The English We Speak是英国BBC的一档为英语学习者量身打造的英语学习节目，在上一期的节目中我们已经有所介绍。
我们知道，英语中的touch和feel都有“触摸”的意思，touch还有“感动”的意思，feel也有“感受”的意思，那么，你知道touchy和feely是什么意思吗？现在让我们跟随两位主持人的情景对话去学习一下这两个词。
Li: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I'm Yang Li.
William: (subdued) I'm William Kremer.
Li: So, what English are we speaking today, William?
William: (sigh) I don't know.
Li: Oh what a big sigh! What's wrong?
William: Oh, it doesn't matter.
Li: Oh, come on! I can see something's not right. What's wrong?
William: (sigh) It's... well, if you must know, it's Tigger... he's died.
Li: Tigger? Who's Tigger?
William: Tigger... Tigger is... Tigger was my beautiful cat. He was my best friend. I suppose you could say that. I'm going to miss his stripey face in the morning. And his purr, yeah, I'm going to miss that. But, you know, these things happen. I shouldn't get so upset...
Li: Why not? I think it's perfectly normal to be very sad when a pet dies.
William: No, no, it's silly! I'm getting upset over an animal! I'm not a baby! I should grow up.
Li: But you might find it helpful to talk about your feelings for Tigger.
William: No, no, no, no! I hate all of that touchy-feely stuff!
Li: Touchy-feely?
William: Yeah, if something is touchy-feely it's very emotional. If you are a touchy-feely person you don't mind talking about your feelings and maybe actually hugging people.
Li: I see. So is this a negative phrase, touchy-feely?
William: Yeah, a little bit. Let's hear a couple of examples of it in use:
例1：
Man: Do you know, I never once saw my mum and dad kiss or hug.
Man 2: Really? Gosh, that seems incredible.
Man: But I think they really loved each other. They just weren't all touchy-feely about it.

例2：
Woman: Did you go to that drama group?
Woman 2: Yeah. I don't think I'll go again.
Woman: Oh? Why not?
Woman 2: Well, the acting was fine. But it's all that touchy-feely stuff they do that I don't like.
Li: Look, you English people! You just can't talk about your feelings, can you?
William: Well, you might be right Li – we're not famous for talking about our feelings. Now, before we finish, I have heard this phrase touchy-feely being used in a very different way too. Listen to this:
例3：
Woman: I love your sweater!
Man: Thanks.
Woman: It's so soft! I love this material. It's so touchy-feely!
Man: OK. Shall I take it off and then you can touch it properly?!
Li: So in that example, 'touchy-feely' was being used to describe a kind of material.
William: Yes. If something is touchy-feely it is very soft. You want to stroke it, just like Tigger. I'm going to miss stroking Tigger.
William: The way he used to purr... And sometimes he would bring me a little present, you know. A dead mouse or maybe a little bird. So thoughtful.
Li: Hmm. It's OK to cry you know, William...
William: (recovering himself) No! No it's not. No touchy-feely stuff!
Li: Oh I give up. Goodbye everyone.
William: Bye!
听完这段节目，我们了解到touchy-feely的意思即为very emotional的意思，如果翻译成汉语，则译为“肉麻”、“多愁善感”或者“矫揉造作”比较恰当。例1中的意思显然是“肉麻”的意思；例2中表达了的意思接近“矫揉造作”；而例3则表达的是touchy-feely的本意“柔软”的意思。
可见，一个形容词的本意及它的引申义往往与其相对应的动词词根相关，以后我们在学习形容词的时候，也不妨多关注一个形容词词根及其本意，了解其起源与发展，并且加以联想，这样学习会有助于我们更深刻地理解这个词汇。

其他语言点：
These things Happen.
这样的事情时有发生，没有什么可大惊小怪的。
We’re not famous for doing…
类似的表达还有：We are not known for doing…
本意“我们没有因… …而出名”；即“我们不怎么… …”或者“我们不常… …”。