词汇大师-- Want to Learn Some Slang?

　　AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: Slangman revisited.

　　RS: A listener from Libya, Radwan Al-karash, sent us an e-mail earlier this month: "I enjoy listening to your interviews with different people from different countries about different beautiful subjects, and I am wondering why don't we hear any beautiful participations with our buddy¹ Slangman David Burke."
AA: Slangman used to be a regular guest on WORDMASTER. But these days, he's the star of a new TV show, inspired in part by his appearances with us.
RS: "Slangman's World" is an animated² series for introducing children to foreign languages and cultures. It's set to debut³ on January fifth on American Forces Network in one hundred seventy-five countries.
AA: We still have the old segments on our Web site, voanews.com/wordmaster -- including this one from December of two thousand one.
RS: Once again, just for our listeners, Slangman David Burke has rewritten a popular children's fairy tale to infuse it with some popular idioms -- this time, related to health and eating too much.
AA: A theme in this particular story, which is also an opera that is often performed around Christmas.
MUSIC: "Hansel and Gretel: Dream Pantomime"/Boston Pops Orchestra
DAVID BURKE: "Once upon a time, there was a boy and girl named Hansel and Gretel who were 'bored out of their minds,' so they decided⁴ to take a walk in the forest and got lost.
"They saw a very unusual house. It was made of gingerbread and covered with cakes, and the windows were made of clear sugar. And they began to eat parts of the roof and windows. But then they suddenly heard an old woman's voice say, 'Who is eating my house?' 'Oh it's just the wind,' answered Hansel.
"Well, suddenly the door opened and the old woman walked out. 'Oh, do come in and stay with me.' She took them both by the hand and she gave them lots and lots of food to eat.
"Well, Hansel was usually in 'tip-top shape' -- which means great physical condition -- but after eating so much, he was nervous that he was going to 'lose his cookies.' Now that simply means to vomit⁵. Why cookies, I don't know, but it's very common."
RS: "And it's appropriate for this story."
DAVID BURKE: "Well, he felt like he would never 'bounce back.' That means to recover. He felt really 'blah.' This is a great word. It's what we call an onomatopoeia, which simply is a word that sounds like what it means. So if you feel 'blah,' you have no energy, you just feel really terrible."
AA: "Spelled b-l-a-h."
DAVID BURKE: "Right. Oh, don't worry, his condition wasn't bad enough where he would have to 'go under the knife,' which means to have surgery. The last thing he needed was to go see some kind of 'quack⁶.'"
RS: "And that's not a duck."
DAVID BURKE: "That's not a duck, although that is the sound a duck makes. However, a 'quack' means a doctor that's not really very good. The feeling in his stomach would just have to 'run its course.'
"Well, Gretel felt a little 'under the weather,' too. 'Under the weather' simply means kind of sick. She thought she may even 'pass out.' 'Pass out' simply means to faint.' Hansel said, 'Gretel, just mellow⁷ out. Take a chill pill.' Because when you're really tense, you're hot. So 'take a chill pill,' relax. Well, early the next morning the old woman -- I mean, the witch -- quietly woke up Hansel and led him into a little room made of more candy. It was actually a cage!
"Gretel heard him screaming and rushed downstairs, but the witch said to her, 'Go take this food to your brother so he will become even more fat, and then I'm going to eat him!' The witch gave Gretel the 'willies.' Well, to give someone the 'willies' means to make them nervous."
RS: "Or scared."
DAVID BURKE: "'Gretel,' screamed the witch, 'go inside the oven and make sure the pilot light is on.' Well, Gretel wasn't 'born yesterday' and said, 'You know, witch, I'm not myself this morning.' When you're 'not yourself,' that means you're not feeling very well. So she said to the witch 'Could you show me how to light that pilot light?'
"When the witch got in, Gretel gave her a push, shut the door and fastened the bolt. Gretel quickly ran to Hansel's cage and let him out and said, 'Hansel, the witch kicked the bucket -- she croaked⁹ in the oven!' Now I don't really know why to 'kick the bucket' would mean to die. To 'croak⁸,' that seems more normal,' because when a frog croaks¹⁰ it makes that sound of [throat sound]. So if a frog dies, does the frog croak? Maybe not."
AA: Slangman David Burke comes to us from Los Angeles. Learn all about his different teaching materials on American slang at slangman.com. To reach us here, write to [email protected] or VOA Wordmaster, Washington DC 20237 USA.
RS: Next week -- welcome the New Year with some cowboy wordplay. With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.
MUSIC: "Brother, Come and Dance with Me"/Disney Children's Favorite Songs

1 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！

2 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

3 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

4 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。

5 vomit   

v.呕吐，作呕；n.呕吐物，吐出物

参考例句：

• They gave her salty water to make her vomit.他们给她喝盐水好让她吐出来。
• She was stricken by pain and began to vomit.她感到一阵疼痛，开始呕吐起来。

6 quack   

n.庸医；江湖医生；冒充内行的人；骗子

参考例句：

• He describes himself as a doctor,but I feel he is a quack.他自称是医生，可是我感觉他是个江湖骗子。
• The quack was stormed with questions.江湖骗子受到了猛烈的质问。

7 mellow   

adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟

参考例句：

• These apples are mellow at this time of year.每年这时节，苹果就熟透了。
• The colours become mellow as the sun went down.当太阳落山时，色彩变得柔和了。

8 croak   

vi.嘎嘎叫，发牢骚

参考例句：

• Everyone seemed rather out of sorts and inclined to croak.每个人似乎都有点不对劲，想发发牢骚。
• Frogs began to croak with the rainfall.蛙随着雨落开始哇哇叫。

9 croaked   

v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说

参考例句：

• The crow croaked disaster. 乌鸦呱呱叫预报灾难。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• 'she has a fine head for it," croaked Jacques Three. “她有一个漂亮的脑袋跟着去呢，”雅克三号低沉地说。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

10 croaks   

v.呱呱地叫( croak的第三人称单数 )；用粗的声音说

参考例句：

• A burst of noisy croaks came from the pond. 从池塘里传来了一阵喧噪的蛙鸣。 来自互联网
• The noise in the zoo turned out to be the croaks of bullfrogs. 动物园里喧噪得很，原来是一群牛蛙在叫。 来自互联网