VOA慢速英語(yǔ):Don't Let the Cat Out of the Bag!

Now, the VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories.

這里是美國(guó)之音慢速英語(yǔ)詞匯掌故節(jié)目。

Different people have different ways of saying things -- their own special expressions.

不同民族都有他們自己獨(dú)特的短語(yǔ)。

Each week we tell about some popular American expressions.

每周我們都會(huì)講述一些常用的美國(guó)短語(yǔ)。

The bag is one of the most simple and useful things in the world. It is a container made of paper or cloth. It has given the world many strange expressions that are not very simple. Some of them are used in the United States today.

袋子(bag)是全球最簡(jiǎn)單和實(shí)用的物品之一，它是用紙或布制成的容器。這個(gè)詞給全球帶來(lái)了很多稀奇而不簡(jiǎn)單的短語(yǔ)，其中一些短語(yǔ)美國(guó)至今仍在使用。

One is "bagman." It describes a go-between. The go-between sees to it that money is passed -- often illegally -- from one person to another.

bagman就是其中之一，它指的是中間人(go-between)。中間人確保資金從一個(gè)人轉(zhuǎn)移到另一個(gè)人，通常是非法轉(zhuǎn)移。

Another widely-used expression is to "let the cat out of the bag." It is used when someone tells something that was supposed to be secret. No one can explain how the cat got into the bag. But there is an old story about it...

另一個(gè)廣泛使用的短語(yǔ)是“let the cat out of the bag。”它用于當(dāng)某人講述一些本該保密的東西時(shí)。沒(méi)人可以解釋貓?jiān)趺淬@進(jìn)了袋子，但關(guān)于它有一個(gè)古老的故事。

Long ago tradesmen sold things in large cloth bags. One day a woman asked for a pig. The tradesman held up a cloth bag with something moving inside it. He said it was a live pig. The woman asked to see it. When the dishonest tradesman opened the bag, out jumped a cat -- not a pig. The tradesman's secret was out. He was trying to trick her. And now everybody knew it.

很久前商人出售商品都裝在大布袋里。有一天，有位婦女要買一頭豬。該商人拿起一個(gè)里面有什么在動(dòng)的布袋，說(shuō)里面是頭生豬。該婦女要求看看。當(dāng)這位不誠(chéng)信的商人打開(kāi)袋子，跳出來(lái)一只貓而不是一頭生豬。這位商人的秘密曝光了，他當(dāng)時(shí)試圖要欺騙她。現(xiàn)在大家都發(fā)現(xiàn)了這點(diǎn)。

The phrase to be left holding the bag is as widely used as the expression to let the cat out of the bag.

“To be left holding the bag”這個(gè)習(xí)語(yǔ)和“to let the cat out of the bag”使用同樣廣泛。

This expression makes the person left holding the bag responsible for an action, often a crime or misdeed. That person is the one who is punished. The others involve in the act escape.

這個(gè)短語(yǔ)是指讓某人對(duì)某項(xiàng)行為負(fù)責(zé)任，通常是指犯罪或不良行為。這個(gè)人是唯一受懲罰者，其他參與者逃脫了懲罰。

Where the expression came from is not clear. Some say that General George Washington used it during the American Revolutionary War.

這個(gè)短語(yǔ)出自何處尚不清楚。有人說(shuō)，喬治·華盛頓將軍在美國(guó)獨(dú)立戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)期間使用了這個(gè)短語(yǔ)。

One of Washington's officers, Royall Taylor, used the expression in a play about Daniel Shay's rebellion. The play was in seventeen eighty-seven, after Taylor helped to put down Shay's rebellion.

華盛頓的軍官之一，羅亞爾·泰勒(Royall Taylor)在一部關(guān)于丹尼爾·謝伊(Daniel Shay)叛亂的劇中用到了這個(gè)短語(yǔ)。該劇產(chǎn)生于1787年，即泰勒幫助平息謝伊的叛亂之后。

Shays led a thousand war veterans in an attack on a federal building in Springfield, Massachusetts. Guns were in the building. Some of the protesters were farmers who had no money to buy seed. Some had been put in prison for not paying their debts. They were men who fought one war against the king of England, and were now prepared to fight against their own government. Most of the rebels were captured. Shays and some of the officers escaped.

謝伊一家領(lǐng)導(dǎo)一千名老兵攻擊馬塞諸塞州斯普林菲爾德市的聯(lián)邦大樓。槍支當(dāng)時(shí)都在該樓里。有些反抗者是沒(méi)錢購(gòu)買種子的農(nóng)民，還有些是欠債不還被關(guān)入監(jiān)獄者。這些男人曾經(jīng)打仗反抗英格蘭國(guó)王，現(xiàn)在他們準(zhǔn)備打仗反抗自己的政府。大多數(shù)造反者都被抓獲。謝伊一家和部分軍官逃脫。

In his play, Taylor describes Shays as disappearing, giving others "the bag to hold."

在這部劇中，泰勒稱謝伊一家跑了，讓其他人背黑鍋。

A bag is useful in many ways. Just be careful not to let the cat out of the bag, or someone may leave you holding the bag.

袋子的用途很廣泛。只是要小心，別泄漏了秘密，或者有人可能想脫身而讓你背黑鍋。