VOA慢速英語:Words and Their Stories: Wild Cat

Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories. Today, we tell about the word wildcat.

現(xiàn)在是美國之音慢速英語詞匯掌故節(jié)目。今天我們來講述關(guān)于wildcat的短語。

Humans have always depended on animals. From the beginning of human history, wild animals provided food, clothing and sometimes medicine.

人類一直依賴于動物。從人類歷史伊始，野生動物就為人類提供了食物、衣物，有時還包括藥物。

We may not depend as much on wild animals now. But we hear about them every day. Americans use the names of animals in many ways.

現(xiàn)在我們可能對野生動物的依賴性不再那么大。但是我們每天都能聽到關(guān)于它們的對話。美國人在很多方面都用到了動物的名字。

Many companies use animals to make us want to buy their goods. Automobile companies, for example, love to show fast horses when they are trying to sell their cars. They also name their cars for other fast powerful animals.

許多公司使用動物刺激我們購買他們產(chǎn)品的欲望。例如汽車制造公司在試圖銷售他們的汽車的時候，喜歡展示快速奔跑的駿馬。他們還用其它迅猛的動物為汽車命名。

Automobile manufacturers and gasoline companies especially like to use big cats to sell their products. They like lions, tigers and wildcats.

汽車制造商和汽油公司特別喜歡使用大型貓科動物來推銷自己的產(chǎn)品。他們喜歡獅子、老虎和野貓。

When Americans say wildcat, they usually mean a lynx, an ocelot or a bobcat. All these cats attack quickly and fiercely. So wildcats represent something fast and fierce.

美國人說到野貓通常指的是猞猁、豹貓或山貓。這類動物攻擊迅猛。所以野貓代表著迅猛。

What better way is there to sell a car than to say it is as fast as a wildcat. Or, what better way is there to sell gasoline than to say that using it is like putting a tiger in your tank.

還有什么方式能比這樣說更好的：買車時夸其跑得比野貓還快;或者，賣汽油時夸其用起來賽過油箱里塞進(jìn)了一只猛虎!

An early American use of the word wildcat was quite different. It was used to describe members of Congress who declared war on Britain in eighteen twelve. A magazine of that year said the wildcat congressmen went home. It said they were unable to face the responsibility of having involved their country in an unnecessary war.

美國早期對wildcat的用法截然不同。這個詞用于描述1812年對英國宣戰(zhàn)的國會議員。當(dāng)年的一份雜志稱，這些莽撞的(wildcat)國會議員卷鋪蓋回家了。據(jù)說他們無法面對將自己的國家卷入一場不必要的戰(zhàn)爭的責(zé)任。

Wildcat also has been used as a name for money. It was used this way in the eighteen hundreds. At that time, some states permitted banks to make their own money. One bank in the state of Michigan offered paper money with a picture of a wildcat on it.

19世紀(jì)時，Wildcat還曾被用作一種貨幣的名字。當(dāng)時，美國一些州允許銀行發(fā)行自己的貨幣。密歇根州的一家銀行發(fā)行的貨幣上印有野貓的圖案。

Some banks, however, did not have enough gold to support all the paper money they offered. So the money had little or no value. It was called a wildcat bill or a wildcat bank note. The banks who offered this money were called wildcat banks.

然而，一些銀行沒有足夠的黃金儲備來支持他們所發(fā)行的貨幣。所以這些貨幣價值很低或毫無價值。這種貨幣就被稱為wildcat或wildcat bank note，發(fā)行這種貨幣的銀行被稱為wildcat banks。

A newspaper of the time said those were the days of wildcat money. It said a man might be rich in the morning and poor by night.

當(dāng)時的一家報紙稱，當(dāng)時是wildcat money(準(zhǔn)備金不足而發(fā)行的紙幣)泛濫的時代。一個人可能早上還是富豪，晚上就成窮光蛋了。

Wildcat was used in another way in the eighteen hundreds. It was used for an oil well or gold mine that had almost no oil or gold in it. Dishonest developers would buy such property. Then they would sell it and leave town with the money. The buyers were left with worthless holes in the ground. Today, wildcat oil wells are in areas that are not known to have oil.

19世紀(jì)，wildcat還有另一種用法。它被用于幾乎沒有石油的油井或沒有黃金的金礦。奸詐的開發(fā)商會買下這樣的資產(chǎn)，然后將其出售后攜款潛逃。買家得到的只是一個毫無價值的大洞。如今，wildcat oil wells(探井)都位于未探明石油地區(qū)。

注：探井是指為了勘探石油而鉆的井。

Yet another kind of wildcat is the wildcat strike. That is a strike called without official approval by a union. During World War Two, an American publication accused wildcat strikers of slowing government production.

但是，wildcat的另一種用法是wildcat strike(自發(fā)罷工)。這是指未經(jīng)工會正式批準(zhǔn)而進(jìn)行的罷工。在二戰(zhàn)期間，美國一家刊物指責(zé)自發(fā)罷工減緩了政府生產(chǎn)。