美語訓練班第124課:今年最棒的一部電影會是什麼
B: Welcome to American English Mosaic, I'm Mike Bond!
A: And I'm Lin Yang.
B: Bullet trains are popular in Asian and European countries, but are nowhere to be found in the United States. In today's business etiquette, we will introduce to you the ways Americans travel.
A: 今年最棒的一部電影會是什麼? 我們在下面的節目中爲你介紹。
B: And in words and idioms, we will learn what "tit for tat" and "to a tee" 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 1885 hands-down
今天我們要學的詞是 hands-down. Hands-down is spelled h-a-n-d-s, hands, and d-o-w-n, down, hands-down. Hands-down 意思是肯定地，輕而易舉地。流感季節到了。In terms of safety and effectiveness, soap and water beats sanitizers hands-down. 從安全和有效性的角度看，用肥皂和清水洗手，絕對勝過洗手液。2013年還沒有結束，不過，很多影評家都認爲，Captain Philips, played by Tom Hanks, is hands-down the best movie of the year. 湯姆.漢克斯出演的菲利普斯船長絕對是今年最棒的一部電影。好的，今天我們學習的詞是 hands-down, hands-down, hands-down.
A: So how was your Thanksgiving Mike?
B: It was great! We had a great traditional thanksgiving dinner: we had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie!
A: Wow, that's a lot of food! Sounds like it could feed an army!
B: Yep, we have a saying in my family: calories don't count on Thanksgiving. It's a holiday about overfeeding yourself, and enjoy quality time with the people you love.
A: That's the holiday spirit! We do the same thing during The Spring Festival in China.
B: Yep, from how you looked when you came back last year, I could tell!
A: A tit for tat, Mike, I'm going to get back at wait for it...
B: Haha, I'll waiting right here! mentioned a good idiom: tit for tat. Let's listen to today's words and idioms and find out what it means!
Words and Idioms 887 TIT FOR TAT
美國習慣用語第 887 講
人們常說遠親不如近鄰，可鄰里間鬧矛盾的事兒也不少。這不，我隔壁的鄰居Jean就對對門的鄰居Alice不滿，說Alice總是不參加公共區域的大掃除。Jean還說，爲了給Alice一個教訓，她決定不參加Alice組織的rummage sale--清倉義賣會。這兩個人你來我往的，讓我想到了一個習慣用語，那就是：
M: Tit for tat. Tit is spelled t-i-t, and tat; t-a-t. Tit-for-tat. Tit for tat.
Tit for tat 就是“以牙還牙”，以同樣的方式報復。我的鄰居Jean對Alice就是tit for tat：你不參加集體掃除？那好，我也不會在你組織的活動中出力。這可以說是“以其人之道還治其人之身”。
在生活中，這種針尖對麥芒的事兒經常發生。我們來聽聽一個父親是怎麼描述他的兩個女兒的：
M: "My daughters have really been acting childishly lately. It started when Ginny borrowed Esther's game without asking. As a result, Esther wouldn't let Ginny play with her doll. That made Ginny so mad she took back the book she'd lent Esther. How much longer is this TIT FOR TAT going to last?"
這段話意思是：最近，我兩個女兒都在耍小孩脾氣。事情的起因是Ginny沒和Esther打招呼就擅自拿走了Esther的遊戲。結果，Esther就不讓Ginny玩兒她的布娃娃了。這下子，Ginny不幹了，把以前借給Esther的書搶了回來。不知道她們這種針鋒相對的報復還要持續多長時間。
哈哈，小孩子之間常有這種事兒，你打我一下，我就必須得踢你一腳，誰也不願意吃虧! 讓我們再來聽聽剛纔那段話:
M: "My daughters have really been acting childishly lately. It started when Ginny borrowed Esther's game without asking. As a result, Esther wouldn't let Ginny play with her doll. That made Ginny so mad she took back the book she’d lent Esther. How much longer is this TIT FOR TAT going to last?"
不過，別以爲這種事情只發生在小孩兒身上，有些成年人也會這樣以牙還牙以眼還眼地相互報復，而這種行爲可能會帶來嚴重的後果! 比如，在下面這段話中，一個城市的犯罪量突然增加，我們來聽聽是什麼原因。
M: "The police investigator determined that the sudden increase of crimes was no coincidence. A gang of drug dealers wanted to punish a rival gang for shooting their leader. That led to a TIT FOR TAT series of murders, kidnappings and arsons that has paralyzed the city."
這段話的意思說：警方的調查人員膂b定，犯罪行爲突然增加並非偶然。一個販毒團伙的頭目被對立的幫派槍殺了，這個團伙於是展開報復行動。這導致雙方以牙還牙的交惡，從謀殺、綁架到縱火，無所不爲。整個城市因此陷入癱瘓狀態。
每次聽到這種消息，我總是既憤怒又傷心。前幾天，華盛頓還發生了類似的事。一個年青人爲了報復偷自己金項鍊的小偷，在街上開槍，結果打死了好幾個路人。更諷刺的是，那個所謂的“報復目標”其實並不是偷他項鍊的人，是他認錯了! 唉，這一切是多麼愚蠢! 我們再來聽聽剛纔那段話：
M: "The police investigator determined that the sudden increase of crimes was no coincidence. A gang of drug dealers wanted to punish a rival gang for shooting their leader. That led to a TIT FOR TAT series of murders, kidnappings and arsons that has paralyzed the city."
Tit for tat 這個說法從16世紀中葉就有了，可見，人類千百年來都是愛記仇和報復。唉! 我覺得，大家在生活中都應該把肚量放大些，不要對人睚眥必報。比如，上個禮拜，我發現有個同事把我放在冰箱裏的午飯給吃了。我就想，她一定是看錯了，拿錯了，我不會幼稚到隔天去偷她的午飯，作爲報復。I refused to engage in a tit for tat。
好的，這次美國習慣用語就到此結束。
M: Until next time.
下次節目再見。
M: This has been Words and Idioms.
A: I usually refuse to engage in a tit for tat. I find most of the time, letting go is way more useful than trying to get revenge.
B: I agree. People tend to treat you the way you treat them, so being nice and forgiving to your friends actually means having friends who will treat you well in return.
A: True. Speaking of which, could you offer me a ride to the airport for my flight back to China? Please?
B: Ugh...I knew something was coming...
A; Haha, I will take that as a yes! It's really inconvenient that there's no bullet trains here in the U.S., otherwise I would just take that!
B: Tell me about it. Bullet trains are widely popular in Asian countries, but people in America seems to prefer other forms of transportation.
A: We will get to know some American ways of traveling in today's business etiquette.
B: Let's go take a look!
禮節美語BE-259 Bullet Trains I
Lewis 在走廊上遇到同事 Jay.
Lewis: Hi, Jay!
J: Hi, Lewis. Are you ready for your big trip to Chicago?
L: Oh, yeah! I'm gonna nail the presentation.
J: I'm sure you will. Hey, I thought I remembered from an earlier conversation that you have relatives in the states, right? Any chance you'll get to see them?
L: I'd like to, but they're not in Chicago. My uncle moved to LA five years ago. I was thinking about going over to visit him but I don't have a lot of e I could just hop on a bullet train from Chicago.
Lewis要到美國芝加哥出差，對完成任務信心滿滿，說自己一定會 nail the presentation 出色完成演示任務。在英語裏，to nail something 意思是出色完成某事。比如，父母問你考試考得好不好，你就可以回答說，I nailed it. 我考得好極了。Jay問Lewis是否準備順便去看望一下自己在美國的親戚。Lewis說，叔叔五年前搬去洛杉磯，離芝加哥很遠，他時間有限，準備 hop on a bullet train from Chicago. bullet train 子彈頭列車，相當於高鐵。 Jay說,
J: That's not going to be possible.
L: Why not? It's probably only a few hours ride.
J: America doesn't have any bullet trains.
L: Really? You're kidding me!
J: No, actually I'm quite serious. The fastest train we have is called the Amtrak Acela Express. It goes from Boston to Washington DC, via Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City. But it's not really a bullet Acela Express generally runs at not much more than 130 kilometers an hour.
L: One hundred and 30 kilometers an hour? That's not a high-speed train.
Jay說，美國沒有高鐵，最快的列車是 Amtrak Acela Express, 從波士頓到華盛頓特區，途經過巴爾迪摩，費城和紐約。可即便是這趟列車，一般時速也就是130多公里。Lewis說，Really? You're kidding me! 表示難以置信。
J: Sometimes the Amtrak train can push speeds up to over 240 kilometers per hour, but most of the time it cruises at only around 130.
L: Wow! I thought America was more advanced than that. We have trains that can easily run at 300 kilometers an hour! Japanese bullet trains run at about 260 and the Europe super fast trains travel at almost 300 kilometers an hour!
J: Yeah I know. Even Taiwan has a high-speed rail that goes at least 200 kilometers an hour. But America is a very large country, and for the last several decades flying has been cheap and easy.
Amtrak雖然最快也能飆到時速240公里，但一般情況下，只保持在130公里左右勻速行駛，這裏用的動詞 cruise, cruise is spelled c-r-u-i-s-e, cruise 意思是不緊不慢地勻速前進。Jay說，美國地域遼闊，坐飛機方便便宜，這也許是鐵路不發達的原因之一。
A: Lewis本來準備hop on a bullet train，乘坐高鐵去看他在洛杉磯的叔叔，但是Jay說， that's not going to be possible, 那是不可能的，因爲美國沒有高鐵。Jay說，美國最快的列車是 Amtrak, 但也是 cruises at only around 130，只保持在130公里左右勻速行駛, it's not a high-speed train at all. 完全沒有達到高鐵的要求。
B: Yeah, America is a very large country, and flying is very affordable here. A lot of people also love to go on road trips!
A: I know! My uncle used to drive 2 hours to work and 2 hours back, that's 4 hours total in travel time! But he seemed to be fine with it!
B: I enjoy driving as well. Get ya some great music, snacks, and maybe a hot dog or two, and you are ready to hit the road! Road trips are my favorite way of seeing the U.S.
A: That sounds like you! 我們接着來聽Jay如何介紹美國人的交通習慣吧!
禮節美語BE-260 Bullet Trains II
Lewis要去美國芝加哥出差，想坐高鐵去洛杉磯看家人，但同事Jay告訴他說，美國沒有高鐵，原因之一是坐飛機十分方便。
Lewis: So there's been no incentive to build super fast trains.
Jay: Yeah, that's right. Also, Americans like to drive.
L: I've noticed in a lot of movies that Americans seem to enjoy road trips.
J: I'm from San Francisco, and I have friends who live in Los Angeles. It's a nine-or-10-hour drive, but I've done it many times. There's no convenient public transport in L.A. so I would have to rent a car anyway. So I just load up my CD player with good music, grab some coffee and hit the road.
除了坐飛機，美國人還喜歡開車。They enjoy road trips. Road trips 就是開車去一個地方，邊走邊玩。Jay說，從加州舊金山開到洛杉磯，需要九到十個小時，他來回開過很多趟，每次都是準備了好聽的音樂，帶上咖啡，然後就上路了。 hit the road 是上路的意思，hit 在口語裏，後面還經常跟 the gym, to hit the gym 就是去健身房。
L: So driving really is a part of American culture.
J: Yeah. Most of us get our first driver's license when we are around 16 years old. I used to drive about an hour and a half to work every day--that's three hours round-trip-- and I didn't think it was a big deal.
L: So aside from New York, there really isn't much public transport infrastructure in the U.S.?
J: Many U.S. cities have some kind of light rail or subway system but except for New York, they don't really completely cover the city in the same way as the Beijing or Shanghai subway does.
看來，開車還真是美國文化的一個重要部分。Jay說，美國孩子16歲左右就可以拿駕照。他以前每天開三個小時上下班，and he didn't think it was a big deal. 而且也沒覺得這有什麼大不了的。 a big deal 經常在口語裏出現。比如，It's a big deal for me. 這對我很重要。What's the big deal? 有那麼嚴重嗎？It's no big deal. 沒什麼大不了的。美國的很多城市都有地鐵火車，但是除了紐約以外，其他城市的公交系統都不像北京或是上海的地鐵那麼發達。
L: I think high-speed trains are great! They are safe, fast, quiet and convenient. You can work on your laptop or read a 's a good way to relax.
J: That's ing can be very stressful. Americans have been talking about building high-speed rail lines for years. But to be honest, I don't know when or if it's ever going to happen.
L: Well, I hope they start building them soon. But in any case...I'm going to have to look into flights to LA now.
J: Yep. And you're probably gonna have to rent a car when you get there. Good luck and have a great trip!
L: Thanks Jay! See you in a couple weeks.
坐高鐵可以放鬆，看看電腦讀讀書，不像開車，會讓人 stressful精神疲勞。不過沒辦法，Lewis 這次出差，如果想從芝加哥到洛杉磯去，就必須得 look into flights 看看坐哪趟班機了。
A: Jay說，driving is part of the American culture. 開車是美國文化根深蒂固的一部分，美國人一般16歲就拿駕照了。美國人喜歡road trips, 邊開車邊玩兒，所以鐵路系統非常不發達。Lewis說，I'd better look into flights, 看看坐哪趟班機去看自己的叔叔了。
B: Yep! In big cities like DC, you probably can live without a car, but in places like my hometown, you are not going to have a social life if you don't own a car.
A: I know what you are talking about. When I just got here, I didn't have a car for two years. And living in California without a car is a total nightmare, you basically can't go anywhere!
B: Yep! Alright, enough about road trips, let's go ahead with our class.
A: Let's listen to another learn a word!
Learn A Word 1889 exhibit
今天我們要學的詞是 exhibit. Exhibit is spelled e-x-h-i-b-i-t, exhibit. Exhibit 意思是展覽。The Smithsonian Institution is putting on what is believed to be the first art exhibit on yoga. 據信是第一個關於瑜珈的藝術展在史密森學會的博物館隍7d展。The Chicago History Museum is relying on online "crowd sourcing" to come up with an exhibit idea. 芝加哥歷史博物館在網上徵求意見，集思廣益，尋找有趣的展覽主題。A photo exhibit on super storm Sandy opened on the storm's one-year anniversary. 超級風暴桑迪一週年之際，一個關於桑迪的攝影展正式開幕。好的，今天我們學習的詞是 exhibit, exhibit, exhibit.
A: I love museums, and that's one of the most attractive things about DC. So many free museums!
B: Yeah, do you know there's an Anchorman exhibit at the Newseum? I heard the exhibit displays the whole production process to a tee!
A: I have to go see! 不過大家知道 to a tee這個詞兒是什麼意思嗎? Let's check it out in today's words and idioms!
Words and Idioms第888講
昨天晚上，我去一個朋友家吃飯，飯後，朋友的太太給客人們表演了一場模仿秀。她不僅模仿了一些明星，居然還模仿了我! 而且模仿得太象了! 不僅舉手投足，連聲音都唯妙唯肖! 這種模仿功力讓我想到了一個習慣用語，那就是：
M: To a tee. To is spelled t-o, and tee; t-e-e, or simply the capital letter T. To-a-tee. To a tee.
To a tee 就是“完美”“恰到好處”。我朋友太太的模仿秀達到了to a tee 的答7b度。我想，下次如果我有事不能來主持節目，完全可以讓她來代班，觀衆朋友們八成聽不出區別!
除了模仿秀，其它很多藝術工作也追求逼真、傳神，讓我們來聽聽下面這段話：
M: "My wife suggested that we have a nice portrait painted of our family. So we sat for the artist and a couple of weeks later he told us he'd finished. I had my doubts that the painting would come out really looking like us. But when he unveiled it, I was astonished! He captured our likenesses TO A TEE."
這段話意思是：我太太說，我們應該請人畫個全家福，於是我們找了一位藝術家，讓他給我們畫。幾個星期後，他告訴我們，作品已經完成。我本來還心有疑慮，覺得他可能會畫得不像，但是，當他把作品拿到我們眼前時，我完全驚呆了! 他完全抓住了我們的神態，畫得太逼真了!
這個畫家真有本事! 我對畫畫是一竅不通，不過，我先生說我在烹飪方面很有天賦。去年他生日的時候，我照着菜譜做了一次烤牛排，結果大獲成功! 牛排的火候和味道都是To A Tee--恰到好處! 模樣也和菜譜上的照片相差無幾! 好，讓我們再來聽聽剛纔那段話:
M: "My wife suggested that we have a nice portrait painted of our family. So we sat for the artist and a couple of weeks later he told us he'd finished. I had my doubts that the painting would come out really looking like us. But when he unveiled it, I was astonished! He captured our likenesses TO A TEE."
做飯要掌握火候，作人也是一樣。比如買衣服，就要買符合自己身材和氣質的。我們來聽聽下面這段話：
M: "With my job interview coming up, I wanted to look my best. I decided it was worth spending extra money on a high-quality designer suit. After trying on several, I found one that fit me TO A TEE. It was as if a tailor had made it to my exact measurements."
這段話的意思說：我過幾天要去一個工作面試，所以我想，我得以最佳形象去見未來的僱主。我決定多花點錢，買一套高品質的名牌西服。在試穿了好幾套之後，我終於找到了一套特別合適的。這衣服太合身了，簡直像是裁縫爲我量身定作的。
我想，這個年青人的面試一定進行得不錯，因爲他聽上去很自信。而且，一套得體的西服能夠給他的外表加分，能給僱主一個好印象，正所謂"clothes make the man - 人靠衣裝”嘛! 衣服不僅要大小合適，還要符合個人氣質。比如，我妹妹是個非常熱情、外向的人，所以她的衣服大多是顏色鮮豔，款式瀟灑的，我覺得，這些衣服suit her to a tee非常適合她。好，我們再來聽聽剛纔那段話：
M: "With my job interview coming up, I wanted to look my best. I decided it was worth spending extra money on a high-quality designer suit. After trying on several, I found one that fit me TO A TEE. It was as if a tailor had made it to my exact measurements."
To A Tee 這個說法由來以久，據說在17世紀時就有了。當時，這個短語中的tee指的是英文書寫中細微的筆劃。所以，to a tee，原意就是每一筆一劃都精準。後來，就變成了“恰到好處，剛剛好”的意思。
M: Until next time.
下次節目再見。
M: This has been Words and Idioms.
B: Yang Lin, I think this show fits you to a tee.
A: Really? How so?
B: Its simple and fun! Just like you!
A: Did you just call me simple?????
B: Uhh, I meant it as a compliment?
A: Tit for Tat Mike, Tit for Tat..... 好了同學們，這次節目時間就到這裏了。
B: Tune in next time for American English Mosaic!
A: See you next time!
