VOA词汇掌故2023--Are You Prepared 'to See How the Sausage Is Made'?

Are You Prepared 'to See How the Sausage Is Made'?

And now, Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning English.

Today we talk about a kind of food -- sausage. Sausage can be made from any kind of meat, along with spices, herbs, sometimes vegetables, and even fruit. My favorite sausage is made from chicken, apple, and the herb sage¹.

To make sausage, the ingredients are mixed together and then shaped into individual servings.

High-quality sausage uses high-quality ingredients and costlier² cuts of meat. Some sausages are made from parts of the animal that many people may not normally eat. But everything gets mixed up so much that you do not really know what is in the final product.

For this reason, seeing the sausage-making process might be a bit unpleasant for some people. In other words, some people who like to eat sausage may not want to know how it is made. If they see all the separate ingredients, they may never eat sausage again.

And that is where we get the expression to see how the sausage is made.

If you want to see how the sausage is made, you want to see a complex or messy process. You want to know the secrets, even if they are not very pleasing.

We use this expression for any situation or process that happens away from the view of others. And most people would find that situation or process unpleasant.

For example, many people like to buy clothing that does not cost much money. But they may not want to know how the clothes are made so cheaply. They would rather not want to know how the sausage gets made.

There are other similar expressions.

You can also say we want to shine a light on something. This expression means you want to reveal or expose something unpleasant or possibly even illegal.

Another similar expression is to pull back the curtain on something. This one really explains the behind-the-scenes nature of all these expressions. A curtain is a piece of cloth or fabric³ that covers a window. It can hide what is happening inside a room. So, if you pull back the curtain on a process or way of doing something, you reveal how something is created or how it operates in private.

And if you pull back the curtain on a person, you reveal how they act when they are away from public view. You reveal their true personality or you expose their true intent.

And that's all the time we have for this Words and Their Stories.

Enjoy using these expressions the next time you want to show the unpleasant side of something.

Words in This Story

spice – n. a plant product (as pepper or nutmeg) that has a strong pleasant smell and is used to season or flavor food

herb – n. a plant or plant part used for making medicine and seasonings⁴

ingredient – n. one of the substances that make up a mixture

messy – adj. marked by confusion, disorder⁵, or dirt : untidy

view – n. range of vision

reveal – v. to make known

expose – v. to make known

behind-the-scenes – adj. being or working out of public view or in secret : revealing or reporting the hidden workings

 

intent – n. set on some end or purpose

1 sage   

n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的

参考例句：

• I was grateful for the old man's sage advice.我很感激那位老人贤明的忠告。
• The sage is the instructor of a hundred ages.这位哲人是百代之师。

2 costlier   

adj.昂贵的( costly的比较级 )；代价高的；引起困难的；造成损失的

参考例句：

• Alligator skin is five times more costlier than leather. 鳄鱼皮比通常的皮革要贵5倍。 来自互联网
• Disagreements among creditors can be costlier still. 债权人之间的分歧会加大重组的费用。 来自互联网

3 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

4 seasonings   

n.调味品，佐料( seasoning的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It emphasizes the use of seasonings, so no two dishes ever taste alike. 它对调味品十分讲究。因此，没有两个菜会有同样的味道。 来自地道口语脱口SHOW 高中超越版
• The food made of flour and various seasonings is called moon cake. 中秋节的食品也是圆圆的，也象征着团圆，这种用面和各种作料做的食品叫月饼。 来自互联网

5 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。