词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Slangman:'The Ugly Duckling'

SFX: Bird sounds

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER 鈥?with spring time approaching here in the United States our thoughts turn to bird watching.

RS: Birds are easy to spot in everyday speech. A hierarchy¹ in an organization is called a "pecking order." We don't just say "be happy with what you've got" -- we say "a bird in hand is worth two in the bush," or just simply "a bird in hand ... 鈥?And, when children grow up and move out of their parents鈥?house, they "leave the nest."

AA: Slangman David Burke joins us now from Los Angeles with his own version of the children's fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling鈥?using bird-related terms.

RS: As we pick up the story, a duck has just given birth to twelve little ducklings. So how could she afford such a large family?

TAPE: CUT ONE -- BURKE/RS/AA

"Luckily she had a 'nest egg.' Now a nest egg is a lot of money that you save over the years. The money she saved wasn't 'chicken feed.' If you make very little money, we say 'I'm making chicken feed.' Her new children were the prettiest little ducklings you ever saw. She thought, when they're older, I'll teach them about the 'birds ... '"

RS: " ... and the bees."

BURKE: "'And the bees.' Now I don't know why we say that, but it's a euphemism² for sex. Fortunately, she didn't 'count her chickens before they were hatched' -- that means you count on something before it actually happens -- because there was still one very large egg that did not open yet.

"Finally the last chick appeared. One of the chicks actually said, 'He's so ugly, what a turkey!' Now frankly³ I have nothing against turkeys, but I guess in American slang we do, because anything that's considered bad is a 'turkey.' The mother wondered if maybe he really was a turkey. So she made each of them get into the water, because everyone knows that turkeys can't swim. She watched him 'like a hawk⁴.'"

RS: "Very closely."

BURKE: "Yes. At first he was 'chicken' to get in the water."

RS: "Afraid."

BURKE: "Afraid. The others yelled 'get in the water, you 'bird brain.'"

RS: "Stupid."

BURKE: "Right, exactly. Well, just because he was ugly, they thought he was a 'dodo.' A dodo bird is a really big, big, big bird that doesn't do much, it just sort of sits there."

AA: "It's extinct, isn't it?"

BURKE: "And extinct -- and he doesn't exist anymore -- a 'dodo,' and he would 'chicken out.' But he did not 'stick his head in the sand' like an ostrich⁵. He wanted to prove to the others that he could swim and that he was brave. That way he could 'kill two birds with one stone.' Ouch. This is an expression that is just so horrible, but it's common. To 'kill two birds with one stone,' it means to accomplish two things at the same time.

"Well, he swam beautifully -- better than the others. The ducks all returned to the farm. He thought 'this place is for the birds.' This means undesirable⁶. So he ran away but found a family of geese who said, 'Please join us.' Suddenly they all heard shots being fired. It was hunters. The geese all yelled, 'duck!" AA: "Get down!"

BURKE: "'Duck!' simply means -- right -- get down. All the geese flew away quickly, but the duckling couldn't fly and started running around like a 'chicken with his head cut off.'"

AA: "Which is what chickens that get their heads cut off tend to do."

BURKE: "That's right. Well, he really needed to relax and 'get all his ducks in a row' and decide what to do. When you 'get all your ducks in a row,' it means you're becoming organized. So he ran and ran until he stopped at a pond with the most beautiful birds. They were swans. He thought, 'They're so beautiful!' But he felt sad because he was so ugly. He bent⁷ his head down toward the water in shame and saw his reflection -- he was beautiful! The other swans said to him, 'Please join our family. We knew you'd come. Why? A little birdie told us.'"

AA and RS: "Awww ... "

BURKE: "Isn't that sweet? Anytime we know something, but it's sort of a secret how we know it -- for example, if I were to say to Rosanne, 'Rosanne, I heard it's your birthday,' and you said, 'how'd you know?' -- well, a little birdie told me. Well, the moral of this story is, 'birds of a feather ... "

RS: "Flock together."

BURKE: "Flock together, which simply means, people who are alike stay together. Now, the actual expression is 'birds of a feather flock together,' but we shorten it and simply say, 'Well, birds of a feather ... "

AA: ... can flock together to Slangman David Burke's Web site to learn all about his books and other teaching materials. It's............ And you can find all of our old scripts with Slangman on our new Wordmaster site.

RS: That's at........... And our e-mail address is............With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.

MUSIC: "The Ugly Duckling"/Danny Kaye

[A final note ... Influential⁸ economist⁹ James Tobin of Yale University died March 11 at the age of 84. He received the 1981 Nobel Prize in economics for his "portfolio¹⁰ theory" about investment decisions. And how did James Tobin sum up this theory? In his words, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket."]
 

1 hierarchy   

n.等级制度；统治集团，领导层

参考例句：

• There is a rigid hierarchy of power in that country.那个国家有一套严密的权力等级制度。
• She's high up in the management hierarchy.她在管理阶层中地位很高。

2 euphemism   

n.婉言，委婉的说法

参考例句：

• Language reflects culture and euphemism is a mirror of culture.语言反映文化,而婉语则是各种文化的一面镜子。
• Euphemism is a very common and complicated linguistic phenomenon.委婉语是一种十分常见而又非常复杂的语言现象。

3 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

4 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

5 ostrich   

n.鸵鸟

参考例句：

• Ostrich is the fastest animal on two legs.驼鸟是双腿跑得最快的动物。
• The ostrich indeed inhabits continents.鸵鸟确实是生活在大陆上的。

6 undesirable   

adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子

参考例句：

• They are the undesirable elements among the employees.他们是雇员中的不良分子。
• Certain chemicals can induce undesirable changes in the nervous system.有些化学物质能在神经系统中引起不良变化。

7 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

8 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

9 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

10 portfolio   

n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位

参考例句：

• He remembered her because she was carrying a large portfolio.他因为她带着一个大公文包而记住了她。
• He resigned his portfolio.他辞去了大臣职务。