little /ˈlɪtl/► SEE ALLa little bird told me (that…)little by littlemake little of sthmore than a little excited, shocked, etc.twist/wind/wrap sb around/round your little fingerof little/no accountto little/no availlittle/no better thanbit by bitgreat/tall oaks from little acorns growprecious few/littleto little/good/some/no purposelittle/nothing short of sthit’s no/small/little wonder (that)… ●a little ˈbird told me (that…) (spoken) I have heard about sth but I do not want to say who told me有人私下告诉我；消息灵通的人告诉我◆A little bird told me you might be applying for another job. Is that true? 我听说你可能正在另找工作，是真的吗？◆‘How did you know I was getting married?’ ‘Oh, a little bird told me.’ “你怎么知道我快结婚了？”“哦，我有线人啦。”●ˌlittle by ˈlittleslowly; gradually慢慢地；逐渐地；一点一点地◆Her English is improving little by little. 她的英语水平正在逐步提高。◆Little by little she began to feel better. 她渐渐地感觉好点儿了。●make ˈlittle of sth1.treat sth as unimportant or less important than expected不重视；对…不以为意；贬低◆She made little of all the problems in the department and said everything was all right. 她对部门里所有的问题都不以为意，说一切都很好。2.hardly understand sth理解不了；不太明白◆I read the article on the relationship between physics and art, but I’m afraid I could make little of it. 我读了这篇讨论物理和艺术关系的文章，但遗憾的是我理解不了。●more than a little exˈcited, ˈshocked, etc.quite or very excited, shocked, etc.非常兴奋（或震惊等）◆Peter was more than a little disappointed not to be chosen for the team. 彼得因为没有被选进队里而非常失望。◆I was more than a little surprised to see it still there two days later. 两天后我发现它还在那儿，这使我非常吃惊。●twist/wind/wrap sb around/round your little ˈfinger (informal) be able to persuade or influence sb very easily, usually because they like you（通常因对方喜欢自己而）任意摆布某人，随便左右某人；将…操纵于股掌之间◆I can twist my parents round my little finger. 我总能让父母听我的。●of little/no acˈcount (formal) not considered important无关紧要；无足轻重◆His past achievements were of no account when it came to competing with the younger men.要说跟较年轻的人竞争，他过去的成绩就不值一提了。●to little/no aˈvail (formal) with little or no success没有什么成果；不成功◆The doctors tried everything to keep him alive but to no avail.医生们竭尽全力抢救他的生命，但却徒劳无功。●little/no ˈbetter thanalmost or just the same as; almost or just as bad as跟…差不多；比…好不到哪去◆The path was no better than a sheep track.这条小路简直是羊肠小道。●bit by ˈbit ( little by ˈlittle) a small amount at a time; gradually一点一点地；逐渐地◆We managed to save the money bit by bit over a period of ten years.这些钱是我们用了十年时间一点一点地攒下的。◆Little by little, she began to feel better after her illness.病后她渐渐感觉好起来了。●great/tall ˌoaks from little acorns ˈgrow (saying) large and successful organizations, businesses, etc. sometimes begin in a very small or modest way合抱之木，生于毫末；万丈高楼平地起◆Welcome to my new website! It may not look much at the moment, but great oaks from little acorns grow!欢迎来到我的新网站！它现在可能微不足道，不过万丈高楼平地起嘛。NOTE An oak is a large tree and the acorn is its fruit. * oak （橡树）是一种大型树木，acorn 是橡子。●precious ˈfew/ˈlittle (informal) very few/little很少；罕有◆There are precious few places round here where you can get good Indian food.这里很少有地方能吃到真正好的印度菜。●to little/good/some/no ˈpurpose (formal) with little, good, etc. result or effect作用不大／很大；有一些／没有作用◆Another meeting was held, to little purpose.又开了一次会，不过作用不大。◆She had used the profits to good purpose and upgraded their software.她把赚来的钱用在了实处，升级了他们的软件。●little/nothing short of ˈsthused when you are saying that sth is almost true, or is equal to sth可以说是；无异于；近乎◆Last year’s figures were little short of disastrous.去年的数字简直是灾难性的。◆The transformation has been nothing short of a miracle.这种变化堪称奇迹。●it’s no/small/little ˈwonder (that)…it’s not surprising不足为奇；并不奇怪◆If you walked all the way, it’s little wonder you’re late.如果你是一路走来的，那难怪你会迟到。◆‘The heating’s gone off.’ ‘I thought it was cold. No wonder!’“暖气停了。”“难怪这么冷！”