看美剧学英语习语：Cost sb an arm and a leg

Fannie

Cost sb an arm and a leg: which means to cost a lot of money,to be extremely expensive. As in I'd really like to have a new farm house, but it may cost me an arm and a leg.

Etymology: According to Eric Partridge, this hyperbolic idiom, which is always used in conjunction with verbs such as "cost," "charge," or "pay," and became widely known from the 1930s on, probably came from the 19th-century American criminal slang phrase, if it takes a leg (that is, even at the cost of a leg), to express desperate determination.

中文释义：cost me an arm and a leg 直译过来是：花了我一条胳膊和一条腿。如果一个人说他想花高价买你的腿和胳膊，我相信大部分人都不愿意考虑出售吧？所以 an arm and a leg 表示“昂贵”的意思，cost an arm and a leg指的是“花了一大笔钱”，跟我们常说的“卖肾”差不多一个意思，然而西方习惯的是卖胳膊腿。例句： A week at a health farm can cost an arm and a leg.（在健身中心呆一个星期的花费会很昂贵。）另外需要记住，在美国用这个短语，每个人都会理解你的意思。但是这是一个非正式的短语，所以不要在商务场合使用哦。

今日看点：Break a leg!（祝好运！）
这个习语源于剧院里的演员，他们认为“祝好运”反而会让人倒霉，所以干脆正话反说。现在也沿用至戏剧以外的情景，表达“祝好运”类似的含义。例句：Today's your exam, right? Break a leg!（今天你有考试对吧？祝你成功！）