听播客学英语 37 运煤到纽卡斯尔

 　　Have you come across the English expression “carrying coals to Newcastle”? This is what it means. For several hundred years, from the 16th century until about 50 years ago, the North-east of England was a major coal-producing area. There were literally¹ hundreds of small coal mines in the area. Until the railways were built, most of the coal was taken to the city of Newcastle, which is on the river Tyne, close to the sea. From Newcastle, the coal went by ship to London and many other places in Britain and abroad.

　　Now, imagine that you are a coal merchant in, say, London. You have some coal to sell. Where might you take the coal to sell it? Where would you not take the coal to sell it? I think that you would not take it to Newcastle, because there is lots of coal there already.

　　So, if you say that something is like “carrying coals to Newcastle”, you mean that it is useless, it has no purpose, it is a complete waste of time and money. I am sure that there are equivalent² sayings in other languages – “carrying owls³ to Athens” is an old Greek saying that means the same. You could even invent some of your own – “taking fridges to the North Pole”, for example. Or, “taking wine to Bordeaux”.

　　You may be wondering, why do we talk about “coals to Newcastle” and not “coal to Newcastle”? Surely, “coal” is a collective⁴ noun⁵, like “water” or “sugar”. Well, in modern English we would indeed say “coal to Newcastle”, but the expression dates back to the 16th century, and at that time people talked about “coals” instead of “coal”.

　　And let us have a little pronunciation lesson too. If you want to sound like a native English speaker, you need to know how to pronounce the names of places in England correctly. We do not make this easy for you, and lots of English place names are spelled quite differently from the way they are pronounced. Now, you will hear many English people pronounce the name of the city in the north-east of England “NEWcastle”. But the people who live there say NewCAStle. My mother was born and brought up in Newcastle, and she made sure that her children knew how to pronounce the name properly!

　　I am telling you about “coals to Newcastle” because I read an interesting article in the newspaper this morning. As you know, a lot of English people have gone to live in France in the past 20 years or so. They like the climate, they like the wine, they like the food, they like the low prices for houses in rural⁶ areas of France. Some of them even learn to speak French! However, the British pound has fallen in value against the Euro, and this has caused problems for many of them. They have found that it is cheaper to buy food and groceries in England than in France. So they order groceries online from one of the big British supermarket companies. The supermarket delivers the groceries to a specialist delivery⁷ company, and five times a week the delivery company sends a van full of groceries to English people in south-west France. Most of the things they order are awful English foods that no respectable⁸ Frenchman would eat, such as tinned chicken curry⁹. But among the items which they order are French products like wine and croissants. From England to France! Coals to Newcastle!

　　Finally, I should tell you that someone did once send coals to Newcastle. In the eighteenth century, there was an American businessman called Timothy Dexter. His competitors, who wanted to ruin him, told him that it would be an excellent idea to send a ship full of coal to Newcastle. So he did. His ship arrived in Newcastle in the middle of a miners’ strike. There was a shortage¹⁰ of coal, and prices were very high, and he sold his coal at a great profit. Sometimes sending coals to Newcastle can be a good idea!

1 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。

2 equivalent   

adj.（to）相等的，等价的；n.相等物，等值物

参考例句：

• Nodding your head is equivalent to saying "yes".点头就等于说“赞同”。
• You will receive the full equivalent of your money.你将收到与你的款项价值完全同等的物品。

3 owls   

n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 'Clumsy fellows,'said I; 'they must still be drunk as owls.' “这些笨蛋，”我说，“他们大概还醉得像死猪一样。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• The great majority of barn owls are reared in captivity. 大多数仓鸮都是笼养的。 来自辞典例句

4 collective   

adj.集体的，共同的；n.团体，集体

参考例句：

• I do feel deeply the strength of the collective. 我确实深深地感到了集体的力量。
• They hold together for collective security.他们为了共同安全而团结在一起。

5 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。

6 rural   

adj.乡下的，田园的，乡村风味的

参考例句：

• He lived a rural life.他过着田园生活。
• We left the city for a rural home.我们离开城市，去农村安家。

7 delivery   

n.交付；投递；分娩；解救者；演讲的风格

参考例句：

• The strike caused a great delay in the delivery of the mail.这次罢工严重地延误了邮件的投递。
• He was employed at the local grocery store as a delivery boy.他受雇于当地杂货店当送货员。

8 respectable   

n.品格高尚的人；adj.值得尊重的，人格高尚的，不少的

参考例句：

• She seems respectable enough.她看上去挺体面的。
• His savings were just enough to pay for a respectable funeral.他的存款刚好够办一个体面的葬礼。

9 curry   

n.咖哩粉，咖哩饭菜；v.用咖哩粉调味，用马栉梳，制革

参考例句：

• Rice makes an excellent complement to a curry dish.有咖喱的菜配米饭最棒。
• Add a teaspoonful of curry powder.加一茶匙咖喱粉。

10 shortage   

n.缺少，缺乏，不足

参考例句：

• The city is suffering a desperate shortage of water.这个城市严重缺水。
• The heart of the problem is a shortage of funds.问题的关键是缺乏经费。