(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Welcome to Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning English.
On this program we explore common expressions in American English.
In the United States on the third Sunday of June we celebrate Father's Day! So, today we celebrate fathers with some expressions that use the word "father" and "dad".
Let's begin with a great father idiom!
Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan.
An orphan is a child whose parents have died. Without parents, orphans can often feel alone in the world. There is no adult to claim them, so to speak.
We can say the same about failures. Often people, do not want to claim them as their own. People may not want to take ownership, for example, of a project at work that is a complete bust -- you know, a failure.
On the other hand, it is not uncommon for people to fight over ownership of a big success. They always want to be on the right side of history.
"It was my idea!" "No, it wasn't. I thought of it ages ago." "Well, I did most of the work!"
You get the idea.
So, this idiom means that people like belonging to a successful cause but they distance themselves from a failed one.
Here's how you can use it.
Let's say a new business opens in your community. Everyone is excited about it! Some even invest money. It is the talk of the town. Then, it fails. People who once supported it don't seem to remember supporting it.
When those people say to you, "Oh, I knew it would fail. It was doomed from the very beginning." You can say to them, "Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan."
Now, you could say that creating the United States of America was a success. And there is a group of men who are famous for being on the right side of history.
We call them the Founding Fathers.
We capitalize these two words when we are talking about any member of the group who wrote the United States Constitution in 1787. Some of the most famous Founding Fathers are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin.
However, following the success of the musical Hamilton, perhaps Alexander Hamilton has temporarily won the title of "most famous" Founding Father.
But Founding Fathers aren't just found in history books and on the Broadway stage. We also use this term in other situations.
A founding father is a person who starts or develops a new movement, idea or some other big concept. Used this way, however, we do not capitalize "founding father."
The Founding Fathers of the U.S. are highly respected and admired by most people. Our next type of father isn't.
Not all dads are the greatest. In fact, some leave their families and provide no money to help to raise their children. We have a special name for these dads – deadbeat dads.
Just for the record, some moms do this, too. But we'll have to cover that term next Mother's Day!
And that's Words and Their Stories.
I'm Anna Matteo.
重点解析
1.so to speak 可以说;可谓
A new man, so to speak.
可以说，我成了一个新人。
2.the talk of the town 热门话题
Their engagement is the talk of the town.
他们订婚的事成了镇上谈论的话题。
3.just for the record 我为影狂；只是为了那个录音；顺便告诉你
It doesn't matter now, but just for the record, you were wrong.
现在没事了，看是还是要告诉你，你当时是错的。
参考译文
欢迎来到VOA学英语《词汇掌故》节目。
在节目中，我们探索美式英语里的常见表达。
人们会在美国六月的第三个星期日庆祝父亲节！因此，今天我们用一些和“father（父亲）”以及“dad（爸爸）”相关的表达致敬父亲们。
让我们从一个超棒的与父亲相关的习语开始吧！
一个人如果成功了，很多人会互相抢功劳，若失败了，没有人想要理他，大家都想要跟他划清界限（Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan）。
“orphan（孤儿）”是一个父母双亡的孩子。失去父母，孩子往往感觉在世界上活着很孤独。可以说没有成年人认领他们。
我们也可以同样这样形容失败。一般人们不愿意承认自己失败了。人们也许不想获得所有权，例如，工作上一个彻底破灭的项目的所有权，你知道，就是一个失败的项目。
另一方面，人们为了巨大的成功而争抢功劳的事情并不罕见。他们总是想站在历史正确的一边。
“这是我的主意！”“不是你的主意。我很久以前就想到了。”“好吧，绝大部分工作都是我做的！”
你懂了吧。
因此，这个习语的意思是人们喜欢将一份成功的事业归功于自己，但是他们会撇清自己与失败的事业的关系。
下面是它的用法介绍。
假设你的社区里有一家新公司开业。所有人都很高兴！其中一些人甚至投资了这家公司。这家公司成了镇上人们的热门话题。后来，它倒闭了。那些曾经资助过这家公司的人似乎不记得自己曾经资助过。
当那些人对你说：“哦，我知道那家公司会倒闭。这事是从一开始就注定了的。”你可以对他们说：“一个人如果成功了，很多人会互相抢功劳，若失败了，没有人想要理他，大家都想要跟他划清界限。”
你可以说创造美国是一件成功的事情。有几个人因为站在了历史正确的一边而因此出了名。
我们称那几个人为“Founding Fathers（美国之父/美国开国元勋）”。
当谈及1787年起草美国宪法的成员之一时，我们会将这两个单词大写。其中最有名的一些美国之父就是乔治·华盛顿、托马斯·杰斐逊、约翰·亚当斯、本杰明·富兰克林。
然而，在音乐剧《汉密尔顿》之后，也许亚历山大·汉密尔顿暂时赢得了“最著名”的国父称号。
但是，“Founding Fathers（国父们）”这个短语不是只出现在历史课本里和百老汇舞台上。我们也在其他情境下使用它。
“founding father（创立人）”指的是启动或者开创了一个新的举措、创意或者一些别的大的概念。这种用法下，“founding father”这两个单词不用大写。
“美国之父”是受多数人尊崇和景仰的。我们接下来的这类“father（父亲）”就不是这样了。
并非所有父亲都是伟大的。实际上，一些父亲抛弃了家人，而且孩子的抚养费不给一分钱。这种爸爸，我们有一个专门的称呼：deadbeat dads（游手好闲的父亲）。
顺便告诉你，一些妈妈也是这样的。但是我们将在下一个母亲节的时候再讨论这个短语！
这就是本期的《词汇掌故》节目。
我是安娜·马特奥。
