例句1: My wife and I worked hard all our lives and put three kids through college. Now we have a little money. We've always wanted a good car so we went whole hog and bought a Mercedes.
从这段话里我们可以体会到go whole hog的含义是乾脆彻底地做一件事，常常是不惜重金购买一件朝思暮想的东西。
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我们要学的第二个习惯用语是：the whole nine yards。Yard，它是长度单位“码”。那么the whole nine yards是不是整整九码呢？这究竟有什么内在意思呢？关于这个习惯用语的出处人们说法不一。有人认为以前一匹布的长度就是九码。也有人说裁缝制作一套西装就得用上整整九码料子。这个习惯用语不论出处是什么，但是意思都类似于go whole hog。
让我们一起来听有关某篮球队争取篮球明星的一段话，当前篮球大明星的年收入都在好几百万美元。他们的要价之高使篮球队招聘好手很费劲儿。好，让我们边听边体会go the whole nine yards在其中的意思。
例句2: This player wanted three million dollars a year. That's twice as much as the team wanted to pay. But they really needed him so they went the whole nine yards and paid him what he asked.
可见go the whole nine yards意思就是“为了达到某一目的而竭尽全力”。
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我们今天要学的第三个习惯用语是：a whole new ball game。 A whole new ball game是个相当新的习惯用语，大约起始于七十年代初。你当然会想到这个习惯用语起源于体育运动，但是如今却被应用到生活的各方各面，也包括政界。
好，我们来听关于共和党人竞选参议员席位的一段话，体会一下a whole new ball game在其中的意思。
例句3: The Republicans were having a hard time finding anybody to run against this popular senator. But now he's retiring so it's a whole new ball game - many people want to run for the job.
