美語訓(xùn)練班133

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

　　A: And I'm Lin Yang.

　　B: Do you have pteromerhanophobia? That is, are you afraid of flying? We will give you some tips about how to enjoy your flight in today's business etiquette.

　　A: 飛機(jī)上也能打電話? 我們在下面的節(jié)目中為你介紹。

　　B: And in words and idioms, we will learn what "out in the open" and "open the door to" means!

　　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 1891 electronics

　　今天我們要學(xué)的詞是 electronics. Electronics is spelled e-l-e-c-t-r-o-n-i-c-s, electronics.

　　Electronics 電子產(chǎn)品。The FAA is officially allowing the use of some electronics during takeoffs and landings. 美國聯(lián)邦航空局正式宣布，乘客在起飛和降落過程中可以使用某些種類的電子產(chǎn)品。用過的舊手機(jī)，或是舊電腦該如何處理呢?If you have electronics that still work and are not completely obsolete, a local school or nonprofit organization might be interested in them. 如果你的電子產(chǎn)品還能用，而且也沒有徹底過時的話，當(dāng)?shù)貙W(xué)?；蚴欠怯麢C(jī)構(gòu)可能會感興趣。好的，今天我們學(xué)習(xí)的詞是 electronics, electronics, electronics.

　　A: I don’t think I’m a fan of being able to use cell-phones during a flight. Imagine being surrounded by people while crammed into a small metal tube, the last thing you need is some guy talking loud on his phone!

　　B: I agree. The noise level will add another layer of crankiness to long flights. I’m all for electronics, watching Netflix on a long flight sounds amazing, but phone calls are a no-no.

　　A: Yep, apparently most airlines realize this as well. They are saying that even if FAA does finally allow cell-phone use in flight, they won’t make it a company policy.

　　B: That’s probably smart, especially for those who are afraid of flying. Listening to people yelling at the top of their lungs isn’t gonna help them much.

　　A: True. We will talk about that subject later in the show. 現(xiàn)在咱們趕快來繼續(xù)我們的課程吧!

　　B: Let’s listen to today’s words and idioms!

　　Words and Idioms 889 out in the open

　　美國習(xí)慣用語第 889 講

　　唉，我昨天晚上沒睡好，現(xiàn)在還覺得困! 這都要怪我的鄰居，他們家經(jīng)常大半夜聽音樂，以前就老吵到我。可是，這家人平時待人很nice， 所以我每次看到他們都不好意思抱怨這件事。不過好了，昨天晚上，他們家開party，鬧到很晚，把其他鄰居也驚動了。于是，大家一塊兒去敲門，告訴這家人他們太吵。這下，大家把話說開了，我覺得挺好。這還讓我想到了一個習(xí)慣用語，那就是：

　　M: Out in the open. Out is spelled o-u-t. Out. Open is spelled o-p-e-n. Open. Out in the open.

　　OUT IN THE OPEN 是“公開”的意思。如果我們說something is "out in the open", 就表示這是大家都知道的事，不再是秘密了。我鄰居家夜里音樂聲太大的問題，以前可能只有我知道，而我又不好意思抱怨，不過現(xiàn)在說開了，大家都知道了，我倒覺得這樣一來，事情能更圓滿的解決。不過，把所有事情都公開并不一定是好事，因為這樣一來，你就沒有隱私了。比如下面這段話中的情況：

　　M: “The hardest thing about an election campaign is that you lose your privacy. Everything, from your business transactions to your relationships, is brought OUT IN THE OPEN.”

　　這段話意思是：政治競選中最難過的一關(guān)就是失去個人隱私。從你的每一筆商業(yè)交易到你所有的社會關(guān)系，一切都被暴露在公眾的眼皮底下。

　　選舉時難受?要我說，當(dāng)選了之后更可怕! 如今的媒體會把公眾人物所有的隱私披露公開，特別是在電視和網(wǎng)絡(luò)盛行的今天，媒體簡直是無孔不入! 我們再來聽聽剛才那段話：

　　M: “The hardest thing about an election campaign is that you lose your privacy. Everything, from your business transactions to your relationships, is brought OUT IN THE OPEN.”

　　"Out in the open"這個短語據(jù)說是1940年左右，在羅斯福當(dāng)美國總統(tǒng)的時候出現(xiàn)的。當(dāng)時第二次世界大戰(zhàn)剛開打不久，在戰(zhàn)爭期間，很多令人驚訝的事被公開了，可有一件事，卻是當(dāng)時的大部分美國人都不知道的。那就是，帶領(lǐng)美國打二戰(zhàn)的羅斯?？偨y(tǒng)居然是一個生活在輪椅中的殘疾人。剛才我們還說到公眾人物的一切隱私都是 out in the open 的，可是，在電視出現(xiàn)之前，美國媒體中幾乎沒有出現(xiàn)過羅斯福坐輪椅的畫面，這簡直難以想像! 好了，媒體報道的變遷我們先不多說了，來聽聽一位公司主管在會上的發(fā)言：

　　M: “I know that we have had a lot of problems recently, but the only way to deal with them is to bring them OUT IN THE OPEN. So, I am encouraging everyone to speak out. Who would like to begin?”

　　這段話的意思說：我知道，公司最近有很多問題，不過，解決問題唯一的辦法就是把它們擺到桌面上來說清楚。所以，我希望每個人都能直言不諱，誰愿意先發(fā)言?

　　公司同事中難免有這樣那樣的問題和意見，可是大家礙于面子，或是因為害怕，可能會把問題悶在心里。這樣時間長了，只會讓問題越來越多，還可能會謠言四起，誤會不斷。就好像我隔壁鄰居家太吵的事，其實沒什么大不了，可是我卻不好意思告訴他這件事帶給我的困擾，這樣其實并不好。倒不如bring them out in the open, 把事情說開。好，我們再來聽聽剛才那段話：

　　M: “I know that we have had a lot of problems recently, but the only way to deal with them is to bring them OUT IN THE OPEN. So, I am encouraging everyone to speak out. Who would like to begin?”

　　今天我們學(xué)的習(xí)慣用語是out in the open。 open就是沒有隱瞞，公開的狀態(tài)。 所以，out in the open就是指公之于眾。

　　好的，這次美國習(xí)慣用語就到此結(jié)束。

　　M: Until next time.

　　M: This has been Words and Idioms.

　　A: Today with the Internet and social media, everything seems to be out in the open. From my personal experience, I could easily find out a person’s birthday, where he works, or what he likes solely by checking his Facebook.

　　B: That’s why you have to be extra careful about what you post online these days. For example, once you post a picture on your Facebook, you can never really take it down. It’s always backed up on their server. Who knows when it would come back to bite you?

　　A: So true.

　　B: And I probably need to be extra careful because I’m famous, you know.

　　A; Ugh…yeah…right, says the guy who screams like a little girl when he’s in a haunted house.

　　B: Hey, everyone has their own phobias, alright?

　　A: Haha, yes.... Speaking of phobia, do you know what is pteromerhanophobia, Mike?

　　B: That’s the fear of flying! In today’s business etiquette, we will see the reasons behind this phobia, and what you can do to deal with them.

　　A: Let’s check it out!

　　Business Etiquette 261

　　Fear of Flying Part I

　　Sean 在走廊上遇到同事 Mimi, 他一副憂心忡忡的樣子。我們聽聽為什么。

　　Sean: Oh, man....I am not looking forward to this upcoming trip to Europe.

　　Mimi: But Europe is amazing! You're going to Frankfurt, right? I've been there twice.... it's a delightful city! You'll love it!

　　S: Oh I'm sure I'll like it when I get there.....that is, if I get there.

　　M: I'm not following you.

　　S: I'm terrified of flying!

　　M: Ah! You have "pteromerhanophobia!"

　　S: What?

　　M: That's the technical term for the fear of flying.

　　Sean準(zhǔn)備去歐洲出差。Upcoming is spelled u-p-c-o-m-i-n-g, upcoming 即將到來的。比如，the upcoming vacation 快要來的假期，the upcoming test 馬上要來的考試。Sean 對去歐洲似乎并不開心，Mimi說 I'm not following. 意思是我聽不太懂你的意思。原來，Sean 有飛行恐懼癥，害怕坐飛機(jī)。Mimi 說，飛行恐懼癥的術(shù)語 technical term 是 pteromerhanophobia. Phobia 是一個很有用的詞根，比如，acrophobia, 就是 a-c-r-o 后邊加上 phobia, acrophobia 恐高癥。我們聽聽 Sean 飛行恐懼癥有哪些癥狀。

　　S: Well whatever it's called....I've got it - bad! Every time I get on a plane my heart starts beating faster, I sweat and every creak and squeak from the airplane makes me sure we are going to crash. It's so exhausting that I arrive at my destination completely unnerved.

　　M: Wow! That doesn't sound like fun. I assume this condition is quite common --- I know lots of people who don't like to fly.

　　S: Everyone should be afraid of flying! After all, it's completely unnatural! We are crammed into a metal tube that's flying through the air at hundreds of kilometers an hour!!

　　Sean 告訴 Mimi, 每次只要一上飛機(jī)，他就會心跳加速，直冒冷汗，飛機(jī)稍有風(fēng)吹草動，他就覺得是要墜機(jī)了。Sean 在這里用的 every creak and squeak. Creak is spelled c-r-e-a-k, creak 是指咯吱咯吱的聲音，and squeak is spelled s-q-u-e-a-k, squeak 是指刺耳的噪音。等到達(dá)終點的時候，He is completely unnerved. 他已經(jīng)徹底崩潰了。其實，患有飛行恐懼癥的人很多，Sean 覺得，這是因為坐飛機(jī)本來就是一個超自然的行為，那么多人 cram into 擠在一個金屬做的管子里，在天上飛，時速高達(dá)幾百公里。

　　M: Yeah sure, if you think about it that way it is scary....but driving isn't natural either. And as I'm sure you know, many more people die every year from car accidents than from plane crashes - in fact, your chances of being in a fatal accident is something like one in 5 million! Those are pretty good odds!

　　S: Yeah, I've read those stats....but I guess when I'm driving at least I feel in control. I feel completely helpless when I'm on an airplane.

　　Mimi 說，要說坐飛機(jī)超自然的話，那開車也是超自然的行為，而且每年死于車禍的人要比坐飛機(jī)掉下來的人多得多。有統(tǒng)計數(shù)字顯示，致命事件發(fā)生在我們身上的機(jī)會只有500萬分之一。Those are pretty good odds. 機(jī)率還是滿不錯的。Odds 是機(jī)率的意思。比如，Your odds of being struck by lightning is greater than winning the lottery. 一個人被雷電擊中的機(jī)率都要高過中彩票。 Sean說，這些數(shù)據(jù)他也看過，stats is spelled s-t-a-t-s, 是 statistics 數(shù)據(jù)的簡寫，但是他總覺得，開車的時候，方向盤在自己手里，可是坐飛機(jī)，命運就完全不在自己的掌握之中了。

　　A: Sean說，對于upcoming trip to Europe, 即將來到的歐洲之行他一點也興奮不起來，因為he’s terrified of flying,他特別害怕坐飛機(jī)。飛機(jī)一顛簸，他就心跳加速，每次到達(dá)終點的時候，He’s completely unnerved, 已經(jīng)完全崩潰了。

　　B: That sounds terrible. I feel bad for people who are afraid of flying. If you are in America and you want to travel, planes and cars are basically the only two options. We don’t really have speed trains.

　　A: I know! Especially now, you can’t avoid air travel if you work for a global corporation!

　　B: Exactly. Let’s keep listening to Mini and see what tips she has for Sean!

　　Business Etiquette 262

　　Fear of Flying Part II

　　Sean 有飛行恐懼癥，可他偏偏又是國際銷售代表，需要經(jīng)常旅行。同事 Mimi 開玩笑說，他可真是選錯了職業(yè)。Mimi 說，

　　M: You certainly picked the wrong profession! You are an international sales representative - traveling is part of the job!

　　S: I know!! I thought my fear would lessen the more I did it - but it's been 10 years now and I'm still afraid of flying.

　　M: You know, the idea that you are more in control behind the wheel of a car than you are in an airplane might not be valid. Think about it: how much control do you have over road conditions or other drivers on the road? Very little, right?

　　S: That's true.

　　Mimi 覺得，Sean certainly picked the wrong profession. 選錯了職業(yè)。Sean 說，他原來以為，坐飛機(jī)坐得多了，飛行恐懼癥會慢慢好起來，誰知道，十年過去了，絲毫不見減弱。Mimi 說，Sean以為開車---behind the wheels的時候自己可以控制自己命運，這種想法 is not valid, 不能成立，因為開車的人對路況和自己周圍的駕車人，是完全控制不了的。有什么辦法能減輕飛行恐懼癥患者的癥狀嗎?我們繼續(xù)聽。

　　M: Have you ever tried pretending that you're on a bus? My uncle uses this trick when he's flying....whenever the plane runs into some turbulence he just closes his eyes and pretends he's sitting on a bumpy bus.

　　S: Hmm....I'm not sure if that would work but it's worth a try.

　　M: Where do you usually sit on the plane?

　　S: As close as possible to an emergency exit!!

　　M: (Chuckles) My uncle says the best place to sit is as close to the wings as possible because in his experience, the center of the plane is more stable.

　　S: That makes sense. I'll try to find a seat near an emergency exit by the wings!

　　Mimi 建議Sean 嘗試一下，假裝自己是坐在一個顛簸的巴士上。Whenever the plane runs into some turbulence, turbulence is spelled t-u-r-b-u-l-e-n-c-e, turbulence 氣流，意思是飛機(jī)遇到氣流顛簸的時候，就假裝自己是坐在一個 bumpy bus 上。Sean 覺得 it's worth a try. 可以試試看。Mimi 問 Sean 一般都選擇什么地方的座位。Sean 說從來都是離 emergency exit 緊急出口越近越好。Mimi 說，飛機(jī)中央部位最穩(wěn)，也就是機(jī)翼附近?？上攵?，Sean 以后選擇位子的條件又多了一個，不光要離緊急出口近，還最好是在飛機(jī)中間的機(jī)翼部位。

　　M: Of course, if nothing else works, you can always see a doctor and perhaps he can prescribe some antianxiety medication for you.

　　S: I'd rather not use medications, but it might come down to that.

　　M: There are also a lot of courses available that use mental strengthening exercises, or even hypnosis! You should look into one of those programs and see if it works for you!

　　S: That's a good idea!

　　M: Maybe understanding how an airplane works....some of the basic principles of flight....what turbulence actually is and some other specifics about flying could help you "know your enemy," so to speak.

　　S: I like that idea! If I understood what I was experiencing....perhaps I wouldn't fear it so much! Thanks for your suggestions, Mimi! You're a real pal!

　　Mimi 建議，實在不行，Sean 還可以去找醫(yī)生，開點 antianxiety 抗緊張的藥，Sean 雖然不想吃藥，但也承認(rèn)，it might come down to that. 最后沒辦法，可能也只能借助藥物了。另外，想克服心理障礙，還可以去參加鍛煉心志的課程，或者是了解飛機(jī)的飛行原理，所謂 know your enemy 知己知彼，百戰(zhàn)不殆，這些可能對Sean都有幫助。

　　A: Mimi說Sean害怕坐飛機(jī)，但卻是國際銷售代表，he certainly picked the wrong profession, 真是入錯了行。她給了Sean一些建議，比如sit as close to the wings are possible, 坐到機(jī)翼附近，還可以找醫(yī)生開anti-anxiety medication，抗緊張的藥，還可以試試mental strengthening exercises, 鍛煉心志的課程。

　　B: Yeah, most of the time, a phobia is the result of something within. So try learning more about what you are afraid of will help you a great deal.

　　A: And I got a useful tip for my long flight back home: try to sit as close to the wings as possible!

　　B: Haha, right. Enough about flights though, let's go ahead with our class.

　　A: Let's listen to another learn a word!

　　Learn A Word 1892 overtime

　　今天我們要學(xué)的詞是 overtime. Overtime is spelled o-v-e-r-t-i-m-e, overtime. Overtime 有加班的意思。有報道說，The Department of Homeland Security employees claimed $8.7 million of unearned overtime a year. 美國國土安全部雇員一年內(nèi)在并未真正加班的情況下，共領(lǐng)取了870萬美元的加班費。美國政府新推出的健保網(wǎng)站發(fā)現(xiàn)問題后，Information technology experts from both the government and outside firms are working overtime to fix the problems. 美國政府和私人公司的信息技術(shù)專家們加班加點地設(shè)法解決網(wǎng)站所存在的問題。好的，今天我們學(xué)習(xí)的詞是 overtime, overtime, overtime.

　　A: I hope they can fix the Obama care website as soon as possible! I was hoping to sign up for it, but seems like there’s still some technical glitch.

　　B: That’s frustrating. I just hope I can understand how it works. It’s not transparent enough, so I have no idea what is going to happen to my own health insurance, or what kind of benefit I can get from the Affordable Care Act.

　　A: Fingers crossed it can open the door to a better health insurance system some day!

　　B: And you just mentioned an idiom: open the door to. Let’s check it out in today’s words and idioms!

　　Words and Idioms 890 open the door to

　　美國習(xí)慣用語第 890 講

　　我有個朋友，人到中年，事業(yè)穩(wěn)定，家庭和睦。不過她昨天突然告訴我，她打算辭掉現(xiàn)在的工作，去商學(xué)院進(jìn)修MBA! 說要重新給自己充電，建立更廣泛的人脈，再拿到名校的MBA，可以為她的人生打開一扇新的大門。這件事讓我想到了一個習(xí)慣用語，那就是：

　　M: Open the door to something. Door is spelled d-o-o-r. Door. Open the door to something.

　　Open the door to something就是為某人或某事開門，也可以譯作“帶來”，“引起”。就好象我剛才那位朋友要回去念書。很多人勸她打消這個念頭，因為這個歲數(shù)回學(xué)校讀書可沒那么容易，不僅要兼顧家庭，還要重新適應(yīng)作學(xué)生的生活。不過，我這個朋友非常堅決，因為她相信，這樣做能 open the door to a lot more opportunities--給她帶來更多的機(jī)會。不過，那些反對她繼續(xù)讀書的人則覺得，這個決定將 open the door to a ton of headaches! 會給她帶來一堆頭疼的問題。想想也是，高昂的學(xué)費，繁重的課業(yè)，家庭的負(fù)擔(dān)，這些肯定夠她煩的! 不過我相信，只要克服這些挑戰(zhàn)，她就能實現(xiàn)自己的目標(biāo)!

　　好的，讓我們來聽聽下面這段話：

　　M: "A lot of developing countries welcome foreign investment when they can't afford to develop their countries as fast as they would like. I think this country's stability together with its recent tax breaks for international businesses will OPEN THE DOOR TO a lot more foreign investment."

　　這段話是說：許多發(fā)展中國家無法通過自己的力量實現(xiàn)快速發(fā)展，這時，它們都會歡迎外國投資。我覺得，這個國家局勢穩(wěn)定，最近還對國際企業(yè)實行稅務(wù)優(yōu)惠，一定能帶來更多的外國投資。

　　說起來，welcome - “歡迎”和"open the door to something"意思很相近。歡迎客人來自己家，肯定就會給客人開門。好，我們再來聽聽剛才那段話：

　　M: "A lot of developing countries welcome foreign investment when they can't afford to develop their countries as fast as they would like. I think this country's stability together with its recent tax breaks for international businesses will OPEN THE DOOR TO a lot more foreign investment."

　　打開門，迎來的不一定都是好事兒。下面我們來聽一段話，是關(guān)于將大麻合法化的意見，大家來聽聽，這個人是支持還是反對呢?

　　M: "I agree that we appear to be losing the fight against drugs. But despite the fact that marijuana may indeed have medicinal value, legalizing the drug would surely OPEN THE DOOR TO even wider usage."

　　這段話的意思說：我承認(rèn)，我們在打擊毒品方面似乎舉步維艱。不過，雖然大麻可能真有一些醫(yī)藥上的療效，但如果把大麻合法化，肯定會導(dǎo)致濫用大麻的情況。

　　看來，這個人是反對大麻合法化的。因為他說，這將導(dǎo)致更多人吸食大麻，這其中將包括沒有生病，而只把大麻作為毒品的癮君子。不過話說回來，把大麻合法化，那種植、銷售和使用大麻就成為合法產(chǎn)業(yè)，反而更易于管理，政府也可以從中獲得稅收，似乎也有積極的一面。 所以，這些利弊上的爭執(zhí)肯定會 open the door to more debate on the marijuana issue--引發(fā)更多關(guān)于大麻問題的辯論! 好，我們再來聽聽剛才那段話：

　　M: “I agree that we appear to be losing the fight against drugs. But despite the fact that marijuana may indeed have medicinal value, legalizing the drug would surely OPEN THE DOOR TO even wider usage.”

　　今天我們學(xué)習(xí)的習(xí)慣用語是 open the door to something，意思是“引起”“帶來”。堅持提高自己的英語能力絕對沒錯，日積月累，It will definitely open the door to a lot more opportunities for you. 一定會給你帶來很多機(jī)會。

　　好的，這次美國習(xí)慣用語就到此結(jié)束，

　　M: Until next time.

　　M: This has been Words and Idioms.

　　A: Mike, I think working with you has opened the door to a lot of things for me.

　　B: Really? How so?

　　A: Well, I now know every gourmet food truck in the greater DC area for starters!

　　B: LOL, well I’m glad to hear it! Just don’t blame me when you step on the scale tonight ok?

　　A: WHAT????? You are so dead!!好了同學(xué)們，這次節(jié)目時間就到這里了。

　　B: Tune in next time for American English Mosaic!

　　A: See you next time!