英语 英语 日语 日语 韩语 韩语 法语 法语 德语 德语 西班牙语 西班牙语 意大利语 意大利语 阿拉伯语 阿拉伯语 葡萄牙语 葡萄牙语 越南语 越南语 俄语 俄语 芬兰语 芬兰语 泰语 泰语 泰语 丹麦语 泰语 对外汉语

VOA慢速英语 OK, Okay, Okey-Dokey Are A-Okay

时间:2015-07-19 22:33来源:互联网 提供网友:nan   字体: [ ]
    (单词翻译:双击或拖选)

OK, Okay, Okey-Dokey Are A-Okay

Now, the VOA Learning1 English program, Words and Their Stories.

Millions of people all over the world use the word okay. In fact, some people say the word is used more often than any other word in the world.

It may be common, but no one can seem to agree on how the “OK” came to be. Faith Lapidus tells us more.

Okay means “all right” or “acceptable.” It expresses agreement or approval2. You might ask your brother, “Is it okay if I borrow your car?” Or if someone asks you to do something, you might say, “Okay, I will.” Still, language experts do not agree about where the word came from.

Some people say it came from the Native American Indian tribe3 known as the Choctaw. The Choctaw word “okeh” means the same as the American word okay. Experts say early explorers in the American West spoke4 the Choctaw language in the nineteenth century. The language spread across the country.

But many people dispute5 this.

Language expert Allen Walker Read wrote about the word okay in reports published in the 1960s. He said the word began being used in the 1830s. It was a short way of writing a different spelling of the words “all correct.” Some foreign-born people wrote “all correct” as “o-l-l k-o-r-r-e-c-t,” and used the letters O.K.

Other people say a railroad6 worker named Obadiah Kelly invented the word long ago. They said he put the first letters of his names -- O and K -- on each object people gave him to send on the train.

Still others say a political organization invented the word. The organization supported Martin Van Buren for president in 1840. They called their group, the O.K. Club. The letters were taken from the name of the town where Martin Van Buren was born — Old Kinderhook, New York.

Not everyone agrees with this explanation, either. But experts do agree that the word is purely7 American. And it has spread to almost every country on Earth.

Then there is the expression A-Okay. This means everything is fine. A-Okay is a space-age expression. It was used in 1961 during the flight of astronaut Alan Shepard. He was the first American to be launched8 into space. His flight ended when his spacecraft landed in the ocean, as planned. Shepard reported: "Everything is A-Okay.”

However, some experts say the expression did not begin with the space age. One story says it was first used during the early days of the telephone to tell an operator9 that a message had been received.

There are also funny ways to say okay. Some people say okey-dokey or okey-doke. These expressions were first used in the 1930s. Today, a character on the American television series, “The Simpsons,” says it another way. He says okely-dokely.                                                 

Thanks, Faith. This program was written by Shelley Gollust.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 learning wpSzFe     
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 approval zNRyq     
n.赞成,同意;批准,认可
参考例句:
  • The audience has expressed its approval.观众已经认可。
  • The teacher signed his approval.老师做了手势表示同意。
3 tribe XJ2zS     
n.部落,种族,一伙人
参考例句:
  • This is a subject tribe.这是个受他人统治的部落。
  • Many of the tribe's customs and rituals are as old as the hills.这部落的许多风俗、仪式都极其古老。
4 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
5 dispute qt6xI     
n.争端,分歧;v.争论,争吵,辩论,辩驳
参考例句:
  • They are trying to find a way of settling the dispute.他们正设法寻找解决争端的办法。
  • The parties to the dispute should be more polite to each other.争执双方应相互礼貌些。
6 railroad ATIxl     
n.铁路;vi.由铁路运输
参考例句:
  • The railroad connects two cities,namely,New York and Chicago.这条铁路连接两个城市,即纽约与芝加哥。
  • My brother is working on the railroad.我兄弟在铁路系统工作。
7 purely 8Sqxf     
adv.纯粹地,完全地
参考例句:
  • I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
  • This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。
8 launched e6629d9df33839e8c4e637ffbcd1d5e2     
v.发射( launch的过去式和过去分词 );[计算机]开始(应用程序);发动;开展(活动、计划等)
参考例句:
  • He launched a bitter diatribe against the younger generation. 他对年轻一代发起了猛烈的抨击。
  • The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide. 这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。
9 operator aItxO     
n.(机器、设备等的)操作员;电话接线员
参考例句:
  • He is a computer operator.他是个电脑操作员。
  • The telephone operator connected us.话务员给我们接通了电话。
本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎点击提交分享给大家。
------分隔线----------------------------
TAG标签:   VOA慢速英语
顶一下
(0)
0%
踩一下
(0)
0%
最新评论 查看所有评论
发表评论 查看所有评论
请自觉遵守互联网相关的政策法规,严禁发布色情、暴力、反动的言论。
评价:
表情:
验证码:
听力搜索
推荐频道
论坛新贴