词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Slangman'The Three Little Pigs'

SFX: CONSTRUCTION SOUNDS

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster -- with the remodeling of the VOA News Now schedule, our thoughts turn to construction-related slang. Or, more precisely¹, words related to construction that have other meanings in slang.

SFX: PIG SOUNDS

RS: But what are these pigs doing here? It looks like Slangman David Burke in Los Angeles has, once again, built the perfect framework: his own slang version of the classic children's story 鈥淭he Three Little Pigs.鈥?

BURKE: "Once upon a time there were three little pigs who grew up and decided² to build their own homes. The thought of building their own homes was 'ground breaking' -- which, of course, means something that had never been done before -- because they didn't really 'dig' construction."

RS: "Didn't like it."

BURKE: "Didn't like it. 'Well,' said one of the pigs, 'let's get down to brass³ tacks,' which means, 'let's talk seriously.' 'We each need to build a strong home that will be safe from the mean, old wolf.'

"'I'm going to build a house made of straw,' said the first little pig.

"'What a screwy idea,' said the other little pigs. Now, a screwy idea means a crazy idea, 'it's screwy.'

"'And what are you going to build your house out of?' asked the first pig to the second pig.

"'I'm going to build my house out of sticks.'

"'But sticks aren't strong at all,' said the other little pig.

"'Now don't get all unglued,' which means don't get all upset, don't come apart. 'A single stick may not be strong, but several sticks will be as tough as nails,' which means, 'will be very strong.' And a person can be tough as nails also. If you have a boss who is very strict, that boss is 'tough as nails.'

"Well, finally, the third the little pig said, 'Your ideas are not very concrete.' I love that one, which means simply, 'your ideas are not very good.'"

RS: "They're not very solid."

BURKE: "Exactly, they don't stick together well. 'After all, sticks and straw are not strong enough against the wolf.'

"'Really, and what are YOU going to build YOUR house out of?'

"The third little pig thought about it for a moment, and then suddenly it hit him ... like a ton of bricks. 'That's it -- bricks!' And by the way if you get 'hit by a ton of bricks,' it means something came to you, an idea suddenly came to you with extreme, uh ... "

AA: "Force."

BURKE: "Extreme force. 'It hit me like a ton of bricks.'

"'Bricks?' said the other two pigs.

"'Yes, you hit the nail on the head.' Which means, that is exactly right, a very common expression, used by everyone.

"'OK, let's all make a deal to help each other starting tomorrow afternoon. We'll help each other build our homes. Let's shake hands and cement the deal.'"

AA: "Cement being the active ingredient in concrete, right? People often confuse the two."

BURKE: "Exactly. Something that's very concrete is very solid. But if you 'cement' a deal, it means you're putting the deal together, and that we've cemented it, which means it can't be broken. They all shook hands and 'ramped⁵ up' the project. So when you ramp⁴ up a project, it simply means to start a project."

AA: "Or speed it up, or increase it."

BURKE: "Exactly. After one week all three houses were finally built. That night, suddenly, the first little pig heard someone yelling outside his straw house. It was the wolf, and he was totally 'hammered,' which means completely drunk.

"'If you don't open up this door right now,' said the wolf, 'I'm going to blow your house down.' Well, after a moment, the wolf inhaled⁶ deeply and blew out with all his might until the house collapsed⁷.

"The scared little pig ran down the road to the second pig's house, but the wolf -- who had a very large 'build' -- followed him. So a large build ... "

RS: "A big guy."

BURKE: "If you have big build, or if you're 'built,' it means you are powerful and muscular. Again, after a moment, the wolf inhaled with all his might and blew down the house. The two pigs really 'painted themselves into a corner.' When you paint yourself into a corner ... "

RS: "You can't get out."

BURKE: "You can't get out, you've created a situation that you cannot get out from. So they ran to the third pig's house to be safe from the wolf. But once again the wolf followed them.

"Frustrated⁸, the wolf started to climb up the house in order to get in. Fortunately the second pig had a friend who was a police officer. Just as the wolf was about to go down the chimney, the police officer 'nailed him' for trespassing⁹."

AA: "Oooh."

BURKE: "Ow, got him. When you get nailed, it means you get in big trouble."

RS: So the wolf got arrested, and the three little pigs could now "lay the groundwork" to live happily ever after. The end.

AA: Slangman David Burke invites you to his home, made of electrons, on the Web. Learn about his teaching materials, at www dot slangman dot com.

RS: And our address here is voanews dot com slash¹⁰ wordmaster. Our e-mail address is..................With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.

 

1 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

4 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

5 ramped   

土堤斜坡( ramp的过去式和过去分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯

参考例句：

• With the arrival of George Lucas, the pace has ramped up. 随着乔治·卢卡斯的到来，速度大大加快。
• They also sold corporate bonds as the global financial crisis ramped up. 在全球金融危机加剧之际，他们还抛售了公司债券。

6 inhaled   

v.吸入( inhale的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. 她合上双眼，深深吸了一口气。
• Janet inhaled sharply when she saw him. 珍妮特看到他时猛地吸了口气。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

8 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 trespassing   

[法]非法入侵

参考例句：

• He told me I was trespassing on private land. 他说我在擅闯私人土地。
• Don't come trespassing on my land again. 别再闯入我的地界了。

10 slash   

vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩

参考例句：

• The shop plans to slash fur prices after Spring Festival.该店计划在春节之后把皮货降价。
• Don't slash your horse in that cruel way.不要那样残忍地鞭打你的马。