I will never again taste a drop of spirit.

My comments:

A drop of alcohol, in other words.

Spirit is a colloquialism for any strong alcoholic drink, such as whisky and brandy.

Vodka? Yes.

Maotai? Assuredly.

These strong liquors are called spirits because they get you high – high in heartbeat and spirit, i.e. mood.

In other words, they raise your spirits, making you cheerful.

For a time, of course. Overdo it and the opposite effect emerges. And people always talk about the morning after.

It is perhaps for this very reason that the speaker vows to never again “taste a drop”.

Related stories:

The gloves are off?

Be on a winning streak

In teeth of

Cultural backwater

Gag gift

A worse version

Less is more

Survive the cut

Off the hook

Buy their way to influence

True to his root

Rise above the twittering crowd

As common as shelf paper in a cabinet

Out of the picture

Tampering with evidence

A single roll of the dice

Criss-cross

From strength to strength

Town Hall format

An Irish goodbye

In the wind

Try-angle

kicking up a fuss about

The coin of the realm

Toy with the idea of

Winner-take-all

Go with the moment

One throat to choke

Miss the boat

Shoe-in

Spotting and eliminating "pork"

All Greek to me

Have sth on the fire

Hard sell

Sold-out house

All bark and no bite

Leave money on the table

Boots on the ground

Jailbreak

Boots on the ground

Common thread

A fact of life

Leave no stone unturned

Train wreck

Keep up with Joneses

Finishing touch

No great shakes

Warts and all

Catch -22 situation

Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文僅代表作者本人觀點(diǎn)，與本網(wǎng)立場(chǎng)無(wú)關(guān)。歡迎大家討論學(xué)術(shù)問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發(fā)布一切違反國(guó)家現(xiàn)行法律法規(guī)的內(nèi)容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.