英语单词大师：What Does It Mean When

 AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: we answer some listener questions.

RS: Starting with this one from Rajpal Rawal in India, who sends us two sentences with questions about pronunciation -- more specifically, about the reductions that take place in spoken American English.

AA: Here is the first sentence: "I would not mention it." I would not mention it. The question is: Is it correct to keep the d at the end of "would" silent in rapid speech? Well, maybe the best thing we can do is model it, so you can listen for yourself:

RS: "I wouldn't mention it." "I wouldn't mention it."AA: "I wouldn't mention it." Well, you can still slightly detect the 'd' once you form the contraction¹. And, by the way, most Americans are likely to use the contraction "wouldn't" rather than say "I would not mention it," unless of course, they were angry and speaking slowly on purpose.

RS: Rajpal also asks about this sentence: "That won't help." The question here is: Is it OK to keep the t at the end of both "that" and "won't" silent while speaking rapidly?

Well, listen again, first slowly and then fast.

AA: "That won't help."RS: Now fast.

AA: "That won't help."RS: Slowly.

AA: "That won't help."RS: Fast.

AA: "That won't help."RS: The t at the end of "that" is pretty much silent. But in this particular case we do hear the t at the end of won't.

AA: Next question. Iulian Grigoras in Romania asks what the expression "for good" means in the sentence: "He left the country for good."RS: That's easy. When you do something "for good," that means you do it permanently².

Now Jeffrey Liu, an English learner from China, wants to know what it means to be offered something "on a plate." And he's not talking about a dinner plate.

AA: Nevertheless, imagine you are a guest at a dinner. All you have to do is sit there and wait until someone puts a platter of food down in front of you.

RS: Get the idea? Well, for an official explanation, we checked the newest addition to our small collection of slang dictionaries. It's the New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, first published this year simultaneously³ in Britain and North America. It defines "on a plate" or "on a platter" this way: "easily acquired; with little or no effort required."AA: Now speaking of slang, a listener named Java writes: "Dear slang casters, I have a suggestion as an English teacher. As you may know the best kind of learning takes place after a brainstorm⁴, and what comes after fills the gaps made by the storm."So Java suggests that one way to get a brainstorm going is to start by discussing the slang used in the top ten U.S. movies. And to fill the gaps in the minds of music lovers, Java writes that you can also brainstorm about the slang used in the top ten U.S. songs.

RS: So let's give that a try. We asked our buddy⁵ Larry London in VOA Music Mix what the top song in the country is this week on the Billboard⁶ charts. It's "S.O.S. (Rescue Me)" by Rihanna. See if you can catch some of the slang in the lyrics⁷. We'll explain at the end.

(MUSIC)"This time please someone come and rescue me"'Cause you on my mind, it's got me losing it"I'm lost, you got me looking for the rest of me,"Got the best of me, so now I'm losing it"Just your presence and I second guess my sanity"Yes it's a lesson, it's unfair, you stole my vanity"My tummy's up in knots so when I see you I get so hot"My common sense is out the door, can't seem to find the lock"Take on me (uh huh) you know inside you feel it right"Take me on, I could just die up in your arms tonight.

"I'm out with you, you got me head over heels"Boy you keep me hanging on the way you make me feel"S.O.S. please someone help me.

"It's not healthy... for me to feel this way"AA: OK, S.O.S. is the international distress⁸ signal, so that's not really slang. But if you were taking notes on the song, there's "losing it" ...

RS: Meaning, losing control.

AA: "Tummy up in knots" ...

RS: Literally⁹, a nervous stomach.

AA: Common sense "out the door" ...

RS: Out the door. Gone. Get lost.

AA: Head over heels ...

RS: Really excited.

AA: Which keeps her "hanging on" ...

RS: Keeps her alive. And that's Wordmaster for this week. You can keep us hanging on with your questions. Our e-mail address is [email protected].

AA: And our segments are all on our Web site, voanews.com/wordmaster. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

MUSIC: "S.O.S. (Rescue Me)"/Rihanna

1 contraction   

n.缩略词，缩写式，害病

参考例句：

• The contraction of this muscle raises the lower arm.肌肉的收缩使前臂抬起。
• The forces of expansion are balanced by forces of contraction.扩张力和收缩力相互平衡。

2 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

3 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

4 brainstorm   

vi.动脑筋，出主意，想办法，献计，献策

参考例句：

• The women meet twice a month to brainstorm and set business goals for each other.她们每个月聚会两次，在一起出谋献策，为各自制定生意目标。
• We can brainstorm a list of the most influential individuals in the company.我们可以集体讨论，列出该公司中最有影响的人员的名单。

5 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

6 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

7 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

8 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

9 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。