吃老本

    46岁的贵阳人翟永忠每天开着宝马去环卫所上班。贵阳市观山湖区环卫所有1000多名环卫工人，其中近800名是“失地农民”。在月薪不到2000元的情况下，这些农民出身的富翁每天早上6点半开始清扫大街。请看本报昨日的报道：

    There probably aren’t many millionaires willing to work as sanitation workers for US$392 a month.

    But 46-year-old Zhai Yongzhong, a resident in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province, gets up at 6:30 a.m. and drives his BMW to the sanitation station for work.

    Although his salary isn’t enough to cover his driving expenses, Zhai doesn’t mind. The man refuses to rest on his laurels, but instead aims to lead an active and diligent life.

    报道中的rest on laurels就是“躺在功劳簿上，吃老本”。例如：

    We rested on our laurels too long. Our competitors took away a lot of our business.

    因为吃老本太久了，竞争对手抢了我们不少生意。