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Hello and welcome to the VOA Learning English program Words and Their Stories.

Every language has common words that are used in uncommon ways. Today we focus on the word "bridge."

A bridge is a structure that provides passage over something -- such as a river, train tracks, a highway or a deep, wide opening in the ground.

The word "bridge" can also be used to join things you can't touch, such as cultures or activities. For example, you could say music and art can bridge cultures. And language can be a bridge between two people.

But let's get back to the bridges you can actually cross – or drive a tank over.

Bridges often play an important role in warfare.

An army that attacks across a river may decide to burn the bridge after crossing it. By burning the bridge, the army prevents its enemy from using it.

However, the army also destroys its own chance to go back across the river. Burning a bridge leaves the army open to attack.

The expression "burning your bridges" means to act in a way that destroys any chance of returning to the way things were. When you burn your bridges, there is no going back.

Let's put this expression in the workplace. You decide to take a new job. Now, you must tell your boss you are leaving your current job. During that conversation you tell him how much you hated your job, how much you hated working for him and how glad you are to finally leave.

You have just burned your bridge. You have destroyed your relationship with that boss. If things do not work out with your new job, there is no way on earth your old boss will take you back. Ever. And you can also forget about any good recommendation.

Burning your professional bridges can be foolish or it can be a bold career move. It is even bolder if you do it in a public manner.

For example, in 2014 a woman named Charlo Greene was a reporter on a news television show in Anchorage, Alaska. One night she reported on a business called the Alaska Cannabis Club. "Cannabis" is another word for marijuana. Marijuana is currently illegal in most U.S. states.

At the end of her report, Greene announced that she owned the Alaska Cannabis Club. She told the audience that she wanted to spend her time fighting for "freedom and fairness, which begins with legalizing marijuana here in Alaska."

Then she cursed, said she quit her job as a reporter and walked off camera.

Charlo Greene completely burned her bridges with that news station and probably every news station. No traditional media organization would ever take her back or give her a good job recommendation.

But Greene is okay with that.

She said later in an interview that if she quit by politely giving two weeks' notice, nobody would know about the issue she really cares about.

This brings us to another common expression using bridge: "I will cross that bridge when I come to it." This expression means to not worry about a future problem, but rather deal with it when it happens.

When it came to dealing with the problem of quitting her job, Charlo Greene certainly crossed that bridge when she came to it.

And then she burnt it to the ground.

In fact, people now mix these two expressions in a joking way. They say, "I'll burn that bridge when I come to it."

And that's Words and Their Stories. I'm Anna Matteo.

重点解析

1.play an important role 起到重要作用
But he added: "I believe FORIN will play an important role in disaster research."
但是他补充道：“我认为FORIN将在灾害研究中起到重要作用。”

2.burn one's bridge 破釜沉舟
Since Mary's father would not give his consent to her marriage to the man, she decided to burn her bridges and eloped with him.
因为玛丽的父亲不会同意她和那男人结婚，她决定破釜沉舟，和那男人私奔了。

3.in a public manner 公开地
But your open letter, in expressing the break in a public manner, has led to a split between the democratizing church rights and civil rights movements.
但你的公开信，将教会维权与维权运动的民运化的分歧，以公开决裂的形式表达了出来。

4.cross that bridge when we come to it 船到桥头自然直
I don't know what to do next. We will cross that bridge when we come to it.
我不知道接下来做什么，船到桥头自然直嘛！

参考译文

欢迎收听VOA学英语《词汇掌故》节目。

每种语言都有些被用于不常见方式的常用词。今天我们来关注桥梁这个单词。

桥梁是一种在河流、铁道、高速公路或深沟上方提供通道的建筑。

桥梁还能用于连接一些触碰不到的东西，例如文化或活动。例如，你可以说音乐和艺术能够搭起文化的强梁。而语言能够成为两人之间的桥梁。

但是让我们回到可以真正走过或驾驶坦克通过的桥梁。

桥梁常常在战争中发挥重要作用。

越过河流进攻的军队可能会决定在通过桥梁后烧毁它。该军队通过烧毁桥梁来防止其敌人使用它。

然而，该军队也断了自己的退路。烧毁桥梁让这支军队易受攻击。

破釜沉舟(burning your bridges）意思是断掉退路。当你破釜沉舟时就没有回头路。

让我们把这种表达用于工作场所。你决定接受一项新的工作。现在，你必须告诉老板你要辞去现在的工作。在那次谈话中，你告诉他你有多烦你的工作，你有多烦给他卖命，你有多高兴终于可以辞职了。

你刚刚断了自己的后路。你已经毁掉了你和老板的关系。如果你新工作的事情没有解决，你的旧老板再无可能重新用你，而且你也不用妄想会有好的推荐信。

断掉你的职业退路非常愚蠢，也是一种大胆的职业行为。如果你公开这么做就更是大胆了。

例如，查洛·格林女士2014年是阿拉斯加州安克雷奇市一家电视新闻节目的记者。有一天晚上，她报道了一家名为阿拉斯加大麻俱乐部的公司。大麻在美国大多数州是非法的。

格林在报道的末尾宣布阿拉斯加大麻俱乐部归她所有。她告诉观众，她想用毕身时间去争取“自由和公正，而这些从让大麻在阿拉斯加合法化开始。”

然后她大骂，表示她辞去记者工作，然后走出镜头。

格林完全断掉了自己在这家新闻台，甚至是每家新闻台的后路。没有传统媒体组织会再用她，或给她一份好的工作推荐信。
但是格林不在乎这些。

她随后在接受采访时表示，如果她提前两周通知从而礼貌地辞职，没人会知道她真正在乎的问题。

这让我们谈到了另一句常用表达，船到桥头自然直（I will cross that bridge when I come to it）。这句表达的意思是不要担心将来的问题，到了事情发生时就搞定它。

当到了处理她辞职问题的时候，格林肯定是船到桥头自然直。

然后她断掉了自己的退路。

实际上，人们常常用戏虐的方式将这两种表达混用。他们说，当我到了桥头，我把桥烧毁了。

以上就是本期VOA学英语《词汇掌故》节目的全部内容。我是安娜·马特奥。