美語(yǔ)訓(xùn)練班135

　　B: Welcome to American English Mosaic, I'm Mike Bond!

　　A: And I'm 蔚然。楊琳休假，我?guī)О唷?/p>

　　B: Losing a job is a horrible experience. So, how do you make the most out of it?

　　A: 頭胎生的孩子比弟弟妹妹有出息?你同意這種結(jié)論嗎?

　　B: And in words and idioms, we will learn what "to death" and "to no avail" mean!

　　A: All coming up on this edition of American English Mosaic!

　　B: Now let's go into our first segment, Learn-a-word!

　　Learn A Word 1898 giveaway

　　今天我們要學(xué)的詞是 giveaway. Giveaway is spelled g-i-v-e-a-w-a-y, giveaway. Giveaway 是名詞，意思是免費(fèi)贈(zèng)品。Fast food chains always use cheap toys and giveaways to draw in kids. 快餐連鎖店往往依靠廉價(jià)玩具和免費(fèi)贈(zèng)品吸引孩子們前來(lái)消費(fèi)。In order to lure students into coming to its women's basketball season opener, Kansas State University is offering a giveaway that they cannot refuse--free bacon. 為了吸引學(xué)生前來(lái)觀看女子籃球校隊(duì)的賽季首場(chǎng)比賽，堪薩斯州立大學(xué)讓看比賽的學(xué)生免費(fèi)享用培根，使他們無(wú)法拒絕誘惑。好的，今天我們學(xué)習(xí)的詞是 giveaway, giveaway, giveaway....

　　A: 免費(fèi)白送的贈(zèng)品，大家都喜歡。

　　B: Yeah. But remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch. For that little something you get, you usually end up spending a lot more.

　　A: 是啊，天底下沒(méi)有免費(fèi)的午餐，天上也不會(huì)掉餡餅。

　　B: There was this one time that I got a couple of giveaways from a pet store. I gave them to my dog Furball, but they made him sick!

　　A: You must have been worried to death!

　　B: Yeah, I love Furball to death, and I WAS worried to death. Let’s check out today’s words and idioms, to death!

　　Words and Idioms 893 to death

　　美國(guó)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)第 893講

　　昨天晚上，我和先生一起去他們公司的Party， 席間遇到一位女士，拉著我們聊個(gè)沒(méi)完。我們跟她并不熟，可是她一直在大談自己的孩子，向我們炫耀她兒子考上了好大學(xué)，又是游泳健將，還受女孩子歡迎，blah blah blah。她倒是說(shuō)得滔滔不絕，可我差點(diǎn)睡著了。我當(dāng)時(shí)的感覺(jué)，有個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)可以形容，那就是：

　　M: To death. Death is spelled d-e-a-t-h. To-death. To death.

　　death，大家都知道，是“死亡”，所以，把to death和某個(gè)形容詞放在一起，就表示“到極點(diǎn)”、“如何如何得要命”。比如，我在party上遇到的這位女士沒(méi)完沒(méi)了地炫耀自己的孩子，她自己可能覺(jué)得很享受，可我簡(jiǎn)直bored to death - 快被煩死了! 不過(guò)，我寧愿無(wú)聊，也不想經(jīng)歷下面這段話描述的心驚膽戰(zhàn)：

　　M: "I remember walking late at night in New York City years ago. A stranger came up behind me and pointed a gun at my back. He told me to hand over my wallet. I said that I didn't have it on me, which was the truth. I was scared TO DEATH he was going to shoot. I'd never been so afraid in my life! Fortunately, he ran and disappeared into a crowd. "

　　這段話意思是：我還記得，幾年前的一個(gè)深夜，我在紐約的街上走路。一個(gè)陌生人出現(xiàn)在我身后，用一把槍頂著我的后腰。他讓我把錢(qián)包交給他，可我真的沒(méi)帶錢(qián)包，只好實(shí)話實(shí)說(shuō)。我當(dāng)時(shí)真嚇?biāo)懒?，怕他?huì)開(kāi)槍。我這輩子都沒(méi)那么害怕過(guò)! 幸運(yùn)的是，這個(gè)人跑掉了，消失在人群中。

　　被人用槍指著! 好家伙，聽(tīng)著都害怕! 我沒(méi)有過(guò)這種經(jīng)歷，不過(guò)倒是體會(huì)過(guò)什么叫scared to death--怕得要死。上個(gè)周末，我?guī)抑杜タ戳藞?chǎng)恐怖電影。在屏幕上，一個(gè)變態(tài)殺人狂血腥地殺戮。我侄女看得津津有味，可是我坐在電影院里直打冷戰(zhàn)，I was frightened to death - 嚇?biāo)懒? 好的，我們?cè)賮?lái)聽(tīng)聽(tīng)剛才那段話：

　　M: "I remember walking late at night in New York City years ago. A stranger came up behind me and pointed a gun at my back. He told me to hand over my wallet. I said that I didn't have it on me, which was the truth. I was scared TO DEATH he was going to shoot. I'd never been so afraid in my life! Fortunately, he ran and disappeared into a crowd. "

　　在生活中，總是會(huì)有一些“要命”的事兒。比如，意外收到大禮包，你會(huì)trilled to death--高興得要命;遇到暴風(fēng)雪，天氣--freezing to death--冷得要命;家人生病住院，你worried to death--萬(wàn)分擔(dān)心。再比如下面這位會(huì)計(jì)師，我們來(lái)聽(tīng)聽(tīng)他遇到了什么要命的事兒：

　　M: "A lot of my friends like to get away when the weather starts warming up. But there's no way I can. That's because I'm an accountant. From February through April, I'm busy preparing tax returns for my clients. I'm expected to stay late at the office, come in on weekends...I'm worked TO DEATH. It's unbelievably stressful, but that's my job."

　　這段話的意思是：天氣一轉(zhuǎn)暖，我的好多朋友就都出去旅游了?？晌覅s沒(méi)法這樣做，因?yàn)槲沂莻€(gè)會(huì)計(jì)師。每年二月到四月，我都忙著為客戶報(bào)稅，作退稅的準(zhǔn)備工作。我晚上得加班，周末也不能休息...簡(jiǎn)直是精疲力盡。壓力之大別人難以想象，可沒(méi)辦法，這就是我的工作。

　　美國(guó)的報(bào)稅截至日期是4月15號(hào)，所以2月到4月是會(huì)計(jì)師們最忙的時(shí)候，他們的工作壓力當(dāng)然很大。不過(guò)，即使在自己家里，你也難免要承受一些壓力。比如，我女兒前幾天把她的幾個(gè)同學(xué)帶回家，在地下室里組了個(gè)樂(lè)隊(duì)，她們叮當(dāng)五四，吹拉彈唱，練個(gè)沒(méi)完。我覺(jué)得，they're rehearsing some of the songs to death - 她們已經(jīng)把其中一些歌練得快爛了! 不過(guò)，我也不能說(shuō)什么，不能打擊她們的積極性，因?yàn)镮 love my daughter to death--我女兒就是我的心頭肉啊! 好了，我們?cè)賮?lái)聽(tīng)聽(tīng)剛才那段話吧：

　　M: "A lot of my friends like to get away when the weather starts warming up. But there's no way I can. That's because I'm an accountant. From February through April, I'm busy preparing tax returns for my clients. I'm expected to stay late at the office, come in on weekends...I'm worked TO DEATH. It's unbelievably stressful, but that's my job."

　　聽(tīng)眾朋友，今天我們學(xué)習(xí)的習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)是 To Death， 意思是“極端”“什么什么得要命”。

　　好的，這次美國(guó)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)就到此結(jié)束。

　　M: Until next time.

　　下次節(jié)目再見(jiàn)。

　　M: This has been Words and Idioms.

　　A: 我朋友 Jenny 是美發(fā)師，逢年過(guò)節(jié)別人休息，也是她最忙的時(shí)候，大家都想在過(guò)節(jié)前美容美發(fā)，She’s always busy to death during the holidays.

　　B: When I was in high school, I worked as a cashier for Walmart during the Christmas shopping season. We were worked to death!

　　A: I can imagine, but sometimes being busy is a good thing. A friend of mine was let go right before Christmas. I don’t know what she’s gonna do.

　　B: I’m sorry to hear that. Losing a job is never easy. So, how can you make the most out of a bad situation? Let’s listen to our next segment: Business Etiquette

　　Business Etiquette 265 Losing a job can be a positive experience

　　Suzanne 約朋友 Mickey 一起吃午飯。

　　Suzanne: Mickey! Good to see you! It's been too long!

　　Mickey: Hi, Suzanne! You're right, it has been too long.

　　S: Did you find something on the menu that interests you? Sorry I'm late for our lunch. Traffic was horrific.

　　M: Yeah....I think I'll have the chicken Caesar salad.

　　S: That sounds pretty good.... hey, is everything okay? - You seem kind of down.

　　M: I got laid off last Friday.

　　S: Oh....I'm so sorry to hear that.

　　Suzanne 跟 Mickey 很久沒(méi)見(jiàn)面，發(fā)現(xiàn) Mickey 心事重重，情緒不高，seem kind of down. Down 在這里是形容詞，意思是情緒低落。原來(lái)，Mickey 上星期五被炒了魷魚(yú)，He got laid off. 也可以說(shuō)，He was let go. 丟了工作，難怪心情沮喪，我們來(lái)聽(tīng)聽(tīng)這是為什么。

　　M: They said it had nothing to do with my performance. They just need to try and save on costs. So they're axing a bunch of jobs.

　　S: Ouch! Losing a job is such a nasty experience.

　　M: Yep....it sure is. I guess I have been a bit depressed.

　　S: I remember when I got fired from my job as a senior manager with a Web design company. I felt awful for weeks. But you know something? Getting fired turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me.

　　Mickey 被解雇是因?yàn)楣疽鳒p開(kāi)支，所以 they axed a bunch of jobs. Ax is spelled, a-x, 或者 a-x-e, 做為動(dòng)詞，是砍的意思。他丟了工作，心情十分抑郁，depressed. Suzanne 安慰他說(shuō)，自己也曾有過(guò)類(lèi)似經(jīng)歷，好幾個(gè)星期緩不過(guò)來(lái)，但是最后證明，getting fired turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. 被開(kāi)除是她這輩子最幸運(yùn)的事。怎么可能，我們繼續(xù)聽(tīng)。

　　M: And why was that?

　　S: It gave me a jolt that I really needed. I was just coasting along in my position day in and day out, never really thinking about my life or my career.

　　M: So getting fired helped you reflect on these things?

　　S: Absolutely! I started asking myself what I really wanted to do.

　　M: That makes sense. Our daily routines can turn into habits. I've been working at this company for almost 8 years and I have kind of been running on autopilot.

　　Suzanne 說(shuō)，失業(yè) gave me a jolt. Jolt is spelled j-o-l-t, jolt 在這里是震動(dòng)的意思。Suzanne 說(shuō)，有工作的時(shí)候，她從來(lái)都是 coast along day in and day out. Coast along 做為詞組，意思是不用花一點(diǎn)努力隨波逐流， day in and day out 意思是日復(fù)一日，年復(fù)一年。過(guò)著這樣的生活，怎么還會(huì)想著如何進(jìn)取呢?被解雇后，她才開(kāi)始思考這些問(wèn)題，to reflect on things 意思是反思。Mickey 深有同感，說(shuō)自己在原來(lái)的公司已經(jīng)干了將近八年了，I have been running on autopilot. Autopilot 自動(dòng)駕駛，工作已經(jīng)成了一種習(xí)慣，順手就干了，就好象是 run on autopilot. 現(xiàn)在沒(méi)有工作了，Mickey 下一步有什么打算呢?我們下次繼續(xù)聽(tīng)。

　　B: That’s why I love my job here. Being a journalist means you get to do different things every day.

　　A: 對(duì)，沒(méi)錯(cuò)。每天的新聞都不一樣。不過(guò)說(shuō)實(shí)話，失業(yè)確實(shí)會(huì)給人帶來(lái)很大的打擊。

　　B: At the same time, it’s also an opportunity to make changes to your life. Let’s keep on listening to the second half of Business Etiquette.

　　Business Etiquette 266

　　Losing a job can be a positive experience II

　　Mickey 剛失業(yè)，跟朋友Suzanne 一起吃飯，Suzanne 勸他說(shuō)，這未必不是件好事。她說(shuō)，

　　S: Back at my old job there were some days where I barely used my brain at all! I just did the same thing over and over again.

　　M: So what happened after you got fired? Did a new opportunity come your way?

　　S: Not exactly. It took me about a year to figure out that opportunities weren't going to come my way.... I learnt that you have to create your own opportunities.

　　M: So that's when you started your company.

　　S: Yeah! I always had an interest in gardening, so I thought to myself: There must be a lot of people who also have this interest and would like to have a garden but don't have the time to set one up.

　　Suzanne 說(shuō)，原來(lái)工作的時(shí)候，總是同樣的工作來(lái)回做，did the same thing over and over again. 完全不用動(dòng)大腦，失業(yè)后，她用一年的時(shí)間才發(fā)現(xiàn)，機(jī)會(huì)不會(huì)自己找上門(mén)來(lái)，opportunities weren't going to come my way, 還不如自己去創(chuàng)造機(jī)會(huì)。于是她決定自己開(kāi)公司，幫助那些喜歡園藝但是沒(méi)有時(shí)間整理花園的人整理花園。

　　M: So now you go around making custom-designed gardens for homes and offices, right?

　　S: Yes! I never would've thought in a million years that my interest in gardening would turn into a career! If I hadn't gotten fired, I would've never found my calling!

　　M: That's cool....and it does offer me some hope. I guess I need to do some thinking about what I really want to do.

　　S: I'm not saying it's going to be easy.... I spent almost one year doing odd jobs and trying to figure out what I wanted to do. Not having a stable income can be difficult.

　　因此，Suzanne 開(kāi)了一家公司，專(zhuān)門(mén)為公司和家庭 custom-design 量身定做花園。她說(shuō)，要不是被解雇，她死也不會(huì)想到自己的愛(ài)好竟然會(huì)成為職業(yè)，in a million years 是一種夸張的說(shuō)法，就是無(wú)論如何也不會(huì)的意思。正是被解雇，才讓她最終找到了自己的 calling, calling is spelleed c-a-l-l-i-n-g, calling, 一個(gè)人最適合的職業(yè)。Suzanne 說(shuō)，不過(guò)，這個(gè)過(guò)程也很艱難，她足足打了一年零工才走出低谷，odd jobs 是零工的意思。Mickey 聽(tīng)后深受啟發(fā)。

　　M: Yeah....right now I have some savings so I'll be good for about six months...but if I can't find something after that it's going to start getting tough.

　　S: Do you have a "dream" or something you've always wanted to do?

　　M: Well, I have always had the idea of opening a bicycle store. I'm talking about selling rare, vintage or special custom-made bicycles.

　　Mickey 說(shuō)，自己存款有限，撐半年還行，再久就扛不住了。Suzanne 問(wèn)他有沒(méi)有什么夢(mèng)想。Mickey 說(shuō)，他一直想開(kāi)一家自行車(chē)店，專(zhuān)賣(mài)那些不多見(jiàn)，古香古色，或是訂做的自行車(chē)。他在這里用的 vintage is spelled v-i-n t-a-g-e, vintage 意思是老式的，古典的。

　　S: Interesting! Cycling is quite a trend these days and if you can find bicycles that no one else has....it just might work!

　　M: I've always been interested in bicycles and I know a lot about them. I never thought I would have a chance to open a bike store.

　　S: Give it some thought! This could be your calling in life!!

　　M: I'll think about it! Thanks, Suzanne! Now let's eat!

　　Suzanne 說(shuō)， Mickey 想開(kāi)自行車(chē)店的夢(mèng)想很有意思，因?yàn)楝F(xiàn)在很流行騎車(chē)， it's quite a trend. Suzanne 覺(jué)得 Mickey 可以認(rèn)真地琢磨琢磨， give it some thought 好好想想，沒(méi)準(zhǔn)真能行。Mickey 聽(tīng)了很受鼓舞，說(shuō)從來(lái)沒(méi)想到，自己這輩子真能有機(jī)會(huì)開(kāi)一家自行車(chē)店，實(shí)現(xiàn)夢(mèng)想。

　　A: Mike, 你的夢(mèng)想是什么?

　　B: I’ve always wanted to become a naval officer, and I’m still working towards making it a reality.

　　A: 真羨慕你，我好像從來(lái)也沒(méi)什么夢(mèng)想。All through my life, I’ve been going with the flow.

　　B: There is nothing wrong with that. Ok, let's listen to another learn a word!

　　Learn A Word 1899 first-born

　　今天我們要學(xué)的詞是 first-born. First-born, first is spelled f-i-r-s-t, first, and born, b-o-r-n, born, first-born. First-born 名詞，意思是頭胎生的孩子，老大。Time and again, research has shown that first-born children are better at a lot of things than their younger siblings. 各種研究多次顯示，頭胎孩子在很多事情上都要比弟弟妹妹強(qiáng)。Half of U.S. Presidents are first-born children. 美國(guó)總統(tǒng)里有一半都是家里的老大。最近一項(xiàng)研究的作者說(shuō)，F(xiàn)irst-born kids get better grades in school because their parents are stricter with them than later-born children. 家里老大學(xué)習(xí)成績(jī)更好是因?yàn)榧议L(zhǎng)對(duì)老大的要求比后面的孩子更加嚴(yán)格。好的，今天我們學(xué)習(xí)的詞是 first-born, first-born, first-born....

　　A: Mike, you have an older sister, right?

　　B: Yeah. I think the study is right in the sense that my parents were way stricter with my sister than with me. You must be a first born, right?

　　A: Guess again.

　　B: But you have all the characteristics of a first-born.

　　A: I have a brother who is 10 years older.

　　B: Oh, that makes sense. So you are a second-born who was treated like a first born!

　　A: 沒(méi)錯(cuò)。好了，讓我們進(jìn)入下面一個(gè)單元，美國(guó)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)。

　　Words and Idioms 894 to no avail

　　美國(guó)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)第 894講

　　我實(shí)在是沒(méi)轍了! 我辦公室里有一盆君子蘭，養(yǎng)了好幾年了，本來(lái)一直挺好的，可是最近突然不行了，葉子也枯黃了，花也不開(kāi)了。我又是澆水，又是換花盆，又是給它曬太陽(yáng)，可是這盆花一點(diǎn)沒(méi)有好轉(zhuǎn)的跡象。所以，我這些努力的結(jié)果，只能用下面這個(gè)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)來(lái)形容，那就是：

　　M: To no avail. No is spelled n-o, and avail; a-v-a-i-l. To-no-avail.

　　Avail，當(dāng)動(dòng)詞時(shí)表示“起作用”，當(dāng)名詞時(shí)表示“益處”，所以to no avail這個(gè)短語(yǔ)就是指“沒(méi)用，徒勞無(wú)功”。我一直在想辦法挽救我的君子蘭，可是它沒(méi)有一點(diǎn)起色，我只能眼看它死掉了，唉! 下面這段話中的倆夫妻，也遇到了跟我同樣無(wú)能為力的情況，不過(guò)最終，他們還是把問(wèn)題解決了，我們來(lái)聽(tīng)一下：

　　M:"Our cat had a terrible habit of ripping our sofa with his claws. First, we thought we could encourage him to use a scratching toy instead. Then we tried treating the furniture with pepper spray. When all our attempts were TO NO AVAIL, we had to have his claws removed. Success at last!"

　　這段話意思是：我們家的貓有個(gè)壞習(xí)慣，就是喜歡在沙發(fā)上亂抓。開(kāi)始時(shí)，我們給它買(mǎi)了個(gè)磨爪子用的玩具，鼓勵(lì)它在玩具上抓，后來(lái)，我們又試著往沙發(fā)上噴辣椒水?？墒牵@些做法都沒(méi)用。于是，我們只好把它的指甲拔掉了。這下，問(wèn)題終于解決了!

　　把貓指甲拔掉?我聽(tīng)說(shuō)這是很疼的，這只貓咪可受苦了! 不過(guò)，主人要不是沒(méi)辦法，也不會(huì)出此下策! 當(dāng)然了，我還是建議想養(yǎng)貓的人，如果舍不得自己的家具，最好就別養(yǎng)貓，免得最后要去給貓拔指甲，讓寵物受苦! 我們?cè)賮?lái)聽(tīng)聽(tīng)剛才那段話吧：

　　M: "Our cat had a terrible habit of ripping our sofa with his claws. First, we thought we could encourage him to use a scratching toy instead. Then we tried treating the furniture with pepper spray. When all our attempts were TO NO AVAIL, we had to have his claws removed. Success at last!"

　　我這個(gè)人啊，就是熱心腸兒，喜歡給別人提建議。比如，我姨媽覺(jué)得胸悶，我就讓她趕快看醫(yī)生;女兒成績(jī)下降，我就讓她少花點(diǎn)時(shí)間在樂(lè)隊(duì)上;妹妹失戀，我就四處給她找對(duì)象......我這么操心，可都是To No Avail - 徒勞無(wú)功! 因?yàn)樗齻冋l(shuí)也不聽(tīng)我的! 真是辜負(fù)了我一番苦心! 下面這段話中的選民，也和我一樣，提意見(jiàn)沒(méi)人聽(tīng)，不過(guò)，他們可不是像我這樣，抱怨兩句就算了，我們來(lái)聽(tīng)聽(tīng)看：

　　M: "We warned our senator that she wasn't doing enough to lower taxes. Our supporters held meetings with her, organized a massive e-mail campaign and staged protest marches throughout the state. After these proved TO NO AVAIL, we started to look for a new candidate. This has been a much more productive strategy."

　　這段話的意思是：我們已經(jīng)警告過(guò)我們州的參議員，我們覺(jué)得她沒(méi)有竭盡全力去實(shí)現(xiàn)減稅。我們的支持者和她開(kāi)了好幾次會(huì)，組織了一場(chǎng)大規(guī)模的電郵宣傳活動(dòng)，還在州里各地舉行了抗議游行。但是，這一切行動(dòng)都沒(méi)有奏效，所以，我們開(kāi)始物色一位新的議員候選人。這種做法比以前那些有效多了。

　　哇，看來(lái)選民不是好惹的! 不過(guò)，我們也得認(rèn)識(shí)到，很多問(wèn)題是復(fù)雜的，解決起來(lái)沒(méi)那么簡(jiǎn)單，而且需要時(shí)間。所以，選民們也應(yīng)該更有耐心才對(duì)，不然可能會(huì)適得其反。好了，我們?cè)賮?lái)聽(tīng)聽(tīng)剛才那段話吧：

　　M: "We warned our senator that she wasn't doing enough to lower taxes. Our supporters held meetings with her, organized a massive e-mail campaign and staged protest marches throughout the state. After these proved TO NO AVAIL, we started to look for a new candidate. This has been a much more productive strategy."

　　聽(tīng)眾朋友，今天我們學(xué)習(xí)的習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)是 To No Avail， 意思是“徒勞無(wú)功”。我想跟大家說(shuō)的是，如果你復(fù)出努力，卻發(fā)現(xiàn) your efforts are to no avail--收不到成果，那也不要灰心。就好像學(xué)英語(yǔ)，遇到挫折和瓶頸時(shí)，還是應(yīng)該堅(jiān)持。日積月累，總會(huì)有收獲!

　　好的，這次美國(guó)習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)就到此結(jié)束。

　　M: Until next time.

　　下次節(jié)目再見(jiàn)。

　　M: This has been Words and Idioms.

　　A: 好了同學(xué)們，這次節(jié)目時(shí)間就到這里了。

　　B: Tune in next time for American English Mosaic!

　　A: See you next time!