(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Falling 'Down the Rabbit Hole'
And now, welcome to Words and Their Stories, a program that explores words and expressions in the English language. On this program, we give examples and notes on usage. And when available, we sometimes explain where they come from.
On today's program, we are going to talk about rabbits.
Rabbits, like many other animals, dig holes and complex underground passages, like tunnels, to build their homes. So, when rabbits want to go home, they must go down the rabbit hole. And that may lead to other holes, tunnels, and paths, or even other rabbit homes.
In English, we use the expression down the rabbit hole when we get so caught up in the search for something – like an answer to a problem – that we end up somewhere totally different.
The Internet is an easy way to get lost down the rabbit hole.
For this Words and Their Stories, my search for "down the rabbit hole" returned the video game "Down the Rabbit Hole." The animation was so beautiful! I had to find out more about who drew the images for the game.
A few more clicks led me to a website about learning how to draw children's books. Let's talk about children's books. Do you know there is a famous book festival in the Italian city of Bologna? After an hour and many more clicks, I found myself watching a YouTube video on how to make the meat sauce Bolognese.
In other words, I had fallen down a rabbit hole and wasted an hour. But, at least, I got an idea for dinner!
Here are some notes on usage.
We often describe what kind of rabbit hole we get lost in. For example, if you get completely overtaken by your research on climate change, you could say you "went down an environmental rabbit hole."
There are many verbs that you can use along with "rabbit hole." You can get lost, fall down or get stuck in a rabbit hole.
But where did this come from?
Well, the expression comes from the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland written by Lewis Carroll in 1865. Alice, the girl in the story, begins her adventure by falling and falling and falling down a very long rabbit hole. She falls slowly and sees things on the way down – strange things. And when she arrives at the bottom things only get stranger.
And that is another way we use this expression. It can describe a completely strange situation or an all-consuming situation. By all-consuming, I mean a situation where you lose touch with reality. You lose yourself a bit.
For example, once on a trip to Coney Island, New York, I got lost and ended up in a very strange place. There was a play going on and everyone was dressed up. A band was playing strange music and the lights were all different colors. I had definitely fallen into a rabbit hole! But this time it was Anna's Adventures in Wonderland!
And that's all the adventure we have for you today.
Until next time...
I'm Anna Matteo!
重点解析
1.dressed up 精心打扮的；盛装打扮的
To our surprise, she wasn't dressed up at all.
令我们惊讶的是，她一点也没有打扮。
2.fall down 跌落；跌倒
The house looked as if it was about to fall down.
房子看起来好像就要倒塌似的。
3.In other words 换句话说
In other words, keep your brain busy and working.
换句话说，让你的大脑保持忙碌和运作。
参考译文
“掉进兔子洞里”是什么意思？
欢迎大家收听VOA慢速英语《词汇掌故》节目，这是一个探索英语词汇和短语的节目。在这个节目中，我们会给出有关用法的例子和注释。如果需要，我们有时会解释一下这些词句的出处。
在今天的节目中，我们将谈论兔子。
和许多其他动物一样，兔子会挖洞以及复杂的地下通道，比如隧道，来建造它们的家园。所以，当兔子想回家时，它们必须穿过兔子洞。这条回家之路可能会通往其他洞穴、隧道、小路，甚至其他兔子的家。
在英语中，我们通常用“down the rabbit hole”这个短语，意思是我们太专注于寻找某样东西，比如某个问题的答案，结果却得到了一个完全不同的答案。
互联网很容易让人“迷失在兔子洞里”。
在本期《词汇掌故》节目中，我搜索“down the rabbit hole”，结果是电子游戏“down the rabbit hole”。它的动画制作太精美了！我一定得找出是这款游戏的绘图师。
几番搜索后，我找到了一个学习如何绘画儿童书籍的网站。那我们来聊聊儿童书籍吧。你知道意大利城市博洛尼亚有一个著名的图书节吗？经过一个小时的搜索，我发现自己却在YouTube上观看了一个关于如何制作肉酱面的视频。
换句话说，我仿佛掉进了一个兔子洞里，浪费了一个小时。但是，至少，我知道晚饭怎么打发了！
这里列出一些关于用法的注释。
我们经常要描述迷失在什么样的兔子洞（环境）里。例如，如果你完全被关于气候变化的研究整蒙圈了，你就可以这么表达：“掉进了环境的兔子洞里”。
有很多动词可以和“兔子洞”一起使用。你可能会迷路，摔倒或被困在兔子洞里出不来。
不过这个短处出自哪里呢？
这个短语出自刘易斯·卡罗尔1865年写的《爱丽丝梦游仙境》。故事中的女孩爱丽丝不慎坠入一个深不见底的兔子洞，之后开启了她的奇幻冒险。她缓慢地下坠，一路上看到了一些奇怪古怪的东西。当她到达底部时，事情变得越发诡异了。
这就是我们使用这个短语的另一种方式。这个短语可以描述一种完全陌生的情况或一种令人心醉神迷的情况。这个“令人心醉神迷”指的是与现实脱节的情况。你有些迷失了自我。
例如，在一次去纽约科尼岛的旅行中，我迷路了，最后来到了一个非常奇怪的地方。那里正在上演一出戏，每个人都盛装打扮。一个乐队正在演奏奇怪的音乐，灯光的颜色也各不相同。我肯定是掉进了一个兔子洞里！只不过这次是《安娜的仙境历险记》!
以上就是本期《词汇掌故》节目的全部内容。
下期节目见...
安娜马特奥为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
