密歇根新闻广播 孵化、半卡车和清洁工

 

TWTS: Hatching, semitrucks, and cleaners

What do eggs, Old Norse, semitrucks, and cleaners have in common?

Nothing that we know of, except that we talk about all of them in this week's That's What They Say.

Today's four-question lightning round kicks off with a query¹ from Kevin Skasalski about the verb "to hatch." He asks, "Do eggs hatch or do chicks hatch? I've used the terms interchangeably, but my guess is there is, or previously² was a distiinction."

The good news is, it's hard to be wrong here. Chicks hatch from eggs, but eggs also hatch chicks.

"Hatch" is a flexible verb with multiple meanings. It can mean to emerge from an egg, to give forth³ young from an egg, and to incubate an egg in order to produce a young bird.

To summarize, eggs hatch, chicks hatch, and adult birds hatch chicks.

In other egg-related questions, William Yaroch wanted to know why we say "egg on," when we're talking about encouraging someone to do something, usually something unwise or inappropriate.

The answer doesn't actually have anything to do with the type of eggs that hatch baby birds. To find out more, listen to the audio above. You'll also hear about where the "semi" in "semitruck" comes from and where we get the phrase "take to the cleaners."

1 query   

n.疑问，问号，质问；vt.询问，表示怀疑

参考例句：

• I query very much whether it is wise to act so hastily.我真怀疑如此操之过急地行动是否明智。
• They raised a query on his sincerity.他们对他是否真诚提出质疑。

2 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

3 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。