(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Now, Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning English. Every week, we explore common expressions in American English.
Thunder storms. Rain storms. Snow storms. Electrical storms!
If conditions get bad enough, almost any kind of weather can become a storm.
Stormy weather can cause people to cancel their plans. It can cause major events to be postponed. And severe stormy weather can be dangerous to people, property and animals.
"Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky, stormy weather since my man and I ain't together, keeps raining all the time".
Now, let's flip around the term "stormy weather".
If you weather the storm, or ride out the storm, you survive and move on without harm or injury. For example, let's talk about Tornado Alley, the name for part of the central United States.
During springtime, this area often has a large number of powerful tornadoes. People who live there are taught to hunker down in the safest place they can find and wait for the storm to pass. People who live in Tornado Alley are used to weathering many storms!
You can also weather a storm, they doesn't involve actual weather.
"To weather the storm" can also mean to make it through a difficult experience or trying times. So, if the stock market crashes, you might have to weather a financial storm. If you are a politician who gets discredited in public, you may have to lie low and weather the political storm.
Often before a big storm, conditions are calm.
The calm before the storm can happen anytime. It is the time before something bad happens. For example, at the beginning of a family reunion, the adults were all talking happily. But the older children knew it was just the calm before the storm. They've seen it happen before. The adults talk happily for about an hour. Then they start arguing about events from the past -- things that should really stay buried!
But after the storm begins and you find yourself in the middle of it, you are in the eye of the storm.
In the world of weather, the eye of the storm is the calmest part, in the center of a hurricane, for example.
However, in the English language, if you are in the eye of the storm, you are in the most intense part of a conflict. For example, she had no idea that walking into the meeting would put her in the eye of the storm.
Now, a storm can cause great destruction, but it can also cause excitement. It's something people talk about.
If you want to give people something to talk about, you might want to use the following "storm" phrasal verb. Combining a verb with "up" and then the words "a storm" gives you a very useful phrasal verb. It means doing something to a great extent or degree.
For example, if you danced all night, you can say you danced up a storm. If you spend the whole month writing a book, you can say you wrote up a storm. If you are at a party and meet someone who won't keep quiet, you can say they are talking up a storm.
I think you get the idea.
Let's look again at the verb "to storm." It can also mean to attack. If soldiers storm a military base, they are attacking it. Used another way, you could say one storms into a place. We only do this when we are angry and/or full of purpose.
For example, if you find out that someone at the place where you work is making twice as much as you do while doing less work -- you might storm into your supervisor's office and demand a raise. But I would suggest that you call, make an appointment and calmly walk into the meeting.
There is another very useful expression involving the word "storm." But it has two very different meanings.
Taking something by storm can suggest a sudden, perhaps violent attack. For example, the police took the bank by storm and arrested the bank robbers.
But this term can be used in another way. "To take something by storm" can mean to have great and sudden success in a certain field. And that field can be just about anything.
Let's say you are a great cook and open a new restaurant. Everyone loves it and it quickly becomes a big success. You can then say you took the restaurant world by storm.
Or maybe you are a gifted violinist and perform in over 100 cities. Critics love you and they say you are taking the classical music world by storm.
So, taking something by storm is a good thing. But a perfect storm is not.
In the world of weather, a perfect storm is a violent storm that results from a rare combination of severe weather events. We can use this expression in other situations, but the meaning is the same. It's when a particularly bad or critical situation arises from several bad and usually unpredictable events.
Let's hear this one in an example.
You are going on a trip and you are very excited! You have no idea that a perfect storm is building to ruin your vacation. First, the city where you're going has an unexpected electrical outage. Then when you arrive you find that the airline has lost your luggage. And finally you discover that a person you really don't like is staying in the same hotel and wants to hang out the whole time!
There are other kinds of storms.
Firestorm is also another "storm" word that can used when talking about the weather and real life. An actual firestorm is a strong, damaging fire that often has tornado-like columns of fire.
In conversation, a "firestorm" is a violent outburst or disagreement that causes damage. For example, the movie star created a firestorm when she made comments about the political situation in her home country.
However, a brainstorm does not exist in the world of weather. To brainstorm means to try to solve a problem by talking with other people.
And that's Words and Their Stories for this week. I'm Anna Matteo.
And I'm Bryan Lynn.
And don't worry. If we have trouble thinking of an idea for the next program, we can always brainstorm with you!
重点解析
1.electrical outage 停电；断电
But what if an electrical outage halfway operation, exposed to unfiltered air contaminated material will not be spared.
但是万一操作中途遇到停电，暴露在未过滤空气中的材料便难以幸免污染。
2.to weather the storm 渡过困境；闯过难关
This recession is quite serious and it's becoming difficult to weather the storm.
这次经济衰退很严重，很难扛过去啊！
3.hunker down 蹲;蹲下;蹲坐;保持低调;避免引人注目
And the best strategy is not to hunker down and fit in. It's to stand up and stand out.
因此最好的办法不再是守株待兔了，而是要站起来，从人群当中脱颖而出。
参考译文
现在是VOA学英语《词汇掌故》节目时间。每周，我们探讨美式英语里的常用表达。
雷雨、暴风雨、暴风雪、雷暴！
如果天气情况足够恶劣，几乎任何天气都能引发一场风暴。
暴风雨天气（stormy weather）会导致人们取消自己的计划。会导致重要活动延期。此外，强风暴天气对于人、财产以及动物来说，具有危险性。
“不知道为什么天上没有太阳，我男人和我不在一起之后就一直是暴风雨天气，总是下雨。”
现在，让我们说回短语“stormy weather（暴风雨天气）”。
如果你能经受住暴风雨（weather the storm）或者能挨过这场风暴（ride out the storm），你就能毫发无损并活下来、继续生活。例如，让我们来聊聊“龙卷风走廊（Tornado Alley）”，指的是大部分美国中部城市。
春季的时候，这片区域经常会有很多的强龙卷风。那儿的居民学会了找个最安全的地方蹲下（hunker down），等待龙卷风过去。住在“龙卷风走廊”的人们对于经受多次风暴已经习以为常！
你也可以经受住“风暴”，这不涉及实际的天气。
“to weather the storm（闯过难关）也可以指成功挨过一次艰难的经历或者尝试阶段。所以，如果股市崩盘了，你可能要经历一场金融风暴。如果你是一个在公众面前名誉扫地的政客，你可能不得不低调地度过这场政治风暴。
往往一场大风暴来袭之前，环境都是风平浪静的。
暴风雨前的宁静（the calm before the storm）在任何时候都有可能发生。这是坏事发生前的时间段。例如，在家族聚会之前，大人们都开心地聊着天。但是大孩子知道这只是暴风雨前的宁静。他们之前见过。大人们开心地聊了差不多一个小时。然后他们开始为过去的事情争论，那些事情真得该埋在心底的！
但是当“风暴”来了之后，你发现自己身处其中，你就在“风暴中心”（the eye of the storm）。
在气象世界中，风暴正中是最平静的部分，比如飓风中心。
但是，在英语里，如果你在“风暴中心”，你就处于冲突最强烈的部分。例如，她不知道自己走进会场会让她卷入纷争。
风暴天气会带来很大的毁坏，但它也能引起兴奋。这指的是人们谈论的话题。
如果你想让人们有话题可谈，你也许想用接下来的“storm”动词短语。将词“a storm”和一个带“up”的动词结合在一起，那么会给你带来一个很有用的动词短语，它的意思是很大限度或者程度上做某事。
例如，如果你跳了一整晚的舞，你可以说你是热舞。如果你整月都在写书，你可以说你是狂写。如果你在一个派对上遇到一个安静不下来的人，你可以说他们聊得兴高采烈。
我想你明白了它的意思。
让我们再来看看动词“storm”。它也可以指“袭击”的意思。如果士兵们“storm（突袭）”了一个军事基地，那他们就是突袭了这个地方。还有一种用法，你可以说一个人“storm（闯入）”了一个地方。我们只会在我们生气而且（或者）有明确目的时候才会这样做。
例如，如果你查出你工作上一个同事做着比你少的工作，却挣着是你两倍的工资，你也许会闯入你上司的办公室要求涨薪。但我会建议你打个电话、约个时间，并且淡定地前去会谈。
还有一个和单词“storm”相关的很实用的表达。但是它有两种截然不同的含义。
“take sth by storm”可以表示一场突然、也许暴力的袭击。例如，警察强攻进银行，逮捕了银行劫匪。
但是这个词还有另一种用法。“take sth by storm”可以指在某一领域突然取得了巨大成功。这个领域可以是关于任何事物方面的领域。
假设你是一名大厨，新开了一家餐厅。大家都很喜欢这个餐厅，很快这个餐厅变得很有名气。然后，你就可以说你在餐饮界取得了很大成功。
或许你是一个很有才华的小提琴手，你在一百多个城市表演过。评论家们很喜欢你，他们说你在古典音乐界轰动一时。
因此，“take sth by storm（在某方面取得成功）”是一件好事。但“a perfect storm（猛烈的暴风雨）”不是指什么好事。
在气象世界里，“a perfect storm”指的是由恶劣气象活动罕见组合在一起形成的狂风骤雨。我们可以在其他情境中使用这个表达，但意思是一样的。它指的是由几种糟糕、通常不可预见的事件而产生的一种尤其糟糕或者严峻的局势。
让我们来听一个例子。
你要去旅行了，你很兴奋！你不知道有一场“狂风骤雨”即将毁掉你的假期。首先，你要去的城市突然停电（electrical outage）了。然后，当你到达之后，你发现航空公司弄丢了你的行李。最后，你发现你真得讨厌的一个人和你住在同一个酒店，还总想出去玩。
还有其他形式的“storms”。
“firestorm”也是另一个在谈论天气和实际生活时可以用到的和“storm”相关的单词。真正的“firestorm（火焰风暴）”指的是凶猛、毁灭性的大火，往往有着龙卷风似的火柱。
在交际中，“firestorm”指的是会带来损失的暴力冲突或分歧。例如，一个电影明星就自己国家的政治状况发表的评论引发了一场话题风暴。
然而，“头脑风暴（brainstorm）”并不存在于气象世界中。“brainstorm”意思是通过交谈的方式尝试解决一个问题。
这就是本周的《词汇掌故》节目了。我是安娜·马特奥。
我是布莱恩·林恩。
请不用担心。如果我们想不出下期节目的主题，我们总是可以和你们一起头脑风暴一下！
