若用正常的眼光去看待一些短语的话，有的时候容易眼花缭乱或是胡思乱想，因为它们有的时候毫无语法可言，或者是毫无实际意义可言，如 by and large；当你尝试去翻译这个短语的时候，你会觉得束手无策或是很难准确地翻译。相信很多人已经知道这个习语的意思，而且用的人也不少；by and large，意为“大体上；总体上；总的（或一般）说来”，相当于 generally speaking，on the whole 或 all things considered 等，例如：By and large, things go exactly according to plan here.总的来说，事情完全按照计划进行。City traffic is so awful, by and large, that it is impossible to get anywhere on time.总的来说，城市交通非常糟糕，不可能准时到达任何地方。By and large, we had a great beach vacation: The kids got sunburned and were a little bored, but the weather was beautiful and the ocean was nice and cool.总的来说，我们度过了一个很棒的海滩假期：孩子们被晒伤了，有点无聊，但是天气很好，海洋很凉爽。
