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Hello and welcome to Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning English!

Winters in parts of the United States can be cold and, at times, snowy. Sometimes violent storms with high winds combine with low temperatures to produce heavy snowfall. This creates blizzard conditions.

In 2016, a blizzard hit the Northeast U.S. It dropped record amounts of snow in many areas, including New York City and Washington, D.C.

A blizzard can be dangerous. But some people like them. Even people who do not like blizzards enjoy watching the falling snow.

When a heavy snow blankets an area, it turns everything magical.

It turns a dirty city into a winter wonderland overnight. A blanket of snow softens a city's hard edges. It quiets loud noises.

There is little or no traffic and no car horns sounding.

Everything is white, quiet and peaceful.

Often snow leads to school cancellations. That is the best news to a child's ears. I remember when I was a young schoolgirl. I would wake up very early and listen to the news to find out if my school was among those canceled.

Boys and girls put on their warmest clothes, and go outdoors for winter fun. A popular winter activity for children is sled riding. You find the closest snow-covered hill, grab a sled and head out for a day of ups and downs.

Another favorite activity is building a snowman or snow woman, depending on what clothing you have available.

Building a snow cave is also fun. If you have many friends in your neighborhood, you can build a snow fort and have a big snowball fight.

This brings us to a useful winter expression. A snowball is something that a child makes to throw at a friend in a fight. But as a verb, snowball is very different. When a problem snowballs, it grows very big, very quickly.

Close your eyes and imagine a ball of snow that starts off rolling down a hill very slowly. But with every roll, it picks up more and more snow until it becomes a big snowball rolling very fast down the hill.

You could say, "What began as a small problem snowballed into a huge problem very quickly."

Here is the verb "snowball" used in a dialogue:

"He seemed to be doing well in school but his test grades in mathematics dropped quickly."

"I'll tell you what happened. He missed a week of school and had lots of catching up to do in math. Things just snowballed from there. He is really behind now."

Many people love a big snowstorm, such as snow bunnies.

Snow bunnies are not cute little animals that hop around on the ground.

A snow bunny is a young, attractive female skier.

But many people do not like the cold and snow.

In fact, some Americans dislike cold weather so much they go to a warmer climate to escape it. These people are called snowbirds.

Snowbirds are like some birds in that they move to warmer climates in the winter months. Snowbirds flee northern states in the winter for the South or Southwest.

Most snowbirds are older Americans who have retired. They just simply cannot deal with the cold or harsh winters any longer.

So now when you hear someone use the words snowbird and snow bunny you will know they are not talking about woodland creatures.

Join us again next week for another Words and Their Stories. I'm Anna Matteo.

重点解析

1.sled riding 滑雪橇
Have a pillow fight, jump on the bed, go sled riding.
来一场枕头大战，跳着上床或者去滑雪橇。

2.head out for 开始做...
Take a hot shower to pre-warm your muscles or put your clothes in the dryer on hot for a few minutes then head out for your run.
洗个热水澡预热肌肉，或把衣服放在干衣机里加热数分钟，然后开始跑吧。

3.snow fort 雪城堡
I can sleep in my snow fort for a couple of days.
我可以在我的雪城堡里睡上几天。

参考译文

大家好，欢迎收听VOA学英语《词汇掌故》节目。

美国部分地区的冬天很冷，时常还会白雪皑皑。有时候强风和低温结合会产生大雪。从而造成暴风雪。

2016年，一场暴风雪袭击了美国东北部。包括纽约市和华盛顿特区在内的很多地区都创下了降雪量记录。

暴风雪可能会很危险。但是有些人喜欢暴风雪。即使不喜欢暴风雪的人们也喜欢看飘落的雪花。

当一场大雪覆盖某地区，会让一切都变得不可思议。

它会让一座肮脏的城市一夜之间变为冬季仙境。一层白雪会软化城市的棱角。让嘈杂的世界安静下来。

这时候车流量很小，也不再有汽车喇叭声。

所有一些都是洁白、安静和祥和的。

下雪经常会导致学校放假。这是孩子最想听到的消息。我记得当我还是一个年轻的女学生时，我很早就会起床听新闻，看我们学校是否在放假之列。

孩子们穿上他们最暖和的衣服，到户外去寻找冬天的乐趣。孩子们最喜欢的冬季活动是滑雪橇。你可以找到最近的白雪覆盖的山顶，抓住雪橇开始颠簸起伏的一天。

另一项喜欢的活动是堆雪人，雪人的性别取决于你有什么可用的衣物。

造雪洞也很有趣。如果你在你家附近有很多朋友，你可以造一个雪堡并且打一场大雪仗。

这给我们带来了一些有用的冬季表达。雪球是孩子们在雪仗中做的扔向朋友的东西。但是作为动词，snowball的意思完全不同。当一个问题发酵，它会迅速恶化。

闭上眼睛想象一下，一个雪球开始慢慢地滚下山。但是随着每一次滚动，它会吸收越来越多的雪，直到变成一个大雪球飞快地滚下山。

你可以说，“一开始的小问题会迅速恶化成一个大麻烦。”

以下是snowball作为动词在对话中应用：

“他似乎在学校表现不错，但是他的数学考试成绩迅速下降了。”

“我告诉你原因。他有一个星期没上学，在数学上有很多课要补。事情因此变得越来越糟，他确实落后了。”

很多人喜欢大暴风雪，例如初学滑雪的女人。

Snow bunnies不是指在地面上来会跳动的可爱的小动物。

Snow bunny是指年轻漂亮的女滑雪者。

但是很多人不喜欢寒冷和雪花。

实际上，一些美国人非常不喜欢寒冷气候，他们去到一个更温暖的环境来逃离寒冷。这些人被称之为雪候鸟。

雪候鸟就像那些在冬季迁徙到更温暖环境的鸟类。雪候鸟冬天从北部各州逃往南部或西南地区。

许多雪候鸟都是退休的美国老年人。他们只是没法应对寒冷或严冬。

所以，当你听到有人说snowbird或snow bunny时，你就会知道他们不是在讨论林地动物。

欢迎下周继续收听我们的《词汇掌故》节目。我是安娜·马特奥。