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And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语《词汇掌故》节目。
Red is nature's color of warning.
红色是大自然发出警告的颜色。
Animals and plants with bright red colors are sometimes dangerous for other animals to eat.
鲜红色的动植物有时对其他捕食动物来说是危险的。
Many Western countries also use red color for warnings.
许多西方国家也使用红色来表示警告。
Red lights at train and road crossings warn drivers to stop.
火车和十字路口的红灯警告司机停车。
Red, as well as yellow, road signs tell people to be careful in dangerous areas.
红色和黄色的路标都告诉人们在危险地区要小心。
And if you see a red flag on an ocean beach, that means the water is too dangerous for swimming.
如果你在海滩上看到一面红旗，那意味着这片水域太危险了，不能游泳。
That brings us to today's expression: a red flag.
这就引出了今天的短语：危险信号。
If we say something is a red flag, that means we think it will likely cause problems or lead to danger.
如果我们说某事物是危险信号，意思是我们认为它可能会引起问题或导致危险。
Let's hear how this expression is used in conversation:
我们来听一下这个短语在对话中是如何使用的：
Did you know that Mary has a new boyfriend?
你知道玛丽有新男朋友了吗？
Yes, but I'm kind of surprised at her choice.
是的，但我对她的选择感到有点惊讶。
Why?
为什么？
Well, he doesn't have a job, for one thing. And he was dismissed from his last two jobs.
首先，他没有工作。他在前两份工作中都被解雇了。
Ooo. That seems like a red flag.
哦。这似乎是一个危险信号。
It is a red flag, if you ask me!
要我说，这就是一个危险信号！
In this example, the speakers think the boyfriend's work experience should be a warning to Mary.
在这个例子中，说话者认为男友的工作经历应该是对玛丽的一个警告。
We can also say something is a bad sign to mean the same thing as a red flag.
我们也可以说某事物是一个危险信号，a bad sign与a red flag的意思相同。
Many states in the United States have laws that try to prevent dangerous people from having guns.
美国许多州都有试图阻止危险人物拥有枪支的法律。
These laws are commonly called red flag laws.
这些法律通常被称为红旗法案。
When someone expresses concern or a warning over something, we say the person raises a red flag.
当有人对某事表示担忧或提出警告时，我们说这个人发出了危险信号。
For example, if people worry that a leader is making bad decisions, they might say those decisions are raising red flags.
例如，如果人们担心一位领导将会做出糟糕的决定，他们可能会说这些决定发出了危险信号。
As you can see, we use the expression red flag in many situations.
正如你所看到的，我们在许多情况下使用red flag这个短语。
We use it mainly to warn about other people's behavior rather than natural dangers.
我们主要用它来警告别人的行为而不是自然危险。
Unless you are at the beach.
除非你在海滩上。
In that case, a red flag means you should stay out of the water!
在这种情况下，a red flag的意思是你应该远离水！
See if you can find the use of raise a red flag in this VOA Learning English article about airport security.
看看你是否能在VOA慢速英语的这篇关于机场安全的文章中找到raise a red flag（发出危险信号）的用法。
You can also hear more examples of red flag in this English in a Minute video from VOA Learning English.
在VOA慢速英语的《一分钟英语》栏目中，你也可以听到更多有关red flag（危险信号）的例子。
Keep learning new expressions with Words and Their Stories!
请继续收听《词汇掌故》节目，学习新的短语！
Until next time, I'm Andrew Smith.
下次见，我是安德鲁·史密斯。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
