我们可能经常会犯一些错误，有些错误可能直接影响到自己，比如本来想买一件便宜的衣服，结果发现质量超级差，中文里我们也有个比较贴切的俗语是：搬起石头砸自己的脚，英文中也有个非常类似的，我们看看Joy and Chris是怎么用的！

C: Hi guys. I’m Chris.
 
J: And I’m Joy. So today we are learning the idiom: shoot yourself in the foot. It means you did or said something foolish that made a situation worse for yourself. You can use it like this:
I shot myself in the foot. / You are shooting yourself in the foot. / Don't shoot yourself in the foot.
 
C: So if someone was holding a gun, pointed at their own foot and shot themselves, then it’s their own fault for doing it. We all know about the celebrity Leonardo Dicaprio and his famous movie called Titanic. But he himself did not like the movie. After the movie came out, everyone remembered him as a romantic figure which made it difficult for him to play any other roles. It was after so many years of trying new roles that he was able to change the public opinion about him. So he kind of shot himself in the foot with the movie Titanic. Or sometimes companies try to come up with new products. But maybe the new one doesn’t have what the customers like in the beginning. So it turns out to be a failure and destroys their reputation at the same time. We can call that shooting themselves in the foot. Alright, now let’s take a look at an example:

 

 
J: Well, did you sell your house yet Jason?
 
C: No, not yet. I’ve had two offers so far but they were both pretty low. But I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot either by passing up these deals. Maybe I won’t get another offer. I’m really conflicted right now.
 

J: Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by just memorizing words and grammar. Just start speaking!
 
C: Exactly! Well guys, if you need our private English classes, feel free to contact us. Talk to you next time! Bye!

Titanic:   泰坦尼克号

reputation:   名声

passing the deals:   错过交易

conflicted：  纠结的，矛盾的