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英语PK台(MP3+文本) 第1087期:探寻有趣的词源故事

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Dialogue 1
Jingjing: Hey Mark, there you are. I thought you'd be waiting for me in the lobby.
京晶:嘿,马克,你在这啊。我还以为你会在大厅等我呢。
Mark: Nah, I found this armchair here and have been waiting comfortably for the last five minutes.
马克:不,我在这儿看见一把扶手椅,已经舒舒服服地坐着等了你五分钟了。
Jingjing: Ok. What's that you're watching?
京晶:好吧。你在看什么?
Mark: It's a video of a fireplace. I finished a chapter in the book I'm reading and started this video. It just shows a fireplace. I'm totally mesmerized by it though.
马克:看一个壁炉的视频。我读完了最近正在读的书的一章,然后开始看这个视频。它就展示了一个壁炉而已,但我却彻底被它迷住了。
Jingjing: A small fire can have that effect. It kind of hypnotizes people. Hey, that's a weird word: mesmerize.
京晶:小火苗就能达到这种效果。它甚至可以催眠人。嘿,这是个奇怪的词:催眠术。
Mark: Yeah, the word comes from the name of an Austrian doctor from the late 1700s and early 1800s. He was popular for using a form of hypnosis. So, when people get intensely interested in something, but it's not really that exciting, we say they get mesmerized.
马克:是的,这个词来自18世纪末19世纪初一位奥地利医生的名字。他因使用催眠术而出名。所以,当人们对某事极度感兴趣,但这事本身并非那么令人兴奋时,我们就说他们被催眠了。
Jingjing: That's kind of an obscure word origin.
京晶:这是一个鲜为人知的词源。
Mark: It is, and we don't use the word much. Well, I just saw an article with four other words and their origins. Want to know about those?
马克:是的,我们很少用到这个词。我刚看了一篇文章,里面有其他四个单词和它们的词源。想知道这些吗?
Jingjing: Sure. Are they common words?
京晶:当然。它们是常用词汇吗?
Mark: Yes, and their origins will surprise you. The first one is quiz.
马克:是的,它们的起源会让你大吃一惊。第一个是quiz小测验。
Jingjing: You mean like a test or an exam, but shorter or less important?
京晶:你的意思是测验或考试,但时间更短或不那么重要的?
Mark: Right. That's what a quiz is nowadays. A man in Ireland bet his friends that he could make up a word and make it popular. He then asked people working for him to write the word quiz on walls and windows everywhere in the city.
马克:对。这就是今天quiz的含义(小测验)。爱尔兰的一名男子和他的朋友打赌说他可以编造一个词,并且能让它流行起来。然后,他雇人在城市各处的墙上和窗户上写上这个词quiz。
Jingjing: Let me guess, people got curious about what the words meant.
京晶:让我来猜一下,人们开始对这个新词的意思很好奇。
Mark: Exactly. So, people thought the word was a kind of test. No wonder it has that meaning now.
马克:非常正确。所以,人们就认为这个词是某种测试。现在它有这个意思就不奇怪了。
Jingjing: That's a cool story. What's the second one?
京晶:这个故事很酷啊。第二个词是什么?
Mark: It's the word clue. It comes from an ancient Greek story of Theseus, who had to walk into the center of a big maze. He used a ball of yarn to make sure he could get back out. In Greek, a ball of yarn is called a clew.
马克:是clue(线索)这个词。它出自于一个古希腊英雄Theseus忒修斯的故事,他不得不进入一个大迷宫的中心。他用了一团纱线来确保自己能走出迷宫。在希腊语中,一团纱线就被称为线索。
Jingjing: And now a clue is something that helps people solve a mystery. That makes sense.
京晶:那如今,线索一词是帮助人们解开谜团的东西。这说得通。


New words : 习语短语
mesmerize 施催眠术 迷住 使着迷
to make someone fascinated (interested and focused on something)
hypnotize 对(某人)施催眠术 使(某人)着迷;迷住
to make someone very relaxed, so that they will more easily remember earlier parts of their life or take the doctor's suggestions
obscure 无名的;鲜为人知的
not commonly used nowadays

2


Dialogue 2
Jingjing: Mark, you said there were four word origins from the article you read. What were the other two?
京晶:马克,你说你读的文章里有说到四个字的词源。另外两个是什么?
Mark: They're both about public transportation. Do you know the origin of the word bus?
马克:它们都是关于公共交通的。你知道单词bus的起源吗?
Jingjing: That comes from omnibus, doesn't it? I'm not sure how the word came to be used for a large vehicle that carries lots of passengers, though.
京晶:那是来自于公共汽车omnibus,不是吗?不过,我不确定这个词如何开始被用来形容一辆搭载乘客的大型交通工具。
Mark: The story is about a guy surnamed Baudry who ran a bathhouse in France. To get more business, he gave people rides in a vehicle he called an omnibus.
马克:这个故事讲的是一个姓鲍德里的人,他在法国经营一家澡堂。为了做更多生意,他搭载人们乘坐一种他称之为“omnibus”的交通工具。
Jingjing: Yeah, omnibus is Latin, meaning: for all.
京晶:对了,omnibus是拉丁语,意思是:面向所有人的。
Mark: Right. So, as the omnibus became more popular, and people started taking it regularly, not just to go to the bathhouse, they called it a bus for short.
马克:正解。因此,随着公共马车越来越受欢迎,人们开始定期乘坐它,但不仅仅是去澡堂,大家把它简称为bus。
Jingjing: Now bus can be a verb or a noun. That's an interesting origin story.
京晶:现在bus既可以做动词,也可以是名词。这是一个有趣的词源故事。
Mark: Alright. So, the next word is taxi. Believe it or not, it comes from the time before motorized vehicles.
马克:好吧。下一个单词是taxi. 信不信由你,它出现的时代比机动车还早。
Jingjing: Wasn't it always a car with a driver that could be hired for a short ride? Or was it also used for horse-drawn carriages?
京晶:它不是一直都指的是有司机的还可以短程租用一段的汽车吗?或者也用于马车?
Mark: Well, it comes from an invention. A German named Wilhelm Bruhn made the first taximeter. It measured time and distance.
马克:嗯,它来自一项发明。德国人威廉·布鲁恩制作了世界上第一个计价器。它能测量时间和距离。
Jingjing: Again, let me guess: vehicles were called taximeters?
京晶:那让我再猜猜看:装了这个机器的交通工具就被叫做taximeters计价器?
Mark: Close. They were called taximeter cabs, then taxicabs, then finally taxis.
马克:非常接近了。他们被称为计价器出租车,然后合并缩略成taxicabs,最后成了taxis .
Jingjing: Again, taxi can be a verb or a noun nowadays. It's good to know word origins. I'm not sure I'll remember them all, though.
京晶:同样的,如今taxi也是可作动词或名词。知道单词的起源挺好的,不过,我不确定我能否全记住。
Mark: I bet you will, especially quiz.
马克:我敢说你能,特别是quiz。
Jingjing: Why, because you'll ask me about it later, to test me?
京晶:为啥?因为你稍后就会来问我,给我一个小测试?
Mark: Yeah, I'll give you a quiz. Ha ha.
马克:好吧,我来考考你吧。哈哈。


New words : 习语短语
omnibus 公共的
Latin, meaning for all or for everyone
surname 姓氏
a person's family name
taximeter 计价器;车费指示器
a machine that measures time spent and distance travelled in a vehicle

重点单词   查看全部解释    
invention [in'venʃən]

想一想再看

n. 发明,发明物,虚构,虚构物

 
yarn [jɑ:n]

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n. 纱

 
transportation [.trænspə'teiʃən]

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n. 运输,运输系统,运输工具

联想记忆
relaxed [ri'lækst]

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adj. 放松的, 松懈的,随意的 relax的过去式(

 
solve [sɔlv]

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v. 解决,解答

 
vehicle ['vi:ikl]

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n. 车辆,交通工具,手段,工具,传播媒介

联想记忆
obscure [əb'skjuə]

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adj. 微暗的,难解的,不著名的,[语音学]轻音的

联想记忆
mystery ['mistəri]

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n. 神秘,秘密,奥秘,神秘的人或事物

 
curious ['kjuəriəs]

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adj. 好奇的,奇特的

联想记忆
measured ['meʒəd]

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adj. 量过的,慎重的,基于标准的,有韵律的 动词me

 

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