Reader's question:  

"This will take a little weight off our shoulders," said Pacino, who couldn't understand the reasoning of the bill's opponents.

Could you explain "off the shoulders"?

My comments:

When you carry something of a lot of weight on your shoulders, you feel heavy, obviously, and burdened.

And so when you take that weight off your shoulders, you're free from it. You're relieved of it.

Any "weight" taken off is a relief. It can be a real thing – such as the big schoolbag on the back of a diminutive child on the bus.

Or, figuratively speaking, that "weight" can be any sort of mental burden that's been bothering you. Take that off, too, will you?

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the sky is the limit

hit it off

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length and breadth of

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Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

Zhang Xin 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.