trees [ tríis ]

not grow on trees

If you say that people or things of a particular kind do not grow on trees, you are emphasizing that they are very difficult to obtain.

>> Se você quiser enfatizar que certas pessoas ou coisas são difíceis de se obter, você pode usar a expressão acima.

• Mitchell could not be replaced in a hurry: agents with his expertise did not grow on trees.
• Investments worth $1.75 billion do not grow on trees.
• The merchant bank was purchased in 1987 for £777 million in hard cash at a time when money was growing on trees.

not see the wood for the trees

not see the forest for the trees

If you say that someone can't see the wood for the trees, you mean that they are so involved in the details of something that they forget or do not realize the real purpose or importance of the thing as a whole. This form of the expression is used in British English; in American English, the form is not see the forest for the trees.

>> Use as expressões acima para dizer que alguém está tão envolvido em detalhes de alguma coisa, que esquece ou não percebe o real propósito ou importância como um todo. Esta forma de expressão é usada em inglês Britânico; em inglês Americano, a forma é not see the forest for the trees.

• His fairness and clarity of vision often helped those who could not see the wood for the trees reach the correct decision.
• We are so much involved in detail, which for the most part is no proper concern of the State, that we are reduced to almost total inability to see the wood for the trees.
• Colonel Vardagas accused congressmen of looking at the problem simplistically. `They failed to see the forest for the trees,' he said.

© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Imprimir lição

Áudio em mp3

Conte aos amigos

Problemas com o áudio? Clique aqui!

Leia as lições anteriores. Clique aqui!

:: Placement Test :: Clique aqui para conferir qual o seu nível de inglês