习语可以是一个词或短语，要理解习语的意思不能脱离其文化背景。习语一词的含义甚广，其蕴含的意义往往不能从词或词组的字面意思推测而得。习语在所有语言中都很常见。英语习语是日常英语的重要组成部分。在英语的书面语和口语中，存在海量的习语。
儒琴今日习语（Idiom of the Day）
rattle the cage
Meaning
to make someone feel worried or upset ; To purposefully anger, upset, or unnerve one, especially to affect their performance or undermine their credibility. (freedictionary)
试图通过激怒，愤怒或抗议来引起注意。有时用于政治术语，当一大群人聚集在一起通过抗议等，引起政治家或政党的注意，并提出他们的主张。
Example
Rattling the cage. Protests by women students for equality in hostel rules have sparked a debate on gender bias on campus. It’s a first step.
Some protests may look like a sign of democratic decay amid a rise of populism and alienation with the political status quo—for example, in Brazil, the United States or France. Others may look like a futile rattling of the political cage under growing illiberalism and authoritarianism, such as in Hungary, Morocco or Thailand. More optimistically, protests in places like Algeria, Venezuela and Sudan may signal a heartening indicator of the persistent aspiration for democracy and peoples’ willingness to fight for it in very different parts of the world.
TORONTO — After the furor at the Toronto International Film Festival over its Israeli film spotlight, now it’s the turn of Arab filmmakers to rattle the festival’s cage.
