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Hello and welcome to Words and Their Stories!

Touch is one of our five senses. It is our only language before birth -- as we develop inside our mothers. Later, touch is important when we are young children learning about the world. On our program today, we explore expressions involving the word "touch."

Reunions are a great time to touch base or stay in touch with people in your past. Today, come with us as we visit an imaginary college reunion and learn some touchstone expressions.

It has been 10 years since a group of friends left college. Many of them have been out of touch with each other. But others have stayed in touch.

Now, let us listen as two friends talk about the party they are about to attend.

"Michael, hello! How are you?"

"Hi, Rachel! I'm well!"

"It has been a long time."

"It has! I can't believe we graduated college 10 years ago. It still feels like yesterday."

"I know. It will be so nice to see old friends. I've stayed in touch with many. Have you?"
"No. When I moved across the country, I lost touch with most of the people we graduated with."

"Well today, you can touch base with familiar faces. Speaking of familiar faces, there's Steve. He looks exactly the same."

"Steve. I wonder if he's still as touchy as he was in college. He would get angry over the smallest comment."

"I actually worked with him on a project recently and he's not that sensitive anymore. Marriage, however, is a touchy subject. His wife just left him. So, don't bring that up."

"Got it. Hey, look. Dana came! I haven't seen her in years!"

"I'm so happy to see her. She was in a really serious car accident last month."

"Really? That sounds awful."

"Yeah, it was touch-and-go for a couple of weeks. Doctors were not sure if she would survive."

"Oh, wow. I've been so out-of-touch with this group. Well, I'm glad to see she is OK. I cannot believe it -- Anthony came! I thought he was overseas."

"Anthony. I hope he has grown up in the past 10 years."

"What do you mean?"

"Anthony was always a little too touchy-feely - always touching women too much in a really strange way. I actually had to hit his hand once!"

"Well, I'm a guy. So, I never knew his touchy-feely side."

"That is a good thing. I see Natasha is here. She just wrote a book about her work as a midwife. Book reviewers have called it a touching story. She is said to have a magic touch when it comes to helping women give birth."

"Good for her. And I see she is still married to Gregory. He is also doing well -- in publishing, I believe. He is said to have the Midas touch. Every book deal he touches turns to gold."

"I could use a little of his Midas touch. With the economy in such a touchy state, it would be helpful if everything I touched turned to gold."

"I hear you. Well, let's join the party!"

And that brings us to the end of this Words and Their Stories.

Let us know what you think about the program. Write to us at LearningEnglish@voanews.com. I'm Anna Matteo.

重点解析

1.touch base with 与...保持联络
But I do have to touch base with the head of our loan department for his okay.
但是，我们还需要本行贷款部负责人的同意，所以还得跟他联系一下。

2.out of touch 失去联系
I've been out of touch with them for years.
我和他们失去联系已有多年了。

3.touchy subject 敏感的话题
Since it's a touchy subject, and I'm by no means an authority.
因为这是个敏感的话题，所以我没有采用权威的看法。

4.bring that up 提起某事
If you left your last job because you were fired, there's no need to bring that up.
如果你离开上一份工作是因为被炒了，就不需要提起这件事。

参考译文

大家好，欢迎来到《词汇典故》栏目！

触觉是我们五种感官之一。它是我们出生前唯一的语言--当我们在母亲体内成长时。之后，当我们在孩童时期解这个世界的时候，触觉是很重要的。在我们今天的节目当中，我们要探索一下与“touch”这个词有关的表达。

聚会是指一个和你以前认识的人保持联系的大好时机。今天，我们就幻想一个大学聚会的场景，一起来学习一些标准表达。

自一群朋友离开大学校园后，已有十年的时间了。他们中的许多人一直没有互相联系。但其他人则一直保持着联系。

现在，让我们听听两个朋友谈论他们将要参加的聚会。

“你好啊，迈克尔！最近怎么样？”

“你好，瑞秋！我很好！”

“好久不见了。”

“是啊，我简直不敢相信我们都毕业十年啦！感觉就像昨天一样。”

“我也觉得，看见老朋友真好啊。我一直和许多人都保持联系，你呢？”

“我没有，自从我搬家后，我和多数毕业的同学都没联系了。”

“那么，今天，你可以和熟人取得联系啦！说到熟人，史蒂夫在那里。他还是老样子。”

“史蒂夫。我想知道他是不是和大学时一样易怒。即使是微不足道的评论也会激怒他。”

“事实上，最近我因为一个项目和他在一起工作，他不再那么敏感了。但是，婚姻是个敏感话题。他的妻子离开他了。所以千万别提这茬。”

“我明白了。你看，黛娜来了！我好多年都没见过她啦！”

“我见到她很高兴。她上个月经历了很严重的车祸。”

“真的？听起来真可怕。”

“对，前几个星期真是死里逃生。医生都不确定她能否幸存。”

“哦，哇。我都好久没和这群人联系了。看到她没事我真是高兴。我不敢相信--安东尼来了！我以为他在国外。”

“安东尼。我希望在过去的十年，他会成熟些了。”

“你为什么这么说？”

“安东尼以前总是和女生卿卿我我的，总是用一种奇怪的方式过多地触摸女生。事实上，我曾经不得不打他手。”

“哦，我是个男生。所以不知道他有这么卿卿我我的一面。”

“太好了。我看到娜塔莎来了。她刚写了本关于自己作为助产士工作的书。书评家称其故事感人肺腑。据说她帮人生小孩时，好像有神奇的魔力。”

“她真是好样的。我看她还是嫁给了乔治。我认为乔治在出版业干得也不错。据说他有点石成金的本领。每笔他接触的书籍交易都点石成金了。”

“我要是有一点他点石成金的本领就好了。当下经济如此捉摸不定，如果我接触的所有事情都点石成金，那就太好了。”

“我明白。好了，我们去参加聚会吧！”

现在来到了本期《词汇掌故》节目的尾声了。

请让我们了解你对这个节目的看法。请通过 LearningEnglish@voanews.com 写信给我们。我是安娜·马特奥。