Dog是“狗”，这个短语是什么意思呢？请看对话：

    A: Did you go back to your hometown this past year?

    B: Yes. I went back during the dog days of summer and stayed at home most of the time because it’s so hot.

    Note: The idiom refers to the hot, sultry period of summer between early July and early September. The phrase actually had nothing to do with dogs. Instead, it turns out, the dog days refer to the dog star, Sirius, and its position in the heavens. To the Greeks and Romans, the “dog days” occurred around the day when Sirius appeared to rise just before the sun, in late July. They referred to these days as the hottest time of the year, a period that could bring fever, or even catastrophe. The phrase “dog days” was translated from Latin to English about 500 years ago. “The dog days” can also refer to a period marked by lethargy, inactivity, or indolence.