A fifth animal idiom is all dressed up like a

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<v Speaker 2>dog's dinner. This idiom is popular in the UK but

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<v Speaker 2>not in the US. It means that a person is

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<v Speaker 2>wearing very nice clothing.

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<v Speaker 1>But there is also an insult in this, saying a

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<v Speaker 1>dog's dinner is not very clean. A dog does not

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<v Speaker 1>care how it looks when it eats. Calling someone a

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<v Speaker 1>dog's dinner means a person who does not take care

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<v Speaker 1>of how they look. So a person who is dressed

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<v Speaker 1>up like a dog's dinner is presenting themselves differently than normal.

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<v Speaker 1>They may even seem a bit foolish.

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<v Speaker 2>A sixth animal idiom is the saying when pigs fly,

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<v Speaker 2>do not worry. These large, four legged animals have not

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<v Speaker 2>learned to leave the ground. Instead, a person who uses

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<v Speaker 2>this saying means they will never do something. They may

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<v Speaker 2>also be saying that an event will never happen.

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<v Speaker 1>Imagine that a woman is afraid of airplane travel. Her

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<v Speaker 1>son lives across the world. He wishes that she would

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<v Speaker 1>come visit him, but he does not believe that his

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<v Speaker 1>mother will ever find the courage. He may tell his

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<v Speaker 1>friends that she will visit him. When pigs fly, no

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<v Speaker 1>pig can fly on its own, so he's telling his

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<v Speaker 1>friends that he does not believe it is possible.

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<v Speaker 2>Our seventh and final animal idiom is a fish out

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<v Speaker 2>of water. This saying means that a person is in

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<v Speaker 2>a new, often unpleasant situation.

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<v Speaker 1>For example, imagine a young boy is starting a new sport.

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<v Speaker 1>He has never trained and knows very little about it.

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<v Speaker 1>The only reason he is playing is because his friends do.

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<v Speaker 1>At his first game, his inexperience will be clear. People

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<v Speaker 1>watching may say that he looks like a fish out

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<v Speaker 1>of water.

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<v Speaker 2>This saying is so widespread in English that it is

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<v Speaker 2>the name of a kind of story. A fish out

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<v Speaker 2>of water story puts its main character in a new situation.

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<v Speaker 2>Sometimes something bad happens to this person, maybe they go

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<v Speaker 2>to another world or where their business veils. But often

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<v Speaker 2>fish out of water stories are funny. They put a

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<v Speaker 2>character in humorous situations.

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<v Speaker 1>There are almost as many animal idioms in English as

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<v Speaker 1>there are animals on the earth, but these are some

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<v Speaker 1>of the most common. Using them might not help you

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<v Speaker 1>talk about animals themselves, but these sayings will help you

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<v Speaker 1>sound more like a native speaker. Practice them as much

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<v Speaker 1>as you can, and use them with your friends.

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<v Speaker 2>Do you have any interesting animal idioms in your language?

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<v Speaker 2>What are they? You can leave a comment on our

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<v Speaker 2>website at www dot Spotlight English dot com. You can

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<v Speaker 2>also find us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and x You

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<v Speaker 2>can also get our programs delivered directly do your Android

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<v Speaker 2>or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.

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<v Speaker 1>The writer of this program was Dan Christman. The producer

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<v Speaker 1>was mitchyo Osaki. The voices you heard were from the

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<v Speaker 1>United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted

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<v Speaker 1>for this program and voiced by Spotlight. This program is

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<v Speaker 1>called English Idioms Animals.

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<v Speaker 2>We hope you can join us again or the next

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<v Speaker 2>Spotlight program. Goodbye,