你擅长物流吗?

Are You Good at Logistics? 你擅长物流吗?

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

On today’s show we look at a few words as they relate to a famous story in American history: the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In 1803, the United States purchased a large part of North America from France. The area was called the Louisiana Territory.

After the deal was made, President Thomas Jefferson proposed² a fact-finding trip, or expedition, to the Louisiana Territory. He chose Meriwether Lewis to lead the expedition team. Lewis, in turn, asked a friend, William Clark, to join the team in its trip across what is now the northwestern part of the U.S. mainland³.

There are many things that must be done to organize a complex activity, like an expedition. These things are called logistics. The word logistics has military roots. It comes from a late 19th century French word, “logistique,” meaning sheltering and supplying troops.

Now, let’s consider two words that sound almost alike⁴. They are “compliment⁵,” spelled with the letter “i,” and “complement,” spelled with an “e.” To learn more about both words, we turn to Kelly Jean Kelly. She went on her own expedition, of sorts, to find out more about Lewis and Clark.

KJK: Anybody who has ever traveled knows how important logistics are. You have to make your plane reservations⁶ if you’re flying. You have to make your hotel reservations. You have to figure out how far you’re going every day. You have to figure out how to get where you’re going on time and what you need to bring and what you need to have. I am very bad at logistics. It is not my strength.

AM: It is not your strong suit.

KJK: It is not my strong suit.

KJK: But fortunately I have am absolutely wonderful travel partner, another colleague here in Learning English, named Roger Hsu. And Roger is the videographer and the producer of the history videos. And he’s very good at telling a story with pictures. I usually think of telling a story with words. But Roger uses images to tell a story. So, that is one of his great strengths.

KJK: Luckily for me, his other great strength is logistics. So, he made sure that we were always where we needed to be at the right time and with the right equipment. And that was incredibly, incredibly valuable. I’m very thankful for Roger, who is also just a lovely person by the way.”

AM: So it was important that you were together as a team and someone was able to pick up the slack⁷, meaning to do perhaps what the other person doesn’t do very well. 

JKJ: Correct, correct. And this is one of the things that historians⁸ talk about with Lewis and Clark that those two men had complementary skills. So complementary spelled with an “e” and not with an “i.” And compliment is when you say something nice about somebody. So, Roger is a very nice man and a good travel partner. So, that’s a compliment.  But he and I are complementary in that we have different skills but they go together very well.

KJK: Some historians say that Lewis was very good at logistics. He organized everything before the trip and he bought the supplies that they needed. And he made arrangements with the government to get the money and have everything organized. And William Clark, his partner, was very good with the people on the ground. He organized the other soldiers and other people on the trip. He helped make friendly relationships with the people they met. So Lewis and Clark were an excellent team because they had complementary skills.

1 learning   

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 proposed   

被提议的

参考例句：

• There is widespread discontent among the staff at the proposed changes to pay and conditions. 员工对改变工资和工作环境的建议普遍不满。
• an outcry over the proposed change 对拟议的改革所发出的强烈抗议

3 mainland   

n.大陆，本土

参考例句：

• The new bridge will link the island to the mainland.新的桥梁将把该岛与大陆连接在一起。
• Hong Kong's prosperity relies heavily on mainland.香港的繁荣在很大程度上依赖于大陆。

4 alike   

adj.同样的，相像的；adv.一样地；同程度地　

参考例句：

• The twins are so alike that I can't tell which is which.这对双胞胎一模一样，我分辨不出谁是谁。
• All stories seemed dreadfully alike,no matter who told them.看来，不管谁讲，故事都是千篇一律的。

5 compliment   

n.[pl.]问候，致意；n./v. 称赞，恭维

参考例句：

• The manager paid her a compliment on her work.经理赞扬了她的工作。
• Your presence is a great compliment.承蒙光临，不胜荣幸。

6 reservations   

n.[法律]（权益等的）保留( reservation的名词复数 )；预订；保留地；保留意见

参考例句：

• Most of these workers are American Indians living on reservations. 这些工人中的大多数是住在居留地的美洲印第安人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Have you made the reservations for our holiday yet? 你为我们度假做好预订安排了吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 slack   

adj.松弛的，萧条的，懈怠的；vt.使松弛

参考例句：

• Slack off those ropes there,there's a storm coming!把那里的绳索放松，暴风雨就要来了！
• Some are hard at work and some are slack in work.有的勤奋工作，有的则消极怠工。

8 historians   

n.历史学家，史学工作者( historian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Historians seem to have confused the chronology of these events. 历史学家好像把这些事件发生的年代顺序搞混了。
• Historians have concurred with each other in this view. 历史学家在这个观点上已取得一致意见。