Reader question:
What does this sentence – The defendant denied that he had touched the computer, but his fingerprints on the keyboard gave the game away – mean? Particularly, what does the expression "gave the game away" mean?
My comments:
The defendant said he did not touch the computer. But his fingerprints say otherwise – they were found on the keyboard, meaning that he did touch it. In other words, his fingerprints gave the secret away.
The expression "giving the game away" means just that, revealing a secret someone's been trying to hide. "The game" stands for the surprise element, the tricky or fun part of an activity, a scheme, a plan, a joke, etc.
The Longman dictionary defines the expression as "to spoil a surprise or secret by doing or saying something that lets someone guess what the secret is: Lynn game the game away by laughing when Kim walked in." In this example, Kim instantly knew they were planning some kind of mischief on him when Lynn laughed – she gave the game, the fun part of the game, away, thus failing the group.
Here are more examples from the media. Explanations (in brackets and perhaps redundant) are mine.
1. A telltale puff of radioactive gas may give the game away
AFTER 8 years of monitoring small earthquakes in the Dead Sea rift valley, Israeli seismologists report that the quakes were more likely to occur after a rise in emissions of the radioactive gas radon. Although the signal didn't occur before every quake, the researchers say the link is statistically significant - a controversial claim, as it is generally accepted that individual quakes are impossible to predict.
Radon emissions have been touted as a possible quake precursor since the discovery that levels of the gas in water rose sharply before a major earthquake in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 1966. Advocates believe that as underground strain nears the threshold for triggering an earthquake, it releases radon that has accumulated in the rock from radioactive decay. Yet the few reported examples could not be reproduced, and no one had collected systematic data.
2. How chairs give the game away
If you think your open-plan office is a hierarchy-free zone, take a look at the seating. Firms spend a lot on office chairs because they wear out quickly, and have to conform to health and safety directives. So the lowliest office workers have quite high-tech chairs, with foam-filled seats, swivels, castors and levers to adjust the height. This has created a burgeoning market in swankier "executive" chairs for managers, with higher backs, leather covers, wider seats, greater adjustability and more generous padding, including "memory foam", which responds to an individual's body shape. The booming areas in the office furniture industry are those that either save on space or allow bosses to buy kudos. So much for the spontaneity and egalitarianism of the "borderless office".
3. Stephen King: Politicians' acts of denial give the game away
When it all begins to go wrong, politicians typically adopt one of three strategies. They deny. They claim it's worse elsewhere. Or they blame others for their woes.
The UK economy must, then, be going horribly wrong. Our political leaders adopted all three tactics last week, thereby betraying their deep-rooted fears.
Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, offered the denial. In an interview with the BBC, Mr Brown said: "We've seen house prices rise by about 180 per cent over the last 10 years and they have risen by about 18 per cent over the last three years, so a 2.5 per cent fall is something that is containable." He was referring to the latest decline in the Halifax house price index.
Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, made the claim that things are worse elsewhere. On the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, he said: "The IMF has down-rated every country's growth forecast in the light of what's been happening in the world economy [as if the world economy is something other than a collection of countries]. However, they have lowered their expectations in relation to us by less than other countries."
It was Mr Brown, though, who chose to blame others for the UK's latest economic turbulence. Apparently, the world is "in a difficult situation arising from what's happening in America".
Mr Brown's first quote is a denial of the laws of gravity. While it's possible that house prices have reached a higher sustainable level, history and damaged reputations suggest otherwise. It was, after all, Irving Fisher, the great American economist, who famously (and presumably regrettably) said just before the 1929 stock market crash that "stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau". While there's no guarantee that what goes up must come down, the history of the UK housing market strongly suggests that the 2.5 per cent decline recorded by Halifax in the latest month will, sadly, mark the beginnings of a major slide.
[2013秋]外研版(三起)三上《Unit 1 I’m Sam》ppt课件包(含素材)
2015春外研版(一起)二下Module 7《Unit 1 It’s Children’s Day today》教案
2015春外研版(一起)一下Module 3《Unit 2 How many green birds》教案
2015春外研版(一起)二下Module 9《Unit 1 Turn left》教学设计
[2013秋]外研版(三起)三上《Unit 1 What’s this》ppt课件
[2013春]外研版(一起)一下《Unit 1 I like football》word教案
[2013秋]外研版(三起)三上《Unit 1 Point to door》ppt课件2
外研版(三起)英语三上《Module 9 Unit 2》PPT课件1
外研版英语三起三上2012版M1
2015春外研版(一起)一下Module 1《Unit 2 She’s a nurse》教案
2015春外研版(一起)一下Module 3《Unit 1 Where’s the orange cat》教案
2015春外研版(一起)一下Module 1《Unit 1 He’s a doctor》教案
外研版(三起)英语三上《Module 4 Unit 1》PPT课件2
外研版英语三起三上2012版M10-U1-mp3格式课文朗读
2015春外研版(三起)四下Module 5《Unit 1 I was two then》word教案
外研版英语三起三上2012版M1-U1-mp3格式课文朗读
2015春外研版(一起)一下Module 2《Unit 2 The toy car is under the bed》教案
外研版(三起)英语三上《Module 7 Unit 1》PPT课件7
2015春外研版(一起)一下Module 10《Unit 1 Let’s play football》教案
[2013春]外研版(一起)一下《Unit 1 He’s a doctor》word教案
2015春外研版(一起)一下Module 5《Unit 2 It’s thin》教案
2015春外研版(三起)四下Module 5《Unit 2 They were young》word教案
2015春外研版(三起)四下Module 6《Unit 2 Was it a big city then》word教案
[2013秋]外研版(三起)三上《Unit 1 Point to door》ppt课件3
2015春外研版(一起)一下Module 8《Unit 1 There’s a pair of shorts under that duck》教案
[2013秋]外研版(三起)三上《Unit 1 What’s this》ppt课件2
外研版(三起)英语三上《Module 4 Unit 1》PPT课件3
2015春外研版(一起)一下Module 4《Unit 1 This is my head》教案
外研版(三起)英语三上《Module 9 Unit 1》PPT课件5
[2013秋]外研版(三起)三上《Unit 1 This is his head》ppt课件2
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |