【DH】跟《绝望主妇》学英语 - 801

You can say that something happens overnight when it happens very quickly and unexpectedly.
The rules are not going to change overnight...
Almost overnight, she had aged ten years and become fat.

If you say that someone goes to great lengths to achieve something, you mean that they try very hard and perhaps do extreme things in order to achieve it.
Greta Garbo went to great lengths to hide from reporters and photographers.
go to any, some, great, etc `lengths (to do sth) be prepared to do anything, something, a lot, etc (to achieve sth) （为达到某目的）不顾一切, 不遗余力。
They went to absurd lengths to keep the affair secret.
他们为了保密无所不用其极.
There are no lengths to which an addict will not go to obtain his drug.
瘾君子为了得到毒品什麽事都做得出来.
She even went to the length of driving me home.
她甚至不嫌麻烦开车把我送回家.

If you say that someone has an eye for something, you mean that they are good at noticing it or making judgments about it.
Susan has a keen eye for detail, so each dress is beautifully finished off.
have an eye for sth: be a good judge of or have a proper sense of sth
对某事物有判断力或鉴赏力; 有眼力; 有眼光:
He has an eye for a bargain.
他识便宜货.

short-tempered:
adj. 脾气坏的, 易怒的
Someone who is short-tempered gets angry very quickly.
I'm a bit short-tempered sometimes.

confession:
Confession is the act of admitting that you have done something that you are ashamed of or embarrassed about.
The diaries are a mixture of confession and observation...
I have a confession to make.
In the Catholic church and in some other churches, if you go to confession, you privately tell a priest about your sins and ask for forgiveness.
He never went to Father Porter for confession again.
(in the Roman Catholic Church) formal admission of one's sins to a priest （指天主教）向神父忏悔; 告罪; 告解。
The priest will hear confessions in English and French.
这位神父可听取用英语和法语的告解.
I always go to confession on Fridays. 我总是每星期五去作忏悔.


conscience: 良心; 是非感
Your conscience is the part of your mind that tells you whether what you are doing is right or wrong. If you have a guilty conscience, you feel guilty about something because you know it was wrong. If you have a clear conscience, you do not feel guilty because you know you have done nothing wrong.
I have battled with my conscience over whether I should actually send this letter...
What if he got a guilty conscience and brought it back?...
I could go away again with a clear conscience.

trifecta:
a variation of the perfecta in which a bettor wins by selecting the first three finishers of a race in the correct order of finish

wonky:
(Brit infml 口) unsteady or weak; wobbly 不稳的; 弱的; 摆动的; 摇动的; 震颤的: a wonky chair 摇摇晃晃的椅子
She still feels a bit wonky after her accident.
她出了事故以后仍然觉得有些虚弱.

sub:
In team games such as football, a sub is a player who is brought into a match to replace another player. (INFORMAL)
We had a few injuries and had to use youth team kids as subs.
= substitute
~ (for sb) act as a substitute 代替; 作替身; 作替补队员: I had to sub for the referee, who was sick. 裁判病了, 我得代为裁判.

loose cannon:
a dangerously uncontrollable person or thing;
a person, usually a public figure, who often behaves in a way that nobody can predict

这个get back in the fold应该和return to the fold的意思差不多吧。
(idm 习语) return to the `fold (fml 文)
rejoin a group of people, esp a religious or political group with similar beliefs or aims 重新加入组织（尤指具有相同之信仰或目标的宗教或政治组织）.

on sabbatical:
A sabbatical is a period of time during which someone such as a university teacher can leave their ordinary work and travel or study.
He took a year's sabbatical from the Foreign Office...
He's been on sabbatical writing a novel.
(of leave) given at intervals to academics for travel, study, etc （指假期）给大学教师的（用於旅行、 研究等）: a sabbatical term, year, etc 大学教师的休假学期、 学年等.