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Abbas Rajabpour Posted 6 years ago
Grammar

Meaning and paraphrasing

Most people assume, correctly, that flowers look the way they do to attract insects that pollinate them. But that's not the whole story. Scientists have now discovered that plants have another 'trick up their leaves' to make themselves irresistible to even the most choosy insect solar power. Cambridge University's Beverley Glover and her colleagues recently set up some fake flowers filled with a sugar solution, which they kept at different temperatures. Unleashing a team of bumblebees on their floral offerings, they watched as the insects visited the flowers to drink the surrogate nectar'. Very quickly, it became obvious that the bees were concentrating on the flowers with the warmest nectar. Just in case it was something to do with the color of the fake flowers, the scientists also tried a different color combination and got the same result

  

Top answer

' trick up their leaves' The standard idiomatic phrase is that someone has a trick up their /his / her sleeve . This means they have some kind of secret that will change a losing situation into a winning situation. The idiom might be derived from actually playing cards when a player cheats by hiding extra winning cards up inside his sleeve.

  • ' trick up their leaves' The standard idiomatic phrase is that someone has a trick up their /his / her sleeve .
  • This means they have some kind of secret that will change a losing situation into a winning situation.
  • The idiom might be derived from actually playing cards when a player cheats by hiding extra winning cards up inside his sleeve.
  • Instead of writing that plants have another trick up their sleeves the writer says that plants have another trick up their leaves.
  • This is funny, because the words leaves and sleeves rhyme, and also because plants don't really have sleeves.
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'trick up their leaves' The standard idiomatic phrase is that someone has a trick up their /his / her sleeve. This means they have some kind of secret that will change a losing situation into a winning situation. The idiom might be derived from actually playing cards when a player cheats by hiding extra win

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