1 By hook or by crook 用各種鉤子（不擇手段）

The achievement of a goal with determination, by fair means or foul, is described as getting things done ‘by hook or by crook’. The origin of this phrase is linked with an early British practice, at a time when forests were still the exclusive property of royalty. For any unauthorized commoner, then, to gather firewood in them was a crime, poor people being the only exception. Though they were not permitted to cut or saw off branches, they were free to remove withered timber from the ground or even a tree, doing so by means of either a hook or a crook.

不管用正義還是非正義的手段來實現決定的目標被描述為“不擇手段”。這個成語的來由是和早先英國的一個行為有關，那時候森林還是皇家的專屬財產。對于任何未經授權的平民，收集木柴是犯罪的，唯獨窮人是個特例。雖然他們不被允許砍伐或運送木材，但是他們可以自由的從地上或是樹上“用各種鉤子”把枯萎的樹枝拉走。