maté Thành ngữ, tục ngữ

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ball park figure/estimate

a rough estimate or figure The contractor gave us a ball park figure for the cost of repairing the new building.

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reach a stalemate

arrive at a position where no progress is made The talks to buy the materials for the new computer labs reached a stalemate and it will be difficult to get them started again.

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soul mate

one who is your natural and compatible mate I thought Carson and I were soul mates, but we disagree a lot.

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bezzy mates

best friends:"They've been bezzy mates since they were at nursery together"

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Billy no mates

derogatory term for a person who appears to have no friends

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approximate to

come very near to近似；接近
His account of what happened approximated to the truth though there were some small errors．虽然有些小的出入，他对这件事的叙述还是接近事实真相的。
The yearly output approximates to 600，000 tons．年产量接近 60万吨。

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Billy no-mates

(UK slang) a man with no friends: "He doesn't want to go alone to the restaurant and look like Billy no-mates."

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Norma no-mates

(UK slang) a woman with no friends: "She doesn't want to look like Norma no-mates."

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alma mater

alma mater
Also, Alma Mater. The school or college one attended and, usually, graduated from, as in During football season I always check to see how my alma mater is doing. This expression sometimes refers to the institution's official song, as in I never did learn the words to my college's alma mater. The term is Latin for “kind mother.” [c. 1800]