VOA慢速英語(yǔ):Words and Their Stories: Chickenfeed

I'm Susan Clark with WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, a program in Special English on the Voice of America.

這里是美國(guó)之音慢速英語(yǔ)詞匯掌故欄目，我是蘇珊·克拉克(Susan Clark)。

Almost every language in the world has a saying that a person can never be too rich.

世界上幾乎每種語(yǔ)言中都有這么一句諺語(yǔ)：錢不嫌多。

Americans, like people in other countries, always want more money. One way they express this is by protesting that their jobs do not pay enough. A common expression is, "I am working for chickenfeed." It means working for very little money. The expression probably began because seeds fed to chickens made people think of small change. Small change means metal coins of not much value, like nickels which are worth five cents.

和其它國(guó)家的人一樣，美國(guó)人也總是想賺到更多的錢?？棺h薪水太少，就是他們表達(dá)這種愿望的一種方式，常見說(shuō)法是：“我正在為了chickenfeed(chickenfeed，美國(guó)俚語(yǔ)，微不足道的金額，為數(shù)甚微的款項(xiàng))而工作。”意思是為了微不足道的錢而工作。該短語(yǔ)的起源可能是因?yàn)槲闺u的飼料使人們想到了small change(零錢)的緣故。零錢就是面值低的硬幣，例如5美分的硬幣。

An early use of the word chickenfeed appeared in an American publication in nineteen thirty. It told about a rich man and his son. Word expert Mitford Mathews says it read, "I'll bet neither the kid nor his father ever saw a nickel or a dime. They would not have been interested in such chickenfeed."

chickenfeed一詞最早見于1930年美國(guó)的一本刊物，講述的是一對(duì)富人父子的故事。文字專家密特福德·馬修斯(Mitford Mathews)稱，文章這么寫道：“我敢打賭，不管是兒子還是父親都沒(méi)見過(guò)5美分或10美分，他們就不會(huì)對(duì)這樣的小錢感興趣。”

Chickenfeed also has another interesting meaning known to history experts and World War Two spies and soldiers.

chickenfeed還有一個(gè)為歷史專家、二戰(zhàn)間諜和士兵所熟知的有意思的意義。

Spy expert Henry S. A. Becket writes that some German spies working in London during the war also worked for the British. The British government had to make the Germans believe their spies were working. So, British officials gave them mostly false information. It was called chickenfeed.

偵探專家亨利S.A.貝肯特(Henry S. A. Becket)寫道，二戰(zhàn)期間一些在倫敦工作的德國(guó)間諜也為英國(guó)效勞。英國(guó)政府必須使德國(guó)相信這些間諜仍在工作，所以，英國(guó)官員給這些間諜提供很多虛假信息，這被稱為chickenfeed。

The same person who protests that he is working for chickenfeed may also say, "I am working for peanuts." She means she is working for a small amount of money.

抗議微薄薪水的人可能還會(huì)說(shuō)：“我正在為了peanuts而工作。”她的意思是她在為數(shù)額很小的錢而工作(peanuts，俚語(yǔ)，極小之物，極小數(shù)額，蠅頭小利)。

It is a very different meaning from the main one in the dictionary. That meaning is small nuts that grow on a plant.

peanuts的意思與詞典上解釋的主要含義大相徑庭。其原義是某種植物上結(jié)出的小堅(jiān)果。

No one knows for sure how a word for something to eat also came to mean something very small. But, a peanut is a very small food.

沒(méi)有人確切地知道一個(gè)表示食物的單詞，怎么會(huì)逐漸變成表示很小的東西。但是，花生就是一種很小的食物。

The expression is an old one. Word expert Mitford Mathews says that as early as eighteen fifty-four, an American publication used the words peanut agitators. That meant political troublemakers who did not have a lot of support.

這是一個(gè)古老的表達(dá)方式。文字專家馬修斯說(shuō)，早在1854年，一家美國(guó)媒體就使用過(guò)peanut agitators(無(wú)人支持的鼓動(dòng)者，煽動(dòng)者)這個(gè)詞匯。其意思是少有支持者的政壇搗亂分子。

Another reason for the saying about working for peanuts may be linked to elephants. Think of how elephants are paid for their work in the circus. They receive food, not money. One of the foods they like best is peanuts.

關(guān)于working for peanuts這一說(shuō)法的另一個(gè)原因可能跟大象有關(guān)。想想看，馬戲團(tuán)里的大象如何被支付薪水?它們收到的是食物，而不是錢。它們最喜歡的食物之一就是花生。

When you add the word gallery to the word peanut you have the name of an area in an American theater. A gallery is a high seating area or balcony above the main floor.

把gallery和peanut這2個(gè)詞組合在一起，就是一個(gè)在美國(guó)劇院中表示地點(diǎn)位置的名詞。gallery是位于主層之上的邊座或頂層樓座。

The peanut gallery got its name because it is the part of the theater most distant from where the show takes place. So, peanut gallery tickets usually cost less than other tickets. People pay a small amount of money for them.

之所以得名peanut gallery(美俚，劇院之類的頂層樓座、邊座，這種位置一般票價(jià)最低)，因?yàn)樗请x舞臺(tái)最遠(yuǎn)的區(qū)域。因此，頂層樓座的票價(jià)比其他票價(jià)都低，人們花很少的錢就能買到。