VOA慢速英语2019 小议与鸭子有关的好表达

Life Lessons from a Duck

Now, the VOA Learning English program Words and Their Stories.

欢迎收听《美国之音》学习英语栏目的《词语掌故》。 

Many animals live in and around bodies of water.Take ducks, for example.

很多动物在水体里面或者水体附近生活，鸭子就是一个例子。 

Ducks love the water.You can often see them floating happily on the surface of lakes, creeks¹, rivers and ponds.

鸭子很喜欢水。大家经常能看到鸭子欢快地在湖面、小溪、河流、池塘上漂浮着。 

Ducks swim effortlessly in all kinds of weather.Feathers protect them and other birds against the cold.

鸭子在任何天气里游泳都不费吹灰之力。羽毛可以保护鸭子等鸟类抵御寒冷。 

Ducks are great hunters.You can watch them diving down under the water for food, with their bottoms and webbed feet sticking up in the air.Ducks often live near water.This is where they mate and lay their eggs.

鸭子是捕猎的好手。大家可以看到鸭子潜入水下寻找食物，此时它们的下半身和蹼足伸在空中。鸭子通常在水附近生活。他们会在水里配对、下蛋。

So, you could say that ducks really know water.In nature, they are water experts.

所以，可以说，鸭子对水了如指掌。他们是天生是与水有关的专家。 

This brings us to our first expression: to take to something like a duck to water.

这就涉及到今天的第一个表达——take to something like a duck to water。 

This means you are really good at something without even trying very hard.It is not a struggle for you at all.It is almost as if you were born to do it.And you really enjoy it.

这个表达的意思是一个人很擅长某件事，甚至不用很努力就能做好。这件事对于这个人来说一点都不难。就好像天生就会做这件事一样。而且做的过程很享受。

So that is our first duck and water idiom.The next one also describes something easy with "duck" and "water."

这是第一个与鸭子和水有关的习语。第二个表达描述的也跟鸭子和水有关，也是描述某件事很容易做。

When something is like water off a duck’s back, it is no big deal.Whatever has happened has had no lasting² effect on the duck or anyone else.

如果某件事情像water off a duck’s back一样，那么这件事情就没什么大不了的。无论发生什么，对鸭子或者任何人都没有持续的影响。

This expression comes from the fact that duck feathers are waterproof³.They let water run off a duck’s body.The feathers are perfectly⁴ designed because the birds spend so much time in the water.

这表达的背景是一个事实——鸭子的羽毛是防水的。水会从鸭子的身体上流下。因为鸭子的大把时间是在水上度过的。鸭子羽毛的设计十分完美，

Now, the opposite of that expression is to ruffle⁵ someone’s feathers.This means the person is really unhappy about something, just as ducks would be if you ruffled⁶, or messed up, their waterproof feathers.

现在介绍一下这个表达的反义表达——ruffle someone’s feathers。它的意思是：一个人对于某件事很不开心，就像防水的羽毛被弄皱或者弄乱的鸭子一样。

And that brings us to the end of this Words and Their Stories.

以上就是本期的《词语掌故》。 

1 creeks   

n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪

参考例句：

• The prospect lies between two creeks. 矿区位于两条溪流之间。 来自辞典例句
• There was the excitement of fishing in country creeks with my grandpa on cloudy days. 有在阴雨天和姥爷一起到乡村河湾钓鱼的喜悦。 来自辞典例句

2 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

3 waterproof   

n.防水材料；adj.防水的；v.使...能防水

参考例句：

• My mother bought me a waterproof watch.我妈妈给我买了一块防水手表。
• All the electronics are housed in a waterproof box.所有电子设备都储放在一个防水盒中。

4 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

5 ruffle   

v.弄皱，弄乱；激怒，扰乱；n.褶裥饰边

参考例句：

• Don't ruffle my hair.I've just combed it.别把我的头发弄乱了。我刚刚梳好了的。
• You shouldn't ruffle so easily.你不该那么容易发脾气。

6 ruffled   

adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She ruffled his hair affectionately. 她情意绵绵地拨弄着他的头发。
• All this talk of a strike has clearly ruffled the management's feathers. 所有这些关于罢工的闲言碎语显然让管理层很不高兴。