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現在播送<美國習慣用語>第 960講。我是楊琳。
M: 我是 Douglas Johnson.
我剛剛從一個采訪現場回來。我們的嘉賓介紹了她有關中東地區沖突的一本新書。拍攝完成后，我注意到，攝像師的情緒好象特別低落，我這才想起他是退伍軍人，在戰場上失去過很多戰友，一定是嘉賓談到戰場上的傷亡，勾起了他很多痛苦的回憶，這也讓我想到了一個習慣用語，那就是:
M: Close to home. Close is spelled c-l-o-s-e, and home; h-o-m-e. Close-to-home.
Close to home這個短語跟家其實沒什么關系，它的意思是"觸及痛處"。上面的例子中，新書作者談到中東沖突的慘狀，觸及了攝像師心里深層的記憶。For him, they were CLOSE TO HOME. 對攝像師來說，這段采訪觸及了他的痛處。下面這個例子中，我們的法律記者要帶我們去看看一個叫M.A.D.D., MADD的組織，咱們去聽聽是怎么回事:
M: "M.A.D.D. is an organization committed to stopping drunk driving and supporting victims of this terrible crime. It was started in 1980 by a mother who had strong feelings about such issues. Her daughter had been killed by a repeat drunk driver. As with many of MADD's members, this tragedy is very CLOSE TO HOME. "
這段話是說: "反對醉駕母親協會"這個組織致力于防止醉酒駕車，并幫助遭遇不幸的受害者。一位母親1980年創建了這個組織，她女兒就是被一名多次醉酒駕車的人撞死的。對于這個組織的成員來說，他們每個人都對這類悲劇有著切身的感受。]
MADD 這個組織的全稱是Mothers Against Drunk Driving, 所以縮寫是MADD。對于這位母親來說，The issue of drunk driving is close to home since her own daughter was killed by a drunk driver. 她對醉酒駕車的害處深有感觸，因為她女兒就是被一名醉酒駕車的人撞死的。正是由于這個協會的努力，美國對醉駕的容忍度變小了，懲罰也更為嚴厲。好的，讓我們再來聽聽上面那段話。
M: "M.A.D.D. is an organization committed to stopping drunk driving and supporting victims of this terrible crime. It was started in 1980 by a mother who had strong feelings about such issues. Her daughter had been killed by a repeat drunk driver. As with many of MADD's members, this tragedy is very CLOSE TO HOME. "
你有沒有過這種經歷呢？有時候別人無意中說的一句話，做的一件事，談論的某個話題都會觸及你的痛處。下面例子里的這名父親在跟兒子談話時就遇到了這樣的情形，我們來聽聽看:
M: " I wondered what my son was laughing about. He was watching a competition show on TV involving severely heavy people trying to lose weight. I explained to my son how I felt hurt. It was too CLOSE TO HOME. I had been very overweight growing up. And I remembered all the ridicule I suffered years ago. "
[這段話是說: 我正納悶我兒子在笑什么，原來他是在看一個電視真人秀節目，講的是很多嚴重肥胖的人比賽減肥。我告訴兒子說，他觸及了我的痛處，因為我小時候就特別胖，我清楚地記得怎樣被別人嘲笑。]
這確實挺難受的。不過這位爸爸正好利用這個機會教育自己的孩子怎么面對與自己不一樣的人。在這里，我們還可以在這個短語前面加上動詞hit, h-i-t, hit. TO HIT CLOSE TO HOME 也是一樣的意思。好，我們再來聽聽剛才那段話:
M: " I wondered what my son was laughing about. He was watching a competition show on TV involving severely heavy people trying to lose weight. I explained to my son how I felt hurt. It was too CLOSE TO HOME. I had been very overweight growing up. And I remembered all the ridicule I suffered years ago. "
今天我們學習的習慣用語是CLOSE TO HOME ，意思是"觸及痛處"。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: Oh my gosh! This episode hits close to home AGAIN! 我原來就是個小胖墩，所以一上生物課講到脂肪那一段我就緊張，怕同學笑我！
B: Aww you poor thing! 可現在你不已經苗條了？
A: 呵呵，可是想到以前的胖墩經歷還是覺得close to home! 觸及痛處！話說我昨天在報紙上看到，每天保證9個小時的睡眠，還可以減肥耶！
B: That's actually true. 也許這就是大家說的美容覺的功效吧！
A: 哈哈，沒錯! 在下面的How to say it 里面，我們就要來看看這個美容覺用美語怎么說!
