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Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Rob. And I'm Sam.
大家好。这里是 BBC 学习英语栏目的六分钟英语。我是罗布。我是萨姆。
Can you wait a second, Rob?
你能等我一下吗，罗布？
I have to spend a penny.
我得花一分钱去。
What?
什么？
You’re going shopping now, are you?
你现在要去买东西，是吗？
We’re just about to start the programme!
我们的节目就要开始了！
No, no, I have to… you know, ‘spend a penny’.
不，不，我必须…你知道的，‘花一分钱’。
Haven’t you heard that expression before?
你以前没听过这句话吗？
Spend a penny means ‘go to the toilet’.
花一分钱的意思是“去上厕所”。
It’s an old idiom from the days when it cost a penny to unlock the door of a public toilet.
这是一个古老的俚语。在过去，进公共厕所的门需要花一分钱。
OK, I see. Well, you’re showing your age there, Sam.
好的，我明白了。萨姆，你暴露自己的年龄了。
Most young people today wouldn’t know what that phrase meant, and there aren’t many public toilets left nowadays anyway.
现在大多数的年轻人都不知道这句话是什么意思，而且现在也没有多少公厕了。
Language changes fast, and new words and phrases are being created all the time.
语言变化得很快，人们一直在创造新的单词和短语。
In this programme, we’ll be learning some modern idioms,
在本期节目中，我们将学习一些现代俚语，
new expressions that have been introduced to English through the internet, TV and social media.
即通过互联网、电视和社交媒体被引入英语中的新表达方式。
And of course, we’ll be learning their meanings as well.
当然，我们也会学习它们的含义。
Great, I’m ‘raring to go’ – another idiom there.
太好了，我正“跃跃欲试”。“raring to go”是一个习语。
But first, as usual, I have a question for you, Sam.
但首先，像往常一样，我有个问题要问你，萨姆。
Many well-known idioms come from the world of sport,
很多广为人知的俚语都来自体育界，
for example ‘throw in the towel’ which means ‘give up’, or ‘surrender’.
比如“扔毛巾”，意思是“放弃”或“投降”。
But which sport does the idiom ‘throw in the towel’ come from?
但是“扔毛巾投降”这个俚语来自于哪项运动呢？
Is it a) football? b) tennis? or c) boxing?
是 a) 足球？b) 网球？还是 c) 拳击？
I think I know this one. It’s c) boxing.
我知道这个。是 c) 拳击。
OK, Sam. I’ll reveal the answer at the end of the programme, so just hold your horses for now!
好的，萨姆。我会在节目结束时揭晓答案，所以现在先别着急！
Ah, another idiom there, Rob.
啊，“hold your horses”又是一个成语，罗布。
Hold your horses meaning ‘stop and think for a moment’.
它的意思是“停下来想一想”。
That’s an idiom that Gareth Carrol might teach his university students.
这是加雷斯·卡罗尔可能会在大学里教给学生们的一个俚语。
Dr Carrol is the author of a new book, ‘Dropping the Mic and Jumping the Shark: Where Do Modern Idioms Come From?
卡罗尔博士是新书《“装腔作势”和“日渐式微”：现代俚语从何而来》的作者。
He became interested in idioms
他对习语产生了兴趣，
when he realised that he didn’t know many of the expressions his students used in their everyday speech,
因为他意识到自己不知道学生们使用的许多日常表达。
modern idioms like ‘jump the shark’.
比如现代俚语，“jump the shark”(日渐式微)。
Here is Gareth Carrol telling BBC Radio 4 programme, Word of Mouth, about one source of many modern idioms – the movies.
加雷斯·卡罗尔在BBC广播四台的《口碑》节目上说讲过许多现代习语的来源之一——电影。
So, Groundhog Day I think more or less has the meaning of ‘déjà vu’ now,
我认为“Groundhog Day”（土拨鼠日）现在或多或少有了“似曾相识”的意思，
and it’s completely embedded in the language.
而且它完全融入了英语之中。
Actually, that’s probably one of the first phrases that got me thinking about these modern idioms in the first place,
其实，一开始可能就是这个短语让我开始思考这些现代习语的，
because it is so ubiquitous, it’s used in a huge range of contexts,
因为这个短语无处不在，人们在各种各样的语境中用过它，
and one of the things that made me sit up and take notice is,
其中一件引起我注意的事情是，
I had a number of students who know the phrase, Groundhog Day, but had no idea it was a film.
我有些学生知道这个短语，“Groundhog Day”（土拨鼠日），但不知道它是一部电影。
In the film, Groundhog Day, the main character wakes up to live the same day over and over again.
在电影中，主人公醒来后一遍又一遍地过着同样的日子。
Gradually, the movie title itself became an idiom,
渐渐地，电影片名就成了一个习语，
Groundhog Day, meaning a situation in which events that have happened before, happen again in exactly the same way.
“Groundhog Day”（土拨鼠日），指过去的事以完全相同的方式重演。
It’s similar in meaning to another expression – déjà vu.
它的意思类似于另一个短语——déjà vu。
When phrases the movies develop into idioms it’s often because they are ubiquitous – they seem to appear everywhere.
电影中的短语能演变成习语，通常是因为它们被广泛使用，无处不在，即“ubiquitous”。
And one of the ways they appear everywhere is, of course, the internet.
它们随处可见，当然也出现在互联网上。
Here’s Gareth Carrol again, telling more to Michael Rosen, presenter of BBC Radio 4 programme, Word of Mouth.
加雷斯·卡罗尔在BBC广播四台的《口碑》节目上还跟主持人迈克尔·罗森讲过更多。
The vocabulary of the internet, even the word ‘internet’, is relatively modern.
互联网上的词汇，甚至是“互联网”这个词本身，都是相对现代才出现的。
The idea of breaking the internet is now a phrase I think people would use and recognise,
“break the internet”（打破互联网）现在是一个人们都用，都认可的短语。
so something that causes such a stir online
一些在网上引起轰动的事情就会“break the internet”（打破互联网）。
that metaphorically so many people rush to a website that it threatens to bring it down, something like that.
这个短语很形象，形容很多人蜂拥登陆一个网站，导致其即将瘫痪。
In the early days we had ‘go viral’ which has stayed with us, hasn’t it?
原先，我们说“go viral”（风靡），而且它现在依然适用，不是吗？
Yeah, so the idea of something going viral is certainly very much in the vocabulary now.
是的，所以现在“go viral”还是一个习语。
But things like Twitter have leant sort of phrases,
但像推特这样的平台上产生了一些新短语，
so the idea of first-world problems,
比如，“first-world problems”（第一世界问题），
meaning sort of ironically things that we complain about but actually, compared to other parts of the world, may well be relatively minor,
有些讽刺意义，形容我们抱怨的问题相较于其他国家的问题简直不值一提。
that started life as Twitter hashtag, for example.
它最初就是推特上的一个标签。
Another modern idiom is breaking the internet,
另一个现代习语是“break the internet”（打破互联网），
causing so much excitement about something online that too many people visit the website at the same time, making it crash.
形容某事在网上热度很大，以至于太多人同时访问网站，导致网站崩溃。
Social media outlets like Twitter have also created their own idioms, including first-world problems,
推特等社交媒体也创造了自己的习语，比如“first-world problems”（第一世界问题），
a trivial problem that does not seem very important when compared to the serious problems faced by people in poorer parts of the world.
指与世界上较贫穷地区的人们面临的严重问题相比，自己面临的某个小问题似乎微不足道。
If you don’t know some of these idioms, don’t worry.
如果你不知道这些习语，也不用担心。
Unlike general vocabulary, a native speaker’s full knowledge of idioms takes longer to develop,
与通用词汇不同，以英语为母语的人需要更长的时间才能全面了解习语，
usually at around the age of thirty to forty.
通常30到40岁左右的人才能做到。
Meanwhile, you can still rely on classic English idioms,
而且，你仍然可以使用经典的英语习语，
like ‘pull my leg’, ‘kick the bucket’, and ‘throw in the towel’,
比如“pull my leg”（开玩笑），“kick the bucket”（去世），和“throw in the towel”（认输）。
which, I think, comes from the sport of boxing. Rob?
其中，“throw in the towel”来自拳击运动。罗布？
Yes, in my question I asked which sport gave birth to the phrase ‘throw in the towel’,
是的，我刚才问了是哪种运动产生了“throw in the towel”这个短语，
and Sam’s answer was correct! Well done!
萨姆的回答是正确的！做得好！
The idiom ‘throw in the towel’ comes from boxing
“throw in the towel”来源于拳击，
where the coach of losing boxer would literally throw a towel into the ring to surrender.
败方拳击手的教练会把一条毛巾扔进拳击场表示投降。
OK, let’s recap the rest of the idioms, old and new, that we’ve learnt today.
好的，让我们回顾一下今天学到的其他习语，无论是老的还是新的。
To spend a penny is an old-fashioned way of saying ‘go to the toilet’.
“spend a penny”是一种老式的用法，意思是“上厕所”。
Groundhog Day describes a situation in which events that have happened before, happen again exactly the same way.
“Groundhog Day”指过去的事以完全相同的方式重演。
If something is ubiquitous, it seems to appear everywhere.
“ubiquitous”形容某物似乎无处不在。
The modern idiom break the internet, means to cause so much excitement about something online that you make the website crash.
现代习语“break the internet”，意为某事在网上引起太多关注，导致网站崩溃。
And finally, a first-world problem is a problem
最后，“first-world problem”是指某个问题
that does not seem very important when compared to the serious problems faced by people in poorer parts of the world.
与世界上较贫穷地区的人民面临的严重问题相比，似乎并不是很重要。
Unfortunately for us, our six minutes are up!
不幸的是，我们的六分钟到了！
Bye for now! Bye bye!
再见了！拜拜！
