At our company Christmas party, a lot of wine, even vodka, was available. I knew Lao Zhang and Rob were heavy drinkers, so I egged them on (怂恿某人做某事）in a competition for drinking vodka. I was the judge. They readily （欣然地）agreed. After a few drinks, their faces were all very red. Rob then refused to drink more and said, "I cave in." I did not understand, so I gain a farfetched （牵强的，不着边际的）interpretation of the work "cave" and considered it was equivalent to "trap" . "No. NO, No cave," I said, "It's a fair play." Rob's face looked even redder and hastened to add: " I give up. Lao Zhang wins".

It turns out that "cave in" has the meaning as "give up or give in".

I worked in a big, well-known American firm more than two decades ago. My boss Caroline was a young and beautiful American girl. A promotion or raise of her subordinates （下属）by her depended solely on the number or value of presents that they gave her. As a result, the practice of giving dinners or sending gifts was in a vogue (盛行的，流行的）for a while. Later, here superior （上级，长官）heard of it and called all the staff of our section together for a conference to transfer Caroline from her post. In the conference, Caroline kept asking: 

"Why do you want to change my dress?"

Hearing her saying" change my dress", I felt rather confused, wondering why the superior wanted to change her dress. Later, I understood that "change a dress" has the meaning of "transfer from a post". I narrowly escaped being made myself the laughing-stock （笑柄）of all.

I went to Minnesota on business with one of my American colleagues. As it was winter and the north wind howled(呼啸）, we both prepared some chapstick for emergency. On our way, however, my colleague always left his chapstick in his briefcase in the trunk （后备箱）of our car. So whenever he was in need of it, we had to stop the car on the expressway. It was very inconvenient. Just before we were ready to set off after a refueling and while he was packing his briefcase, I shouted to him to remind him, "Don't forget your lipstick!"

Glancing at me, he did not say anything. I thought he did not hear me clearly, so I repeated loudly.

Closing the trunk quickly, he went over and said angrily, " I don't use lipstick!"

It suddenly dawned on me （恍然大悟）that I had mistaken "lipstick" for "chapstick".

Once I had a chat with an American colleague of mine about our family life. He talked about his wife and children. As he was talking about his wife, he said his wife was good except that she always "chews his ear off", which he could not stand.

I was in the dark （丈二和尚摸不着头脑，不明白）somewhat when I heard it, and I wondered why his wife liked biting his ears.

Afterwards, with his explanation, I learned that "chew someone's ear off" means "chatter away, or be garrulous(唠叨的）".