名人教英文：有「长」有「短」的惯用语
上周介绍过no less than / nothing less than（简直是），其实同义语还有nothing short of。奥巴马医保计划执行混乱，很多人以「简直是灾难」来形容：the implementation (落实) of obamacare is nothing short of a disaster (灾难).
fall short of something则解作「达不到（目标、期望）」。例如：the company's third-quarter sales fell short of the target.
stop short of可解作「最终没有做某件事（虽然或许差点儿做了）」，例如：he admitted that something went wrong, but he stopped short of spelling out the full details；亦可解作「迹近但未至于」，例如：she accused him of being misleading, but stopped short of saying he lied.
in short即「简而言之」，例如：susan likes swimming, skiing and biking. in short, she is sporty.
for short有「简称」之意，例如：the legislative council is known as the legco for short. 换个说法是：the legco is short for the legislative council.
in the short run /in the short term即「短期内」，例如：most analysts believe that property prices will not fall sharply in the short run. 相反，in the long run /in the long term即「长期来说」。
有些惯用语同时有long有short：
the long and the short of it即「总而言之」，用来带出重点。例如：the community leaders have given dozens of reasons against building an incinerator (焚化炉) in this area. the long and the short of it is that the residents do not want a waste management facility in their backyard (后院，比喻邻近住处的地方).
to cut/make a long story short即「长话短说」，略过事情细节，讲出结果。例如：to cut a long story short, they have reached a consensus (共识) after ten rounds of negotiations (谈判).
long on something and short on something即「长于……，拙于……」。如果我们说that politician is long on talk, short on action，意即此人「讲多过做」。
金融术语go long on a stock (长仓) 即买进股票，待股价升；go short on a stock/ sell a stock short (沽空) 即在股价看跌时，借入股票卖出，然后用更低的价钱买回股票还给借方，从中获利。