Using English at Work：50 Leaving Work(2)

When your wife is getting dressed in the morning, a finishing touch may be a piece of jewelry¹, the last thing that she puts on.

I'm talking about putting the finishing touches on my report, which might be writing a little more text or perhaps formatting² the document differently.

I say that I can put those finishing touches on the report on Monday morning before I submit³ it to my boss.

"To submit" here means⁴ to turn something in to someone - to give something to someone, usually for them to look at and review.

You can submit a job application if you are trying to get a job, or you can submit a drawing in a drawing or art contest to win a prize.

Once my report is finished on Monday, I'll need to submit, or give, it to my boss so that he can read it.

Some weeks I have to take work home.

"To take work home" means to do work at home, either at night or on the weekends, because you didn't have time to complete it at the office.

I don't like taking work home, but sometimes it's necessary if I want to finish a project on time.

When I take work home, I have to burn the midnight oil.

"To burn the midnight oil" means to work or study very late at night when everyone else is asleep.

Most people are sleeping by midnight, but if I am burning the midnight oil, I am working at that time.

The expression comes from when lamps had oil in them, and you would light that; the oil would burn so that you would have light.

Fortunately, this week I don't have to take work home and burn the midnight oil.

I have everything under control.

The phrase⁵ "under control" means that something is manageable, or that you can handle or control it.

The opposite would be to say that things are "out of control," meaning that you can't handle or manage the situation.

1 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

2 formatting   

n.格式化v.使格式化( format的现在分词 )；规定…的格式（或形状、大小、比例等）；安排…的格局（或规格）；设计…的版面

参考例句：

• Select the block of text and-click and choose Default Formatting. 选择目标文字块，点击鼠标右键，选择默认格式。 来自互联网
• There are emerging conventions about the content and formatting of documentation strings. 这里介绍文档字符串的概念和格式。 来自互联网

3 submit   

vi.(to)屈服，听从vt.呈送，提交；主张

参考例句：

• He was losing the fight but he would not submit. 他战败了,但不屈服。
• I will not submit to such treatment. 我不甘心忍受这样的待遇。

4 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

5 phrase   

n.短语，词组；成语，习语

参考例句：

• The phrase was caught on and immediately became popular.这个短语被采用后很快就流行了。
• That's exactly the phrase I was looking for.这就是我一直找的那个短语。