Alice: Mike, I finished organizing one of the bookshelves but I have ten more shelves of books to organize.

Mike: It’s good that you’re organizing but don’t bite off more than you can chew. Ask other friends to help you organize it too.
Alice: Thanks for the advice.

Alice가 Mike에게 “Mike, I finished organizing one of the bookshelves but I have ten more shelves of books to organize. 야, 이것 봐봐. 내가 책꽂이 하나 정리했다. 물론 열 개가 더 남았지만 말이야.”라고 하자 Mike가 “It’s good that you’re organizing but don’t bite off more than you can chew. 아, 그래. 정리하는 거는 좋은데 너무 무리하지는 마. Ask other friends to help you organize it too. 친구들 불러서 좀 도와 달라고도 해.”라며 조언해주네요.

Keep today’s phrase ‘don’t bite off more than you can chew’ in mind and let’s hear the conversation again. 그럼 다시 한번 대화를 들어볼까요?

Alice: Mike, I finished organizing one of the bookshelves but I have ten more shelves of books to organize.

Mike: It’s good that you’re organizing but don’t bite off more than you can chew. Ask other friends to help you organize it too.
Alice: Thanks for the advice.

오늘의 표현은 Don’t bite off more than you can chew입니다. ‘Don’t bite off more than you can chew’ means that you should not try to do more than you are able to do or try not to do something that is too hard for you.

말 그대로 하면 ‘Don’t bite off more than you can chew’는 ‘씹을 수 있는 것보다 더 많이 씹지 마라”라는 말입니다. 씹을 수 있을 만큼만 씹으라는 얘기죠. 즉 ‘너무 욕심을 부리지 마라, 감당할 수 없는 것은 하지 마라, 너무 무리하지 말고 자신의 분수에 맞게 일을 해라.’라는 의미죠.

오늘 본문에서 Mike가 Alice에게 책장 정리할 게 한 두 개가 아니니까 너무 힘에 부치게 하지는 말라고 조언을 해줍니다. 이제 예를 들어 볼까요? Let me give you some examples. “Try to finish what you can, but don’t bite off more than you can chew.” 라고 하면 “끝낼 수 있을 만큼만 하고 너무 무리하지 마.” 라는 뜻이 됩니다.

또 다른 예를 들어 보겠습니다. “I can’t finish this. I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew.”라고 하면 “어휴, 이건 도저히 못하겠어. 내가 너무 욕심부렸나 봐.”라는 뜻이 됩니다. Now you know what today's expression ‘don’t bite off more than you can chew’ means right? Then we will listen to the conversation for the last time.

Alice: Mike, I finished organizing one of the bookshelves but I have ten more shelves of books to organize.

Mike: It’s good that you’re organizing but don’t bite off more than you can chew. Ask other friends to help you organize it too.
Alice: Thanks for the advice.

Let’s review. ‘Don’t bite off more than you can chew’ means that you should not try to do more than you are able to do. DON’T BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW. Now try using the phrase on your own.