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Words and Idioms:Black Hole
各位聽眾，現在播送<美國習慣用語>第 940講。我是楊琳。<美國習慣用語>
我是 Douglas Johnson.
在打電話時，我們經常會遇到自動語音系統，比如打電話到銀行問個問題，總會先是機器來“接待你”，讓你針對自己需要的服務按某個按鍵，有時候你做了好多 “選擇題”，按了好多鍵，電話那頭卻總不是真正的客服人員在說話。作為消費者的你，這時候不免頭大，這可以用一個習慣用語來形容，那就是：
A black hole. Black is spelled b-l-a-c-k, and hole; h-o-l-e. A-black-hole.
天文學上有個black hole--黑洞。任何物質都能被黑洞吸進去，哪怕是光。在習慣用語中，a black hole也指深淵，讓人迷惑的空洞。在剛才這個打電話的情景中，消費者被自動電話系統指使得團團轉，They feel they're lost in a black hole. 他們會覺得莫名其妙，如墜云霧。
在下面這段話中，“黑洞”跑到家里來了，我們來聽聽是怎么回事：
"I don't ever expect to get the book back that I lent to my son. He says it's somewhere in his bedroom. That means it's among the countless piles of stuff scattered across his desk, furniture and floor. Whatever goes in there disappears. The place is nothing but A BLACK HOLE."
這段話是說：[在我把書借給兒子看，就不用想著還能拿回來了。他跟我說書就在他臥室里。這就意味著，我的書被埋在了他書桌、家具和地板上到處散落的一堆堆亂七八糟的東西下面。任何東西進了這個屋子都會不知去向。他的屋子簡直就是個黑洞。]
這個情景我似曾相識。大學時我有個好朋友，看上去白白凈凈的一個女孩兒，就是不愛收拾屋子。借給她的東西她永遠不還，都說找不到了。I'm afraid they all vanished in that black hole of hers. 恐怕這些東西都消失在她那如同黑洞一樣的屋子里了。好了，我們再來聽聽剛才那段話：
"I don't ever expect to get the book back that I lent to my son. He says it's somewhere in his bedroom. That means it's among the countless piles of stuff scattered across his desk, furniture and floor. Whatever goes in there disappears. The place is nothing but A BLACK HOLE."
剛才我們說到的例句都是因為人不愛收拾整理，導致屋子凌亂不堪，東西才容易丟。另外還有一種情況，也容易讓人找不到東西，覺得暈，那就是地方太大。下面這個例句就證明了這一點，我們來聽一聽：
"This year's conference took place at a brand new facility. There must have been at least 8,000 people there. That was far too big for me. I don't like such A BLACK HOLE. You meet people that you never see again because it's so huge. I prefer a much smaller site. There are greater chances for running into people that I recognize."
這段話是說：[今年的會議在一個嶄新的會場召開。 來開會的人至少有8000個。我覺得這個會場太大了。我不喜歡這么大得讓人犯暈的地方。地方這么大，人這么多，很多人你見過一次就永遠不會再見了。我希望能在小一點的地方開會，那樣更有可能遇見熟人。]
別說會場了，出門背個大一些的包包，東西就往往很難找到，我老公經常笑話我說，我找個鑰匙也要把頭伸進包里搜索一番。He said my purse was a portable black hole. 他說我的包就是個能移動的大黑洞。好，我們再來聽聽剛才那段話：
M:"This year's conference took place at a brand new facility. There must have been 8,000 there. That was far too big for me. I don't like such A BLACK HOLE. You meet people that you never see again because it's so huge. I prefer a much smaller site. There are greater chances for running into people that I recognize."
各位聽眾，今天我們學習的習慣用語是a black hole，意思是“讓人犯暈的黑洞”。
A:有時候，真感覺在社會上打拼就如同entering a black hole，周圍人才濟濟，自己的小聰明，小本事，根本顯不出來!更別說得到領導的賞識了。
B:So, you want your talent and hard work to be noticed by your supervisors, eh? You know, there’s a shortcut to do that─拍領導的馬屁。
A:啊？我還以為你有什么高招呢。
B:Trust me. It works every time.
A:聽起來您是個行家啊！看來那天我問你“拍馬屁”用美語怎么說，真是問對人了！
