美語訓練班第90課:在家工作的好處 旅行計劃
A: 歡迎大家來到這期的美語訓練班! 我是小北!
B: 我是Mike! What are we going to teach today, Xiaobei?
A: 今天，我們要和大家聊聊旅行計劃，看看在家工作的好處，還要告訴你怎麼說發瘋。
B: But first, let's learn a word!
Learn A Word 1663 unconditional
今天我們要學的詞是 unconditional, unconditional is spelled unconditional, unconditional. Unconditional 無條件的。The U.S. Senate passed a resolution calling for Cuba's immediate and unconditional release of Alan Gross, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison. 美國國會參議院通過決議，要求古巴政府立即無條件釋放被判入獄15年的艾倫.格羅斯。1970年，佛羅里達州一個16歲的女孩因爲藥物反應進入昏迷狀態，一直沒有醒來。42年間，她的家人一直陪伴在她身邊，直到她上星期去世。This is undoubtedly a true testimony of unconditional love. 這無疑是無條件愛的真實體現。好的，今天我們學習的詞是 unconditional, unconditional, unconditional...
A: unconditional love,真讓人感動啊! 在現在這個是故的社會中，很多事情都講條件。It's hard to find unconditional support or unconditional friendship.
B: Speaking of friendship, I went to a highschool reunion last week. I had expected to meet some of my old friends and talk about the funny things we did in the old days.
A: 對啊，結果呢？
B: The reunion turned into a brawl!
A: 啊？同學聚會變成了吵架大會？What happened?
B: One guy confessed after a few drinks that back in high school he actually stole another guy's girlfriend.
A: 原來是因爲爭風吃醋啊。結果呢？
B: Well, we can use the phrase from the following program to describe the reaction of the other guy. Let's listen.
Words and Idioms Go Berserk
美國習慣用語第813講
有時候，人急了會做出非常過激的反應。今天早上在樓下餐廳，一個男的不小心撞在了一位女士的身上，托盤裏的東西撒了女的一身。雖然他連忙道歉，但那個女的還是不依不饒，大叫着要找律師，把那個男的告上法庭，周圍的人都覺得有些過份。在英語裏，這就叫 go berserk.
M: Go berserk. Berserk is spelled berserk. GoBerserk. Go berserk.
Go berserk 這個習慣用語是發瘋的意思，而且往往是以瘋狂、粗暴的形式表現出來。要形容今天早上我在餐廳裏看見的那位女士， go berserk 這個詞簡直是再恰當不過的了。她本來不用發那麼大火的，完全沒有必要因爲這點兒小事 go berserk.
在下面這個例子裏，一場舞蹈比賽的觀衆對比賽結果做出了強烈的反響，讓我們聽聽其中一個“粉絲”是怎麼說的。
M: "After our favorite couple finished their dance, everyone stood up and applauded. No one had ever seen such a perfect performance. But the judges gave them scores which put them in second place. Well, the crowd WENT BERSERK. It took security guards to restore order."
這個人說，我們最喜歡的一對參賽選手錶演完畢後，全場起立，掌聲雷動。大家從來沒有看過如此完美的表演。但是評委給他們打的分，卻讓他們排在了第二位，場下的觀衆簡直氣炸了，直到保安人員進場，才恢復了秩序。Went berserk? 我怎麼從來沒遇到過這種情況呢？我最愛看的就是真人秀。現在的真人秀五花八門，不僅讓著名舞蹈演員、歌星，還讓設計師、廚師，甚至是髮型師現場一比高低，雖然那些號稱專家的評委有時打分也不公平，但是 The audience has never GONE BERSERK. 觀衆從來沒有爲此而不依不饒。當然還有一種可能，就是節目是提前錄製的，觀衆鬧場的部分播出前被減掉了。好的，讓我們再來聽聽上面那段話。
M: "After our favorite couple finished their dance, everyone stood up and applauded. No one had ever seen such a perfect performance. But the judges gave them scores which put them in second place. Well, the crowd WENT BERSERK. It took security guards to restore order."
大家可以想象，go berserk 這個習慣用語不僅可以用來形容人，而且可以用來指事物。讓我們一起來聽聽下面這個例子。
M: "When I tried to use my laptop, the cursor began moving all over the screen by itself. Then it clicked on several documents without my ever touching it. So I unplugged the mouse, cleaned it, and plugged it back in. Now the computer isn't GOING BERSERK anymore."
這個人說，今天我的手提電腦好像發了瘋，光標自己在屏幕上到處亂跑，我根本沒碰它，它卻自做主張地打開了好幾份文件。我只好把鼠標拆下來，清理乾淨，再插回去，電腦才停止發瘋。]
這裏說 the laptop went berserk 意思就是電腦不聽指揮，好像發了瘋一樣。同樣的，go berserk 也可以用來形容動物。我曾經讀過一本暢銷小說，講的是馬戲團裏的一頭大象跑了，出去闖了不少禍。至於它爲什麼會 go berserk, 我現在已經記不清楚了。好的，讓我們再聽一下上面的例句。
M: "When I tried to use my laptop, the cursor began moving all over the screen by itself. Then it clicked on several documents without my ever touching it. So I unplugged the mouse, cleaned it, and plugged it back in. Now the computer isn't GOING BERSERK anymore."
大家可能會問，這種說法是從哪來的？有人說，Go Berserk 最早是指古代的北歐勇士，他們以英勇善戰著稱。這些人打仗不穿盔甲，只穿一件熊皮做的單衣，叫 Berserkar. Go berserk 這個習慣用語由此而來。
好的，這次美國習慣用語]就到此結束了。我是楊晨，我是 Douglas Johnson。這次節目的製作人是胡小玲。謝謝各位的收聽。
B: Yep. The guy who got dumped by his girlfriend went Berserk and the whole reunion was ruined.
A: 唉，都是陳年舊事了，何必動怒呢？ They should let bygones be bygones.
B: I agree. Let's lighten things up a bit and listen to a guy's plan for a vacation!
禮節美語Vacation I
Jerry跟同事Paula和Will打招呼，注意聽他們三人週末都幹了些什麼。
Jerry: Hey, Paula. Hi, Will. Did you have a good weekend?
Paula: Yeah... I checked out that new 3D movie. It's amazing what they can do with technologies these days!
Will: I went mountain biking with a couple of friends. We worked up a good sweat and had a good time. How about you, Jerry?
J: Actually, I spent most of the weekend looking at travel brochures.
Paula週末去看了新出的三維電影，3D movie. Will 跟幾個朋友一起去騎山地車，山地車在英語裏叫 mountain bike，可以是名詞，在上面那段話裏是做動詞用，Will went mountain biking. Will 還說，他們出了一身汗，玩得特別開心。work up a sweat 是一種習慣用法，指鍛鍊身體或從事體力活動很投入，可以是真的出了一身汗，也可以形容特別賣力。Jerry呢，一個週末大部分時間都在看旅遊宣傳材料 travel brochures. 看來他是要休假嘍？Paula問：
P: Really? Are you going somewhere?
J: Well, starting on the 20th of this month, I'm taking a fiveweek vacation.
W: Five weeks!! No way!
P: Get out of here! How did you swing that?
J: Actually, the company owes me about four months' worth of vacation time. I've been working here since 2002 and haven't taken a vacation yet. I've got oodles of comp time as well.
W: Sorry, what's comp time?
Jerry要休五個星期的假，Will和Paula都不敢相信，問Jerry, How did you swing that? to swing it 是一種口語裏非正式的說法，意思是說服別人，達到自己的目的。Jerry解釋說，他從2002年來這家公司工作，就一直沒休過假，現在公司欠他四個月的假期，Jerry說，另外，I've got oodles of comp time as well. oodles is spelled oodles, oodles, oodles of something 也是一種非正式的說法，相當於 a lot of something 很多，Jerry說自己除了四個月的假期，還攢了很多 comp time. Will是新畢業的大學生，不知道什麼是comp time. Paula解釋說，
P: The "comp" is short for compensation. Basically he means overtime pay.
J: Yeah, but some companies like ours don't really pay overtime.... they give you extra vacation hours instead. If you add up all the vacation time and comp hours I have, I have a lot of time.
P: When I was working for a company in Germany they had super short work weeks and very liberal overtime rules.
Paula解釋說，comp, comp, comp 是 compensation的簡寫，其實就是 overtime 加班，有些公司不發加班費，而是把員工加班的時間摺合成假期，補償給員工。另外，歐洲和美國的情況也有很大的區別，Paula說，她以前曾經在德國的一家公司工作過，they had super short work weeks and very liberal overtime rules. 那家公司不僅工作時間短，而且加班的規定也 very liberal, 很鬆。
A: 唉! 要去旅行一次真不容易，平時還要攢假，comp time, vacation hours，要加班加點才能獲得的一點獎勵。
B: That's why we envy some of the European countries where the work weeks are short and overtime rules are liberal.
A: 好吧，咱們還是繼續把對話聽完，看看Jerry到底打算怎麼渡假。
禮節美語Vacation II
Jerry跟同事Paula和Will聊天，說到telecommuting遠程上班。Paula說：
Paula: Twenty years ago, many people thought that by this time, no one would be working in offices and everybody would have a more flexible schedule.
W: Well, that certainly hasn't happened.
J: Not it could still be the wave of the future. Then again, you know the famous saying: "Old habits die hard." Most bosses like to keep tabs on their employees and they think the best way to do that is by having them come into an office.
Paula說，20年前，很多人都以爲社會發展到今天，大家都不用去辦公室，可以在家上班了，and everyone would have a more flexible schedule. 大家都有更靈活的工作時間，但這種情況顯然沒有出現。Jerry 說，It could still be the wave of the future. the wave of the future 意思是未來的發展趨勢。不過，老話說得好，"Old habits die hard." 積習難改。Jerry說，Most bosses like to keep tabs on their employees 大多數老闆都想嚴格控制員工，to keep tabs on someone or something 是密切注意某人某事的意思。要想控制員工，最好的辦法當然就是讓他們來辦公室上班，在老闆眼皮底下工作。
J: I have to say I'm looking forward to my long vacation. I think you need at least three or four weeks of doing nothing before you can truly relax.
W: I thought you said you had months and months of vacation time available. Why are you only taking five weeks off?
J: Five weeks was the best I could negotiate with my boss. She says she knows I've earned the time, but she begged me not to take more than five weeks.
P: Five weeks should be long enough! Who knows? Maybe you'll get bored and come back early!
J: (laugh) I doubt it.
Jerry雖然有好幾月的假期，但老闆最多隻讓他休五個星期， 看來他一定是很能幹。Paula開玩笑說，五個星期也足夠了，搞不好用不了五個星期Jerry就覺得實在無聊，提前回來上班了呢！Jerry休假準備到哪裏去呢？
W: So, where are you going?
J: I can't decide if I want to go with a more relaxing trip, or if I want to explore cities.
W: If you were to choose the more relaxing option, where would you go?
J: I'm thinking of the island of Bali in Indonesia. I hear it's a very relaxing and cheap vacation destination.
P: And what's your second option?
J: I was thinking of traveling around Europe, starting with Paris. I could take trains and visit other nearby major European cities as well. It's a tough call.
W: I'm so jealous of you!
P: Me too! Don't forget to bring us back some souvenirs!
J: I won't!
Jerry說，他有兩種選擇，一個是印度尼西亞的巴厘島，去那裏更放鬆 more relaxing, 另外一種選擇是去歐洲，第一站是巴黎，然後可以從巴黎坐火車到其他歐洲城市去玩。Jerry 說，It's a tough call. 意思是他很難在這兩種選擇之間做出決定。Will 和 Paula 都很羨慕 Jerry, 提醒他一定要帶 souvenirs 紀念品回來送給他們。
A: 原來Jerry要去歐洲，而且要坐火車遊遍歐洲的各大城市，真夠爽的!
B: Yeah. That's my dream vacation too. But Europe is expensive. I need to start saving right now. My first goal is to save enough money for an air ticket!
A: 說到坐飛機，咱們先來學一個很有用的詞!
Learn A Word inflight
今天我們要學的詞是 inflight, inflight is spelled in, in, flight, flight, flight, inflight. Inflight 飛行中的。比如：inflight meals 飛行餐點；inflight movies 飛行途中播放的電影。A number of airlines in the U.S. are now offering inflight WiFi service to passengers. 美國現在有好幾家航空公司都向乘客提供飛行途中無線上網的服務。In August, the FAA released a study of inflight use of cell phones in a few European countries that found no direct incidents of interference. 美國聯邦航空局八月份公佈了一份在幾個歐洲國家進行的對飛行途中使用手機的研究結果，沒有發現直接影響飛行信號的情況。好的，今天我們學習的詞是 inflight, inflight, inflight...
A: I have to say a lot of airliner's inflight service is not laudable.
B: I know what you mean. But still, flying is your only option if you want to go to a faraway place.
A: 對啊。另外，去外國旅遊最好還是要事先了解一下人家當地的風俗，不然很可能去了之後不光外語聽不懂，禮節也不懂，這可是要出醜的。
B: And the idiom we'll teach in the following program can describe such a situation! Let's listen
Words and Idioms 814 Be Greek to Me
美國習慣用語第814講
我花了整個一個週末的時間，終於把地下室清理乾淨了。你肯定想象不到，我找出了多少零七八碎的舊東西，其中不知道哪來的一本天體物理學課本，裏面的公式對於我來說，簡直就是天書。不過，這倒讓我找到了靈感，今天我們學習的習慣用語就是：
M: Be Greek to me. Greek is spelled Greek. BeGreektome. Be Greek to me.
大家都知道， Greek 是希臘語的意思。Be Greek to me 這個習慣用語的意思就是完全無法理解，換句話說，就是中文裏說的天書。這下你明白了吧，我對天體物理學一竅不通，所以那些公式對於我來說，就是天書。It's Greek to me.
中文說，隔行如隔山，很多專業都有自己的術語，外行人聽上去自然會一頭霧水。讓我們聽聽下面這個人買房子的經歷。
M: "Finding a house to buy was complicated enough. But that's nothing compared to all the paperwork my realtor is asking me to sign. I'm looking at nearly a hundred pages of official documents full of terms I've never seen before. It's all GREEK TO ME."
這個人說，找到合適的房子已經夠麻煩的了，但這跟經紀人讓我簽字的那些文件相比，簡直就是小巫見大巫。我要在一百來頁的正式文件上簽字，雖然裏面說的是什麼我完全搞不懂。
我也有同感。每次要在正式文件上簽字，我都會很緊張，因爲文件上到處都是術語。It's Greek to me. 另外一件讓我頭痛的事就是地方口音。就在幾天前，我接到了一個推銷產品的電話，推銷員一口美國南部口音，雖然她重複了好幾遍，但我就是聽不懂她在說些什麼。It was Greek to me. 好的，讓我們再來聽聽上面那段話。
M: "Finding a house to buy was complicated enough. But that's nothing compared to all the paperwork my realtor is asking me to sign. I'm looking at nearly a hundred pages of official documents full of terms I've never seen before. It's all GREEK TO ME."
說起電話，不知道聽衆裏有多少人使用過“即時通信”instant messaging? 我侄女每天都不停地在手機小小的鍵盤上敲打，給朋友發短信，可說來慚愧，我發短信的次數最多不超過五次。這種代溝給很多家長帶來了困擾。讓我們一起來聽聽下面這位父親的牢騷。
M: "What was so important that our daughter was always exchanging messages with her friends? Finally, I grabbed her cell phone to see for myself. But it's like she was writing in some kind of code. My wife couldn't figure it out either. It WAS ALL GREEK TO US."
這個人說，我女兒好像無時無刻不在給朋友發短信，這難道真的那麼重要嗎？最後，我拿起她的手機，要看看上面到底寫了些什麼。但她好像是在用密碼，我和太太根本看不懂。
沒錯，這些孩子們用的都是縮略語，比如LOL是laugh out loud太好笑了；BBL 是 be back later 一會兒見，還有 POTS 是 parents over the shoulder 有家長站在身後，意思是不方便。
不過，並非所有家長都象我這麼落伍，與時俱進的父母還是很多的，所有孩子們最好不要肆無忌憚。好的，讓我們再聽一下上面的例句。
M: "What was so important that our daughter was always exchanging messages with her friends? Finally, I grabbed her cell phone to see for myself. But it's like she was writing in some kind of code. My wife couldn't figure it out either. It WAS ALL GREEK TO US."
大家可能會問，這種說法是從哪裏來的？ It was Greek to me 這個習慣用語的歷史可以追溯到1599年莎氏比亞的名著凱撒大帝。在書中，他談到了一篇講話，很多聽衆都聽不懂，因爲講話用的是希臘語。It was Greek to them. 這個習慣用語由此而來。
好的，這次美國習慣用語]就到此結束了。
B: Speaking of not being able to communicate, I had firsthand experience at my high reunion.
A: 又是你的高中聚會？
B: Yep! After the brawl, we went to an after party and for some reason all my friends started talking about investing in stocks and securities. They spoke in jargons and it was Greek to me!
A: 看來你落伍啦! 趕快多看點財經新聞吧，這年頭，不懂點股市期貨啥的都不好意思和別人打招呼啦!
B： Are you also speaking from personal experience, Xiaobei?
B: 這你就別管啦! 好了，節目時間到了，聽衆朋友，咱們下次再見嘍!
A: See you next time!
