口语课堂第77期:给某人开绿灯;没戏

The council has given the green light for work to begin on the new shopping center. 政务委员会已经批准开工修建新的购物中心.
As soon as we get the green light, we'll start advertising for new staff. 一得到许可,我们就将开始打广告招募新员工.

This expression refers to the green light on traffic lights, which means "go". 这个表达法原指交通灯转绿即表示可以通行.

(give sb/sth/get) the thumbs up/down: 竖起大拇指(表示接受或取得成功);拇指向下(表示拒绝或不成功) used to show that sth has been accepted/rejected or that it is/is not successful

I asked him whether I could borrow the car, and he gave me the thumbs up. 我问他可不可以借他的车,他说没问题.

I'm afraid it's thumbs down for your new proposal—the boss doesn't like it. 恐怕你的新提案没戏---老板不喜欢.

We've got the thumbs up for the new swimming pool. 我们要求新建一个游泳池的提议得到了批准.

在古罗马时期的角斗赛中,观众竖起拇指表示 不要处死某一角斗士,反之则向下.