英语博客-北美风情 186、To get your feet wet

  This episode¹ is all about gaining experience. We look at three different kinds of expressions relating to everything from having no experience to mastering a new skill. As always, we give you lots of explanations and examples, and tell you about the possible origins of the phrases to help your remember the new expressions. Have you ever felt green? Or do you already have a lot of experience under your belt? Check out his episode to find out!

　　Maura: There are a few different ways that green can be used in a slang² way. But today, we’re looking at calling someone green when they don’t have a lot of experience in a certain area.

　　Harp³: Yes. So when they don’t have a lot of experience doing something, you can say that they’re green.

　　Maura: Yes. And this green person might also feel shy or nervous or be acting⁴ awkward⁵ because they’re inexperienced; they don’t know how to act.

　　Harp: Yeah. It’s usually when you’re younger and you’re awkward, and maybe you don’t know how to do something, so you feel green.

　　Maura: Yeah. You could be green in so many different things. You could be green in different activities, in sports. In this way that green is used for slang, it means that someone is new to an experience or a situation and they feel kind of awkward about it.

1 episode   

n.（作品的一段）情节，插曲，系列事件中之一

参考例句：

• The episode was a huge embarrassment for all concerned.这段小插曲令所有有关人员都感到非常尴尬。
• This episode remains sharply engraved on my mind.这段经历至今仍深深地铭刻在我的心中。

2 slang   

n.俚语，行话；vt.使用俚语，辱骂；vi.辱骂

参考例句：

• The phrase is labelled as slang in the dictionary.这个短语在这本字典里被注为俚语。
• Slang often goes in and out of fashion quickly.俚语往往很快风行起来又很快不再风行了。

3 harp   

n.竖琴；天琴座

参考例句：

• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
• He played an Irish melody on the harp.他用竖琴演奏了一首爱尔兰曲调。

4 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

5 awkward   

adj.笨拙的，尴尬的，使用不便的，难处理的

参考例句：

• John is so shy and awkward that everyone notices him.约翰如此害羞狼狈，以至于大家都注意到了他。
• I was the only man among the guests and felt rather awkward.作为客人中的唯一男性，我有些窘迫。