below the belt

belt这个词解作“裤带”，这个成语below the belt按其词义意为“在裤带以下”，亦即“在腰部以下”。我闪知道，在拳击比赛中，有一条规则是不可以攻击对手腰部以下的部位，否则便做犯规论处。

因此below the belt这个成语的比喻意义是“不合乎规则、不公正、不符合体育道德”。在句子中它常可作状语或表语用，和它的连用的动词一般是hit, strike:

It was hitting below the belt for Mr. Jones to spread a rumour about his rival in the election campaign.
琼斯先生在竞选中散播有关他对手的谣传，这样做是不道德的。

The team is becoming notorious for hitting below the belt in the games it plays.
由于在比赛中屡屡犯规，这队伍声名狼藉。

Don’t you think you will be striking below the belt if you ask your elder sister to help improve what you have written for the speech contest?
让你姐姐帮你修改你为参加演讲比赛写好的稿子，你不觉得这样做是违反规则的吗？

full steam ahead

现在大多数的船都以柴油为燃料了，但以前，和火车一样，船是以蒸气为动力的，船速的快慢取决于锅炉里的蒸气。

full steam ahead原来是汽轮船上用的一道命令，字面上的意思是“放足蒸气往前开”，也就是“全速前进”的意思。这是个起状语作用的短语，修饰形容一个动作，如果一个人全力以赴地去做一件事，那么他就好比是一艘开足马力往前驶的船：

Even if I work full steam ahead, it will take me the whole day to finish typing this long report.
即使我全力以赴，打完这篇长篇报告也要花整整一天的时间。

Now that our plan has been approved by the school authorities, let’s go full steam ahead with it.
现在我们计划已得到校方的批准，让我们以最快的速度来执行吧!

Knowing too well what a scholarship would mean to him, he has been getting on with his studies full steam ahead to win it.
他深知奖学金对他来说意味着什么，所以他一直潜心攻读以取得奖学金。