評論
打印
B: Time to learn American English! 美語訓練班上課啦! 我是Kat!
A: 我是楊琳！Kat, how was your weekend?
B: Not bad. I went fishing with my sister and we caught quite a few fish!
A: 夠棒的!今天咱們節目也要帶大家去釣魚, 還要去逛街買禮物，要想想去哪兒渡假, 還要告訴大家怎么用美語說“抓狂”。
B: 聽著不錯!
A: 節目一開始，還是來學個詞兒吧！
Learn A Word #1368 virtual
今天我們要學的詞是virtual. Virtual is spelled v-i-r-t-u-a-l, virtual. Virtual , 虛擬的，模擬的。美國和伊朗沒有正式外交關系，不過美國國務卿希拉里.克林頓表示，The United States plans to open a virtual embassy for Iran by the end of this year. 美國計劃今年年底以前開設一個虛擬的美國駐伊朗網上大使館。研究人員最近對網上虛擬大學的教學水平提出質疑。Experts at the University of Colorado asserted that full-time virtual schools are largely unregulated. 科羅拉多大學的專家認為，全日制網上學校很大程度上不夠規范。A lot of web sites now provide virtual assistants to help customers with what they want. 現在很多網站提供虛擬助手，滿足顧客的需要。好的，今天我們學習的詞是virtual, virtual, virtual.
A: 現在虛擬的東西越來越多了，There's already a virtual world on the Internet!
B: That's true, but sometimes you still need the real thing. For example, when you're hungry, staring at virtual food won't help.
A: On the contrary, it'll make you more hungry!
B: Haha, exactly! Okay, now let's move on to the next program.
A: 好，一起來聽今天的 Words and Idioms, 美國習慣用語。
Words and Idioms 947
女：各位聽眾，現在播送<美國習慣用語>第 947講。我是楊琳。
M：我是 Douglas Johnson.
女：昨天我開車回家的時候，在我們家的小路口險些撞到一輛自行車！這個路口的設計特別差，上個月又出了一起事故，兩輛車相撞，車里的人都受傷了。這里真的應該樹一塊警示牌了! 這也讓我想到一個習慣用語，那就是：
M：Bring to a head. Bring is spelled b-r-i-n-g, and head; h-e-a-d. Bring to a head.
女: Bring something to a head 意思是，使某件事情到了非做決定的緊急關頭。這個短語通常用來形容比較壞的情況，形容使一件事情到了迫在眉睫，必須做出決定，加以改變的地步。比如上面的例子中，交通路口的情況太糟，車禍使警察到了要決定是否立一塊警示牌，以改變這種情況的時候了。The car crash will BRING TO A HEAD the need for a stop sign at the intersection. 這次車禍使警方開始考慮在交叉路口安裝警示牌的必要性。下面的例子里，是什么促使人戒煙? 我們來聽聽看:
M: "Cindy had been trying to persuade her husband to quit smoking. But he never made a serious effort to stop until last month. When he became short of breath playing with his grandson, he realized that his bad habit had to end. It BROUGHT TO A HEAD his addiction to cigarettes. He's been tobacco-free ever since."
這段話是說：辛迪一直試著勸她丈夫戒煙。但他從沒認真嘗試過，直到上個星期他陪孫子玩兒的時候氣都喘不上來，他才意識到，是時候改改抽煙這個壞毛病了。這件事使他意識到他煙癮的危害。自從那以后，他一直沒有碰過香煙。
女：祝賀他! 改掉抽煙這個毛病可不容易。一些人戒煙說不抽就不抽了，不是一點一點來，也不靠外界幫助，我們可以說 cold turkey 斷然戒掉煙癮。It is difficult, but possible to quit smoking cold turkey. 雖然很難，但是斷然戒煙是可能的。好，讓我們再來聽聽剛才那段話。
M: "Cindy had been trying to persuade her husband to quit smoking. But he never made a serious effort to stop until last month. When he became short of breath playing with his grandson, he realized that his bad habit had to end. It BROUGHT TO A HEAD his addiction to cigarettes. He's been tobacco-free ever since."
女：那天我妹妹告訴我，她們公司最近走了一大批人，這些人都已經在公司工作超過40年了，很難找到經驗跟他們匹配的新員工。我們來聽聽看:
M: "Our best trained workers are all over 60 years old. And they've been leaving the company faster than they're being replaced. The CEO ought to recognize what's happening. Retirements are BRINGING our labor shortage problem TO A HEAD. So he'd better come up with a solution quickly. "
這段話是說：我們公司最優秀的員工現在都超過60歲了。他們退休的速度遠遠超過了新員工的招聘速度。我們的CEO需要認識到現在的情況。老員工退休使勞動力短缺的問題迫在眉睫。老板得盡快找到解決方法。
女: 現在美國面臨的很大的一個問題就是勞動人口老齡化。1945年到1961年“嬰兒潮”時期出生的人現在都慢慢開始退休了，而這也給政府為他們提供的福利出了個大難題: Baby boomers' retirement has BROUGHT concerns about funding TO A HEAD. 嬰兒潮一代人的退休使解決政府福利的融資問題變得迫在眉睫。好，我們再來聽聽剛才那段話:
M: "Our best trained workers are all over 60 years old. And they've been leaving the company faster than they're being replaced. The CEO ought to recognize what's happening. Retirements are BRINGING our labor shortage problem TO A HEAD. So he'd better come up with a solution quickly. "
女：各位聽眾，今天我們學習的習慣用語是Bring to a head，意思是“使解決某事迫在眉睫”。好的，這次[美國習慣用語]就到此結束，我是楊琳，我是 Douglas Johnson。謝謝各位的收聽。
A：最近我生活中也有件事迫在眉睫。
B: Which is?
A：搬家！我鄰居太討厭了，每天晚上拉小提琴，那叫一個難聽，吵得我沒法睡覺。今天一早我已經喝了三杯咖啡提神，要不眼睛都睜不開了。It brings to a head the need to find a new place.
B：I see. Have you asked your neighbor to keep it down?
A: 說了好多次了，沒用！He's driving me crazy! 我要抓狂了！
B: 先別！Don't you want to know how to say 抓狂 in American English?
A: 嘿！我都氣成這樣了，哪兒還有心思學英語啊？
B: 啊？So... do you want to skip the next segment of the show?
A: 呵呵，也不用。行吧，咱們就來聽今天的 “美語怎么說”。
