(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Now, Words and Their Stories, a program from VOA Learning English.
On this show, we try to explain common expressions used in American English.
Today, we talk about a small, silvery fish, called herring.
In some places, herring is a popular food. In the United States, herring is also part of a curious expression. We call unimportant information that is used to distract a "red herring."
For example, mystery writers often use red herrings as plot devices. In her book "The Sittaford Mystery," writer Agatha Christie gives many characters a reason for killing the rich Captain Trevelyan. But those reasons turn out to be red herrings. Christie used them to throw the reader off the scent of the real killer.
In a mystery, a red herring is something the writer presents as a clue, but actually isn't. Mysteries aren't the only places that use red herrings.
People who work in government or write about politics also commonly use this expression. Politicians are sometimes guilty of drawing people's attention away from serious issues by throwing out red herrings that they know will get a reaction.
People also criticize the media for creating red herrings – reports that are used to purposefully distract readers from more important issues.
As you can see, the expression red herring is useful ... but it is odd. How did herring turn red? And why does it mean something that is purposefully misleading?
The first part, about the color, is easy to answer.
Before modern transportation and cooling equipment, fish was difficult to ship to customers. It would go bad before reaching stores. So, people began curing fish for later use. They added salt to the fish or left it hanging in a smoky room. After this process, the fish skin would darken, changing to a reddish-brown color. In this way, some herring literally turned red.
In our examples today, however, a "red herring" means something that takes attention away from the real issue. How did it come to mean that? Well, language experts do not really agree.
Some word historians point out that these smoked fish have a very strong smell. So, they might have been used to train hunting and tracking dogs. They suggest the scent of red herring could trick a group of hunters and, more importantly, their dogs. In other words, red herring could throw even the best hunting dogs off track, making them likely to go in the wrong direction.
However, to other language experts, this explanation makes no sense. It suggests that people were following the hunters, secretly plotting to ruin their day. Who would do that? More importantly, there doesn't seem to be any written evidence to support that claim.
So, there are things we don't know about the origin of "red herring." But we do know this. From politics to the news to mysteries, we commonly use "red herring" in written English. But it can sound more formal and even a bit dated in everyday conversations.
There are some words that mean about the same thing but that are more commonly used in spoken English -- words like ploy, a ruse or subterfuge.
They all mean to trick someone or to send someone up the garden path, whether in search of stinky fish or anything else that is not the truth.
Now let's hear these tricky words in a short story.
Our story begins with a guy named Max. He works as a security guard at a famous museum. As a security guard, Max watches visitors to the museum as they come and go. He often wonders things about them. Where do they come from? Are they happily married? What do they do for a living?
One day, Max notices a very pretty woman visiting the exhibit he is guarding. He has seen her before. In fact, she often comes to see the rare jewelry exhibit – sometimes several times a week.
During one of these visits, she starts a conversation with Max. She asks if it is difficult being a security guard and if he ever gets bored. She introduces herself as Maria, a fashion designer.
When Maria comes to visit, she often talks with Max. "Maybe she likes me," he thinks.
Max thinks she is very interesting and wants to spend more time with her. During one of their talks at the museum, he finds out that she is studying Italian.
He lies and tells her he has always wanted to learn Italian. He is simply using Italian as a ruse. And it works! Max and Maria meet every Saturday afternoon in the museum garden to study Italian.
During the lessons, they also talk about themselves. Maria shares her dreams of one day showing her fashions in a museum. Max tells her many details about his security job. He jokes that it would be very easy to rob the museum.
Maria asks him if he could identify a robber. They describe what they think a robber would look like and laugh together.
Over the passing weeks, they learn more about each other. What Max doesn't learn, however, is that Maria is not as innocent as she looks.
Maria is actually an international jewel thief! Police from eight different countries have been searching for her the past two years!
Her latest goal is to steal the rare Black Diamond! This diamond is the most valuable diamond in the world and it is part of the exhibit that Max is guarding. All her attention on him was a subterfuge to learn more about the museum's security system.
One night after the museum closes, Maria makes her move. She enters the building using the security code that Max shared with her – his dog's name, Bones.
"When dealing with a beautiful woman, men can be so stupid," she laughs to herself.
She sneaks into the jewelry exhibit and destroys the movement-detecting alarms Max told her about. Then she walks up to the glass case protecting the Black Diamond and unlocks it with the key she stole from Max.
As she holds the diamond in her hands, she laughs, "The Black Diamond is mine!"
Just then the lights go on, an alarm sounds and a team of police run in.
They have caught her!
As a police officer handcuffs Maria, the lead police investigator comes into the room. Her surprise is so strong she is unable to speak.
It is Max.
He flashes his police badge and says, "Your stealing days are over, Maria! Or should I call you by your real name, Natasha Stealzolot!"
She yells, "I should've know learning Italian was just a ploy! How could I have been fooled by you, a simple police detective?!"
Max puts his badge back in his pocket and says, "You can think about that in prison where you'll be spending the next 15 years! Oh, and by the way, I speak perfect Italian. Arrivederci!"
And that's Words and Their Stories.
How many red herrings can you find in this story? Let us know in the Comments Section.
I'm Anna Matteo.
重点解析
1.written evidence 字据，书面证明
I think a credit instrument is a written evidence of the extension of a loan.
我认为信用工具就是发放贷款的书面证明。
2.fashion designer 时装设计师
Stella, 21, is at art school training to be a fashion designer.
斯特拉，21岁，就读于艺术系，正接受时装设计师的培训。
3.search for 搜索，搜寻;访求;追索
You can use a directory service to search for people on the Internet.
你可以利用因特网的目录服务搜索人名。
参考译文
这里是美国之声（VOA）学英语《词汇掌故》节目。
我们的节目致力于向大家诠释美式英语里的常用表达。
今天，我们来聊聊一种小小的银色的鱼，称作“herring（鲱鱼）”。
在一些地方，鲱鱼是一种很受欢迎的食物。在美国，“鲱鱼”也是奇怪表达的一部分。我们把被用来分散注意力的、无关紧要的信息称为“红鲱鱼”（red herring）。
例如，侦探小说作家经常用一些不重要的信息来布局。作家阿加莎·克里斯蒂在她的作品《斯塔福特疑案》中，作者给了许多角色杀死富人特里维廉船长的动机。但这些动机最后证明都是混淆视听的。克里斯蒂用这些动机让读者猜不到真正的凶手。
在侦探小说中，“转移注意力的事”指的是作者抛出的假线索。侦探小说不是唯一使用“转移注意力”的地方。
在政府工作的人或者写政治评论的人也用这个表达。政治家有时候为了转移人们对于严重问题的关注，就会抛出一定会有所反响的转移注意力的事情来分散人们的注意力。
人们也会批评媒体写出转移注意力的报道——即用来分散读者对于更重要问题注意力的报道。
正如你所见，这个表达很有用······却很古怪。鲱鱼怎么会变红？为什么它被用来表达有目的的误导的意思？
第一部分，关于颜色，很好回答。
在现代交通和冷藏设备诞生之前，鱼不好运输。在到达商店之前就会坏掉了。所以人们就开始固化鱼以供后需。他们腌鱼或者熏鱼。经过这道程序之后，鱼皮颜色会加深，变成红棕色。这样，一些鲱鱼确实就变红了。
然而在我们今天的例子里，“red herring”意思是分散人们对于真正问题的注意力。“red herring”怎么会演变成那个意思的呢？语言专家意见也不统一。
一些文字学历史学家指出这些熏鱼有一股很浓的味道。所以，这些鱼可能被用来训练猎犬和跟踪犬。他们认为红鲱鱼的气味可以欺骗一群猎人，更重要的是，欺骗他们的狗。换句话说，红鲱鱼可以骗过最棒的追踪犬，使它们有可能走错方向。
然而，另一些语言专家，这个解释毫无道理。这表明人得一直跟在猎人后面，暗中毁掉猎人的一天。谁会那么干？更重要的是，似乎没有任何书面证据能支持这一主张。
所以，关于“red herring”的来源我们还有不清楚的地方。但我们知道：从政治家到新闻到侦探小说，我们在书面英语频繁使用“red herring”。然而，它能听起来更正式，甚至在日常交际中有点过时了。
在英语口语里，有一些能表达同样意思但更常用的单词——像单词“ploy（策略）”，“ruse（诡计）”或“subterfuge（诡计）”。
它们意思都是欺骗某人或者让人产生错觉（send someone up the garden path），无论是寻找难闻的鱼或者其他东西，那都不是真相。
现在让我们听一个包含这些欺骗性单词的短故事。
我们的故事要从一个叫马克斯的家伙开始说起。他在一个著名的博物馆当保安。作为一名保安，马克斯看着博物馆里来来往往的游客。他经常对游客们产生好奇心。他们来自哪儿？他们婚姻幸福吗？他们靠什么谋生？
一天，马克斯注意到有一位特别美丽的游客。他之前就看见过她。实际上，她经常来看珍宝展，有时候一周来几次。
其中有一次，她和马克斯说话了。她问保安这个工作是不是很难，他是否感到厌烦。她说她叫玛丽亚，时装设计师。
当玛利亚来参观的时候，她经常和马克斯聊天。“也许她喜欢我，”他想。
马克斯认为她很有趣，想和她在一起待久点。一次博物馆聊天的时候，他发现她正在学意大利语。
他撒谎了，他告诉她他一直想学意大利语。他只是用意大利语做幌子。这个法子奏效了！马克斯和玛利亚每周六下午在博物馆的公园学意大利语。
在学习期间，他们也聊自己。玛利亚分享了她的有朝一日在博物馆展示时装的梦想。马克斯给她讲述了很多保安工作细节。他开玩笑说抢劫博物馆很容易。
玛利亚问他他能否识别出抢匪。他们描述他们认为的抢匪的长相，然后一起笑。
过去的几周，他们彼此学会了更多。然而，马克斯没学到的是，玛利亚并不像她看起来那么单纯。
玛利亚实际上是个国际珠宝窃贼！在过去两年里，八个国家的警察一直在通缉她。
她最近的目标是偷取罕见的黑钻石！这个钻石是世界上最珍贵的钻石，也是马克斯负责安保的展览品的一部分。她对他的关注就是个阴谋，为的是了解更多博物馆的安保系统。
一天博物馆闭馆后，玛利亚采取行动了。她用马克斯和她分享的安保密码进入了大楼——安保密码是他的狗的名字，博内斯。
“当和一个漂亮的女人打交道时，男人就会犯傻”，她笑道。
她潜入珠宝展，破坏了马克斯告诉她的移动侦测报警器。然后她走向保护黑钻石的玻璃展柜，并用她从马克斯那偷来的钥匙打开了它。
当她把黑钻石握在手里的时候，她笑道，“这个黑钻石是我的了！”
这个时候灯亮了，警报响了，一大群警察冲进来。
他们逮捕了她！
当一个警察官拷住玛利亚的时候，首席警察调查员进房间了。她惊到说不出话来。
是马克斯。
他亮出了他的警徽，说道，“你的偷窃生涯结束啦，玛利亚！”或者我应该叫你的真名，娜塔莎·斯蒂尔佐洛特！”
她喊道，“我应该猜到学意大利语只是个骗局！我怎么能被你愚弄呢，一个普通的警探而已？！”
马克斯把他的警徽收进了口袋并说，“你可以在监狱里思考这个问题，你将在那里度过你接下来的15年！哦，顺便说句“我意大利语说得很好。再见！”
这就是今天的《词汇掌故》。
在今天的故事里，你能发现多少障眼法？在评论区留言告诉我们吧。
我是安娜·马特奥。
