(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
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In the early days of human history, people survived by hunting wild animals, or gathering wild grains and plants for food. Then, some people learned to grow crops and raise animals for food. They were the first farmers.
Since the sixteenth century, the word farm has meant agricultural land. But a much older meaning of the word farm is linked to economics. The word farm comes from the Latin word, firma, which means an unchanging payment.
Experts say the earliest meaning of the English word farm was a yearly payment made as a tax or rent.
Farmers in early England did not own their land. They paid every year to use agricultural lands.
In England, farmers used hawthorn trees along the edges of property. They called this row of hawthorns a hedge.
Hedging fields was how careful farmers marked and protected them.
Soon, people began to use the word hedging to describe steps that could be taken to protect against financial loss.
Hedging is common among s who make large bets. A gambler bets a lot of money on one team. But, to be on the safe side, he also places a smaller bet on the other team, to reduce a possible loss.
You might say that someone is hedging his bet when he invests in several different kinds of businesses. One business may fail, but likely not all.
Farmers know that it is necessary to make hay while the sun shines.
Hay has to be cut and gathered when it is dry. So a wise farmer never postpones gathering his hay when the sun is shining. Rain may soon appear.
A wise person copies the farmer. He works when conditions are right.
A new mother, for example, quickly learns to try to sleep when her baby is quiet, even in the middle of the day. If the mother delays, she may lose her chance to sleep. So, the mother learns to make hay while the sun shines.
Beans are a popular farm crop. But beans are used to describe something of very little value in the expression, not worth a hill of beans. The expression is often used today.
You could say, for example, that a bad idea is not worth a hill of beans.
Language expert Charles Earle Funk said the expression was first used almost seven hundred years ago. He said Robert of Gloucester described a message from the King of Germany to King John of England as altogether not worth a bean.
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This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Marilyn Rice Christiano. Maurice Joyce was the narrator. I'm Shirley Griffith.
译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载
词汇解释
1.hawthorn n.[植]山楂
The two girls always play together under the large hawthorn.
那两个女孩经常一起在那棵大山楂树下玩耍。
2.hedge n. 对冲, 套购保值, 抛买
In a shrewd hedging of bets, Microsoft is also working on a distributed OS, a research endeavor dubbed Project Millennium.
微软公司为避免损失也聪明地下了赌注，正在研究一种分布式操作系统，即代号叫“千年世纪项目”的研究项目。
3.gambler n. 赌徒；投机商人
He had never been afraid of failure: he was a gambler, ready to go off somewhere else and start all over again.
他从不害怕失败：他是个冒险家，随时准备去别的地方重新开始。
内容解析
1.But, to be on the safe side, he also places a smaller bet on the other team, to reduce a possible loss.
on the safe side 安全可靠，稳妥
Let's take more money than we think we'll need, just to be on the safe side.
为稳妥起见，咱们带的钱要比想象中所需要的多一些。
Although the sun was shining,I took an umbrella to be on the safe side.
虽然有太阳，但我仍带了伞以防万一。
2.You could say, for example, that a bad idea is not worth a hill of beans.
a hill of beans 少量；小事；毫无价值
It's not worth a hill of beans , ie It is worth very little.
这一钱不值。
Jack wasn't a hill of beans to her.
杰克并非对她一文不值。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语“成语典故”。
在人类早期历史上，人是靠捕猎野生动物、或收集谷物或植物作为食物的。然后，有些人学会种植作物，饲养动物为食。他们就是最初的农民。
自16世纪起，farm这个词就表示农田。但farm更早的意思与经济有关，这个词来自拉丁词汇firma，意思是固定支出。
专家说，英语词汇farm最早是指作为税收或租金的年费。
英格兰早期农民没有自己的土地，他们每年为使用农田支付费用。
英格兰农民在土地边缘种上山楂，他们称成排的山楂为篱笆。
用篱笆围住田地说明农民标记或保护自己的土地。
很快，人们就用hedging这个词来表示为保护财经损失而采取的步骤。
巨额投注的赌家经常会两面投注，赌徒会在一方押下大赌注，但为了安全起见，他还会在另一方押下少量堵住，以便减少损失。
如果有人在各种不同的生意上投资，就可以说他在两面下注。一个生意可能会失败，但不可能每个都失败。
农民知道天晴的时候弄干草(把握时机)是必要的。
草必须在干燥的时候收割，所以明智的农民不会在天晴的时候推迟收集干草。因为可能很快就下雨了。
聪明的人效仿农民，他会在条件合适的时候做事。
比如，初为人母者会在宝宝安静的时候很快学会睡觉，甚至是中午。如果妈妈耽误了，她可能就失去睡觉的机会。所以，妈妈必须抓住时机。
大豆是一种常见的作物，但beans在not worth a hill of beans中表示价值很小的东西，这个用法今天还很常用。
比如你会说，那个坏主意一文不值。
语言学家芬克说，这个表达最早使用是在大约700年前。他说，格洛斯特的罗伯特称德国国王带给英国约翰王的消息一文不值。
这里是美国之音慢速英语词汇典故。
