33、Don't paint the lily.不要畫(huà)蛇添足。
這句諺語(yǔ)從字面意思上理解就是“不要給百合花上顏色。”
lily-one of several types of plant with large bell-shaped flowers of various colors, especially white. It's often regarded as a symbol of virtue.百合；百合花。品德的象征。
百合是一種非常美麗的花，無(wú)需再加以作何修飾，如果再給百合上顏色的話，不就是畫(huà)蛇添足了嗎？
莎士比亞的一段話，不僅生動(dòng)地解釋了“畫(huà)蛇添足”，而且還給我們提供了許多類似的說(shuō)法："To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, to throw a perfume on the violet, to smooth the ice, or add another hue unto the rainbow . . . is wasteful and ridiculous excess." 為純金鍍金，為百合著色，為紫羅蘭填香，為冰面整飾，抑或是為彩虹增彩，皆屬畫(huà)蛇添足之可笑舉動(dòng)。
In fact, before Shakespeare, it used to gild the rose, or paint the golden rose on church architecture. But rose was later found to have the wrong type of symbolism and was then replaced by the more virtuous lily on the church decoration. And in the 1920s, there was this phrase "gild the lily", but the more common saying is: don't paint the lily.
34、a drop in the bucket
Definition: a very small amount in comparison to the whole
“水桶中的一滴水”這個(gè)慣用語(yǔ)很容易讓人想起漢語(yǔ)中“滄海一粟”，實(shí)際上，“a drop in the bucket"多用于美語(yǔ)，也可說(shuō)成"a drop in the ocean"，表示同整體比起來(lái)，只占很小的一部分或者是和較大、較多、較重要的事物比，并不算什么。
例句：A hundred thousand may seem a lot but it's a drop in the bucket/ocean compared to the millions that need to be spent. "又如，I'd like to do something to change the world but whatever I do seems like a drop in the bucket.順便說(shuō)一句，bucket一詞所指的桶，一般就指我們以前家里用來(lái)提水或者提砂子/油漆用的桶。我們平常說(shuō)傾盆大雨，大家比較熟悉it rains cats and dogs.其實(shí)還有更相近的It rains buckets.
Example dialog:
A: Wow, the flowers for your wedding cost you one thousand dollars?
天哪，你結(jié)婚鮮花就得花1000？
B: That's just a drop in the bucket compared to the other expenses
比起其他花費(fèi)，這根本就不算什么/這只不過(guò)是九牛一毛。