2201.2009 is drawing to a close now. Most retail businesses take a year-end inventory to determine what they have sold and what they need to reorder. We too should take inventory of what we have learned and what we should improve. 2009年已接近尾声，很多的零售商店都会进行一次年终盘点，看这一年的销售成绩，要补哪些货。我们也得进行盘点，看我们一年学了些什么，以后要做的改进。一年快结束也可以说：
a) this year is coming to an end,
b)as the year is winding down,
c)the new year is right around the corner,
d)we are going to start a fresh page,
2202.What will happen to the stock markets? Some of the Bulls say the market will continue to go up and some of the Bears say the market will crash and go to even lower lows than 2009. 明年股票市场会怎样？预测牛市的人说，股票会持续上扬，预测熊市的人则说，市场会垮掉，比2009年最低的点还要低。
2203.Only a fool will make a new year’s resolution. Within one month after the New Year rolls out, most people cast aside their resolutions.只有傻瓜才会去定新年决心。新年开始后不到一个月，大多数人就都忘记了新年决心。
2204.Why not set some realistic goals though maybe some of the goals are a repeat of the previous year? 为什么不设立一些比较现实的目标，虽然有些不过是去年定过的？
2205.To set a goal that makes sense, you need to follow SMART principle: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely. 要让新年目标有实际意义，你得依照“聪明法”去做：具体，能测量，量力而行，不脱离实际，以及有时间范围。
2206.My resolution for the New Year is to quit smoking. It is easy to do it. I have done it hundreds of times. 我新年的决心是戒烟，这是件很容易做的事，我都做过几百遍了。Many people look forward to the new year for a new start on old habits. 许多人都在期待在新的一年里，老习惯能有新的开始。
2207.For a lot of people happiness depends on their happenings. If their happenings don’t happen to happen the way they happen to want their happenings to happen, they’re unhappy.对很多人而言，他们的幸福是建立在外在的环境，如果外在的环境碰巧并不是他们所想象的那样，他们就没有幸福可言了。
2208.We need to ask God to help us in the New Year. Once God opens doors that no man can shut. 我们应该求神来帮助我们，如果是神开了门，则无人能关了。
2209.Lake Superior State University published 2009 list of banished words. Some of the words on the list are green, carbon footprint, bailout, wall street/main street, and so on. 密西根州苏必略湖州立大学个公布了2009滥用词榜，上榜的一些词有，绿色，碳排放量，救援，华尔街/大众街，等等。banished words 滥用，相当于cliché。
2210.Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 弟兄们，我不是以为自己已经得着了；我只有一件事，就是忘记背後，努力面前的，向着标竿直跑，要得神在基督耶稣里从上面召我来得的奖赏。腓立比书三章十三-十四节
2211.Having a plan for the new year is a wishful thing, it hardly ever works out the way you think it will. 新年许愿只不过是件想当然的事，很难实现。
2212.Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional. 人变老是不可避免，人变得成熟却不一定。
2213.He just had his 40th birth day, therefore he is over the hill. 他刚刚满四十岁，开始走下坡路了。over the hill, 开始进入下半辈子。
2214.Our government simply wants to keep the people in dark on the government programs. 我们的政府根本就不想让人民知道政府的这些计划。I am totally in the dark about it. 我根本就不知道这事。I see you better in the dark. 这是名诗中的一个句子，我在黑暗中看你看得更美好。说的的是心有灵犀一点通的境界。不需要看到对方的容貌，就能深深地爱上对方。
2215.I will follow the flow. 我随大流，大家说怎么做，我就怎么做。I will follow your flow.(跳舞时)我跟着你的跳好了。cash flow:Cash flow is said to be the lifeblood of any business.
2216.put the shoulder to the wheel 用肩顶住轮子，以防车子翻倒，说明竭尽全力：If everyone puts their shoulder to the wheel, the job will be finished in no time.如果人人都全力以赴，这事很快就能干完的。We’ll have to put our shoulder to the wheel to get this job done. 要想把这事干完，就得大家都全力扑上。
2217.This month has been totally ugly, because the sale is so slow. It is difficult to keep the business afloat. 这个月糟透了，销售低迷，要让生意生存真的不容易。
2218.Given the nature of the threat, we can’t go back to business as usual. 了解所面临的危机，我们不能再走老路了。
2219.All is well that ends well. 这是莎士比亚一部剧的名字，中文是《皆大欢喜》。本意有点像邓小平的“不管是黑猫白猫，能抓住老鼠的就是好猫。”要有好结果才算数。
2220.Bill’s teaching his son carpentry; that’s a case of the blind leading the blind. 比尔教他儿子做木工，那不是瞎子领瞎子？这个成语源于耶稣的一段话，见马太福音15：14以及路加福音6：39，原意是，道德败坏的人不可能带领其他道德败坏的人变得更好。
2221.Mr. Bo is trying to clean up Chongqing, but you wonder where the leaders were in the first place. 薄先生要把重庆整顿好，但是人们要问，这些领导一开始跑到哪里去了。clean up 收拾，整顿。The government is trying to clean up the failed banks. 政府正设法帮这些烂银行收拾残局。
2222.We need to clear out the clutter in our life. 我们应该轻装上阵。clutter 乱七八糟。也可以说clean out the clutter. Her room is in a clutter. 她的房间乱七八糟。She feels her life is filled with clutter. 她老觉得生活有点乱七八糟。
2223.While some car firms went down for the count, there were companies such as G.M. that refused to throw in the towel. In fact, G.M. has even managed to throw a few punches of its own.有些汽车公司状况不佳，这时，有些公司，例如G.M.却不服输，事实上，G.M.还在主动开拓新市场。throw in the towel 认输，throw a punch, 出拳，出击。The company threw in the towel after losing all of its major customers.这家公司失去了所有的主要的顾客后，只好宣布破产。Who do you think will throw in the towel after the first two rounds，牛津 or Teacher X? 牛津与信老师头两轮斗下来，你觉得谁会认输？