Stress

BBC Learning¹ EnglishLondon LifeStressJackie: Hello, I'm Jackie Dalton. What makes you feelstressed? Do you panic whenyou have to rush to be somewhere? Do you get irritated² whenthe phone rings all the time? A noisy neighbour on a Sundayreally stresses me out if I'm trying to relax. A lot ofpeople get anxious when they're stuck in traffic.
　　We're going to look at stress and the language of stress.
　　We've heard quite a few phrases related³ to it already.
　　To panic, which means to feel a bit scared and worried andto be not able to think clearly.
　　To feel irritated - to feel a bit angry or annoyed.
　　To feel stressed out - a more colloquial⁴ way of saying tofeel stressed. Anxious – worried, nervous – you couldalso use the word 'tense'.
　　Well all kinds of things can make people feel stressed outand anxious. When we asked people on the street what wasmaking them feel tense, there was one answer that came upquite a lot. What was it?
　　VOICESJackie: That wasn't too difficult, was it? Exams weremaking quite a lot of people feelstressed in the interviews we heard there. So what do theydo to 'beat the stress', which means to fight the stressand get rid of it? Let's listen to their ways ofcoping.
　　VOICESJackie: If something is making you worry, you might justwant to get it over with.
　　VOICESStudy as hard as I can and get it over with.
　　Jackie: To do it so you don't have to worry about it anymore. Listen to this phrase in use.
　　VOICEI'm really scared about the presentation, but I'll ask if Ican go first, that way I'll get it over with.
　　Jackie: Let's hear from another stressed student.
　　VOICESWell a day like today is a nice day. Just walk around thecity and get away from it all for a bit.
　　Jackie: Another thing to do is get away from it all. To'get away from it all is an expression we use quite a lotif we've had enough and need a break.
　　VOICELet's go to Paris this weekend, I just want to get awayfrom it all.
　　Jackie: What other tips did our interviewees give?
　　VOICESIgnore it, just sort of set your own goals and achieve yourown targets you can achieve.
　　Jackie: Ignore it, pretend it’s not there. He also had agood bit of advice, which was'set your own goals and achieve the targets you canachieve'. In other words, be realistic about what you canand can't do and don't worry about anyone else.
　　Set your own goals. This is perhaps a less healthy solutionthat was suggested.
　　VOICESWhat do you do to overcome the stress? Drink.
　　Jackie: We've heard some of the language of feelingstressed – to panic, feel irritated, anxious, stressedout, nervous. What about the language of making yourselfhappy again? Which two phrases are used here to talk aboutmaking yourself feel better?
　　VOICESThere's quite a few films that I always like to watch tocheer myself up. I've got quite a few comedies on DVD, soI'll put one of those on.
　　I would normally⁵ go to see a film or cook myself awonderful meal to comfort myself.
　　Jackie: Did you get it? One expression was 'to cheer myselfup'. Listen to other examples of this phrase in use:
　　VOICESCheer up! It's not all that bad!
　　I've had a horrible day and I need cheering up!
　　Jackie: The other phrase was 'to comfort myself'.
　　VOICESCook myself a wonderful meal to comfort myself.
　　VOICE:
　　James looks very sad, you should go and comfort him.
　　Jackie: There's another expression that's developed using'comfort'. Here's a clue as to what it is about:
　　VOICEI like to eat chocolateJackie: It's 'comfort food' - food that we eat when we'restressed or feel unhappy to cheer ourselves up. It'susually something not very healthy, such as chocolate orcake. Finally, my favourite tip for how to cope⁶ if you'refeeling anxious or irritated is this one:
　　VOICESGive my little boy a cuddle.
　　Jackie: Give someone 'a cuddle'. Take them in your arms andhold them.

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 irritated   

a.恼怒的

参考例句：

• His little affectations irritated her. 他的装腔作势令她不快。
• Her genteel accent irritated me. 她那矫揉造作的腔调使我感到难受。

3 related   

adj.有关系的，有关联的，叙述的，讲述的

参考例句：

• I am not related to him in any way.我和他无任何关系。
• We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。

4 colloquial   

adj.口语的，会话的

参考例句：

• It's hard to understand the colloquial idioms of a foreign language.外语里的口头习语很难懂。
• They have little acquaintance with colloquial English. 他们对英语会话几乎一窍不通。

5 normally   

adv.正常地，通常地

参考例句：

• I normally do all my shopping on Saturdays.我通常在星期六买东西。
• My pulse beats normally.我脉搏正常。

6 cope   

v.(with)竞争，对抗；对付，妥善处理

参考例句：

• He had a lot of work,but he was able to cope.他的活虽多，但还能应付得来。
• They have to cope with a mountain of problems.他们得应付成堆的问题。