Xiaohua: Hello and welcome to RoundTable's Word of the Week. This week we're talking about some sleep-related idioms.
John: Indeed. Everyone likes to sleep, but not everyone knows how to talk about sleep in English. So we're going to take a look at some idioms specifically related to sleeping. "Cat nap", a short sleep or rest during the day. My dad often has a cat nap on a Sunday afternoon.
Xiaohua: 猫特别喜欢在白天打瞌睡，那cat nap就是小睡一下的意思。
John: And then "forty winks". If you have forty winks , you have a short sleep or rest, generally during the day. So very, very similar to cat nap.
Xiaohua: Forty winks也是差不多的意思，so if you winked forty times, it's a very short period of time, therefore, forty winks?
John: I have no idea.
Xiaohua: Sounds like it.

John: Sounds like it. Next up, "hit the hay or hit the sack". When you hit the hay or hit the sack, you go to bed when you're really, really tired. For example, the boys were so exhausted that they hit the hay as soon as they reached the campsite.
Xiaohua: 当人们很累的时候就一下子倒在干草堆上了，所以hit the hay or hit the sack是立刻就去睡觉了的意思。
John: Right. Then there is "lie in or sleep in". If you lie in, you stay in bed after a normal time for getting up. I imagine that a lot of people like to have a lie in on the weekend when they don't have to get up early for work.
Xiaohua: There's nothing better than a lie in on Sunday for me. Lie in就是已经过了起床的时间但还赖在床上不肯起来的意思。
John: And then "out like a light". If a person is out like a light, they are so tired that they fall asleep very quickly. As soon as his head touched the pillow, he was out like a light.
Xiaohua: Out like a light的意思就是一下就睡着。
John: Someone who is "ready to drop" is extremely tired or nearly too exhausted to stay standing. So for example: I've been shopping all day with Judy. I'm ready to drop! This is also kind of similar to a phrase you hear in English: someone is shopping until they drop. Or "shop till you drop" is usually a sales tactic getting people to come in the store with the amazing deals.
Xiaohua: I see. Ready to drop就是累得可以马上倒下睡着的意思。而shop till you drop居然也是购物一直到。。。
John: 到累死了？
Xiaohua: OK，购物一直购到累死了的状态。
John: I never thought I'd be teaching Xiaohua Chinese.
Xiaohua: No.
John: And then "sleep like a log". If you sleep like a log, you sleep deeply or soundly. So after a day at the beach, I usually sleep like a log.
Xiaohua: 这个短语大家可能都知道，sleep like a log，睡得很沉。
John: So "not sleep a wink or not get a wink of sleep". So basically you sleep so lightly or you don't actually sleep at all no matter how hard you try.
Xiaohua: 刚才说到forty winks是小睡一下的意思，那not sleep a wink就是一点都没睡着。
John: And then the opposite of "not sleeping a wink" is to be fast asleep or sound asleep. And so very similar to sleeping like a log, to be fully asleep and not easy to wake up.
Xiaohua: Fast or sound asleep也是指睡得很沉的意思。
John: And then looking at some idioms that aren't directly related with sleep but talking about sleep: "asleep at the wheel" means that someone is not sufficiently attentive, especially at a critical moment when vigilance is required. For example, when the firemen arrived too late at the scene, the night watchman was accused of being asleep at the wheel.
Xiaohua: Asleep at the wheel有点像关键时刻掉链子的意思，就是当你需要非常警醒的时候你却没有注意。
John: And then to sleep on it, so take time usually until the next day) to think something over before making a very important decision.
Xiaohua: Yeah, I tend to sleep on my problems all the time.
John: Do you oversleep on your problems?
Xiaohua: Kind of. 所以sleep on something就是把这件事情先不管啦，拖一阵再解决。And that's all we have for RoundTable's Word of the Week.