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anita0915
Joined: 08 Feb 2006
Posts: 3
Location: Urumchi
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 Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:59 pm Post subject: what's the meaning? |
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| what's the meaning of "sweep (them/it....) under the rug/carpet" ? |
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Brian Boyd
Joined: 18 Oct 2005
Posts: 176
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
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| Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 11:15 pm Post subject: |
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'Sweep (something) under the rug or carpet' means make a problem go away by hiding it instead of solving it.
If you sweep the floor of your room, you should take the dust and dirt and put it in a dustbin. If you lift up the corner of a rug and sweep the dirt under there, it will be gone from view - but you haven't really cleaned the room ... the problem is still there, but hidden.
Some people argue that burying nuclear waste is just sweeping it under the carpet - we can't see it, but it's still down there in the ground - and it may make big problems in the future, if it gets into the water supplies... so the problem is out of sight but not fixed (swept under the carpet).
Brian
_________________
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Comics for students ...
http://www.grammarmancomic.com
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anita0915
Joined: 08 Feb 2006
Posts: 3
Location: Urumchi
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| Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 4:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Brian Boyd, Thank you very much. |
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