(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Now, it's time for Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning English.
On this program, we explore everyday expressions that we use in conversation. Americans often use the first saying we will talk about today. But many people likely do not know where it comes from.
To keep something at bay means being unable to move closer while attacking or moving toward someone or something. If you keep something at bay, you appear to be in control of the situation. English speakers say either "keep at bay" or "hold at bay."
For example, when protecting their village, the villagers kept the armed attackers at bay through the night. The villagers did not let them come closer.
However, bad people can also hold something at bay. The armed robber held police at bay for about 9 hours before they caught him. So, the robber did not let police get anywhere near him. They didn't catch him until 9 hours later.
In these examples, the things being kept at bay -- the attackers and the police -- are real. You can physically touch them. But you can also use this expression about more intangible things -- ones you can't see or touch.
For example, if you move to a new city you can keep loneliness at bay by joining a club, playing a group sport or taking a class. You can also invite your old friends to come and explore your new city with you. All these things will keep loneliness away from you, or at bay.
You can keep illness at bay by eating healthy food and getting enough sleep and exercise. And I can hold my desire for chocolate at bay by not buying it and keeping it in my house!
English learners and native speakers alike may think the term "at bay" has to do with water, perhaps involving a ship unable to reach the shore. After all, one of the many definitions of "bay" is a large area of water that is partly surrounded by land.
But language experts will stop them right there. To find out the origin of this expression, let's talk about another definition of "bay." It also means to bark with long, drawn-out sounds, as when a dog cries out at the moon.
Those hounds are baying.
In the 14th century, barking hounds were said to be "at bay." When dogs are kept at bay, they are kept from attacking. The Phrase Finder website says the first recorded usage of "at bay" is in an English story from the year 1330.
Back to modern times, "at bay" is a common expression. You can use it with friends and strangers.
Now, let's hear this expression used at work. Let's say you are the head of a small company that makes toys. Part of your job is to keep open lines of communication between the owner and company employees. Well, when the owner suddenly makes changes to work rules, the employees get angry. And you hear about it. The owner's solution is to throw a party for the employees. You tell her that a party will not keep their anger at bay. The only thing that will improve the situation is fair treatment.
Now, there are other ways to keep something from getting worse. You can also ward off something or stave off something.
To ward off a danger or illness means to prevent it from affecting you or harming you. We often use "ward off" when talking about mental health, disease or, strangely enough, evil spirits.
For example, she knew that, for her, the best way to ward off a bad mood was to see a happy movie. You eat chicken soup to ward off the common cold. And some people say that you can use garlic to ward off vampires and keep them from sucking your blood.
Staving off something sounds much more official. We use "stave off" in fairly serious situations, such as ship-wrecked survivors who staved off starvation by eating coconuts for eight months. Here's another example, "The single mother staved off poverty by working three jobs."
Now, what if you simply want to keep your distance from a person. You don't want to be near them. In this case, you wouldn't use "ward off" or "stave off" or even "at bay." What can you use? Well, we have a great expression for keeping distance.
To keep someone at arm's length means you don't want to be close to that person. Imagine that you are holding your arm straight out in front of you. A person can't get close. And that's the point.
Let's say, you meet someone. You don't know her very well, but she seems nice -- seems is the important word here. Slowly over time, you learn more about the woman. And you don't like what you see. She is strange and not in a good way. You catch her in some lies. And she appears to be a trouble-maker. So, you decide to keep her at arm's length. When you don't answer her calls and ignore her emails, she will know you are keeping her at arm's length.
In this case, you could say you kept her friendship at bay. But you were never friends in the first place. So it sounds more natural to say that you kept her at arm's length.
We here at Learning English have no desire to keep you at bay or at arm's length. And we certainly don't want to ward or stave you off! You're our audience. Without you, well, we wouldn't be here!
I'm Bryan Lynn.
And I'm Anna Matteo.
重点解析
1.after all 毕竟;居然;终究;竟然;居然
Perhaps I had misjudged him, and he was not so predictable after all.
也许我看错了他，毕竟他不是可以让人一眼看透的人。
2.ward off 避开，躲开，防止（危险、疾病等）
Many people swear by vitamin C's ability to ward off colds.
许多人深信维生素C能预防感冒。
3.stave off 推迟;暂时避开
To stave off recession, the Federal Reserve loosened monetary policy.
为了防止经济衰退，美联储放松了货币政策。
参考译文
现在是VOA学英语《词汇掌故》节目时间。
我们的节目探索交际中的日常表达。美国人经常使用我们今天要探讨的第一个谚语。但是很多人很大可能不知道它的来历。
“keep sth at bay（无法再接近）”意思是当攻击或者靠近某人或者某物时，无法更进一步接近了。如果你牵制住某事物（keep something at bay），你似乎控制住了局面。说英语的人说“keep at bay”或者“hold at bay”。
例如，当保护村庄的时候，村民们彻夜控制着武装袭击者，不让他们靠近一步。
然而，坏人也可以牵制住局面。劫犯在被逮捕前与警察对峙了9小时。那么，劫犯没让警察靠近他一步，直到9小时后他被警察逮捕。
在这些案例中，被控制住的——袭击者和警察都是真实存在的。你甚至可以身体接触到他们。但你也可以把这个表达运用在更无形的事物方面——那些你看不见摸不着的事物。
例如，如果你搬去一个新城市，你可以靠参加俱乐部，参与集体运动或者去上课来排遣孤独。你也可以邀请你的老朋友过来，和你一起探索这座新城市。所有这些都会让你远离孤单。
你可以通过健康饮食以及充足的睡眠和适量的运动，让自己远离疾病。我不买巧克力以及把巧克力放家里，以此来抑制住我对巧克力的渴望。
英语学习者和母语是英语的人也许都会思考“at bay”这个短语和水的关系，也许与不能靠岸的船有关联。毕竟，“bay”的众多定义之一就是被陆地部分包围的大片水域。
但是语言专家们会立刻打断他们。为了找出这个表达的来源，我们就先说说“bay”的另一个定义吧，“bay”还指狗对月嚎叫时发出冗长持续的狗吠声。
那些猎狗一直在嚎叫。
14世纪的时候人们用“at bay”来表达“嚎叫的猎犬”的意思。当说“不让狗儿们嚎叫(at bay)”的时候，意思就是“不让狗儿们攻击人”。据“Phrase Finder”网站显示，短语“at bay”被记录下来的第一个用法出现于1330年的一个英文故事里。
回到现代，“at bay”是一个常用表达。你可以和朋友以及陌生人一起的时候使用这个表达。
现在，让我们来听下这个表达在工作上的用法。假设你是一个制造玩具的小公司的负责人。你的部分任务就是保持老板和公司员工之间沟通渠道畅通。嗯，老板突然改变了工作规则，员工们对此很生气。你听说了这件事。老板的解决方案是给员工办个聚会。你告诉她，聚会并不能让他们消气。唯一可以改变现状的做法就是公平对待。
现在，也有其他的办法可以阻止事情变糟。你也可以避开或者延缓某事。
ward off a danger or illness（避开危险或疾病）的意思是防止它们影响或是伤害到你。当谈到心理健康，疾病或者够古怪的，恶灵的时候，我们一般用“ward off（避开）”。
例如，她知道，对于她来说，赶走坏心情的最好的方法就是看一部令人快乐的电影。你喝鸡汤以御感冒。有些人说，你可以用大蒜来赶走吸血鬼，以免他们吸你的血。
拖延某事（staving off something）听起来官方多了。我们在非常严肃的场合使用“stave off”，比如沉船的幸存者靠吃椰子忍了八个月的饥。下面是另一个例子，“这个单身妈妈靠打三份工脱贫。”
假设你单纯只是想和一个人保持距离。你不想靠近他们。这种情况下，你不能使用“ward off”或“stave off”，“at bay”也不行。你可以用什么呢？嗯，我们有一个保持距离的好表达。
“keep someone at arm's length（和某人保持一定距离）”意思是你不想和某人靠得太近。想象一下你把你的胳膊伸向前方。别人就靠近不了，这是关键所在。
比方说，你遇见了某人。你不太了解她，但她似乎很和善——这里的“似乎”是个关键词。随着时间地推移，你更多地了解了这个女人。你不喜欢你所看见的那些。她的行为举止很奇怪。她有几次说谎被你识破了。她看起来是个惹是生非的人。因此，你决定和她保持一定的距离。当你不回她的电话，不回她的邮件，她就会知道你是要和她保持距离。
在这个例子里，你可以说，你疏远了她。但你们从来不是朋友。所以“和她保持距离”这个说法听起来更自然一些。
我们学英语的这些工作人员可不希望跟你保持距离。而且我们当然也不想要躲开你。你是我们的听众，没有你们，嗯，也就没有我们。
我是布莱恩·林恩。
我是安娜·马特奥。
