美国国家公共电台 NPR The N-th Degree

The N-th Degree

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0004:40repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST: 

Kaiya and JJ, we've got a word game for you called The N-th Degree. In this game, you'll add the letter N to a common name or expression to turn it into something else. So for an example, let's go to our puzzle guru Art Chung.

ART CHUNG: So if I said add N to a glum² person and he becomes a bag you might use for flood protection, you would say sand sack, adding the letter N to sad sack.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

KAIYA LYONS: OK.

J J MAXWELL: OK.

EISENBERG: See? Are you comfortable with the premise³?

MAXWELL: Game on.

EISENBERG: Very good. So, JJ, you won the last game, so you win this and you're going to the final round. Kaiya, you need to win this or you'll have to go home and write a think piece for Medium about what went wrong today.

(LAUGHTER)

LYONS: OK.

EISENBERG: Add N to an awkward dinner with two couples and it becomes an even more awkward reading of two works by the author of "The Divine Comedy." You can ring in and talk it out.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Kaiya.

LYONS: So I think the first part is double date.

EISENBERG: Right.

LYONS: So maybe something like Dublin date?

EISENBERG: "Divine Comedy," does that ring a bell to you?

LYONS: Not at all.

EISENBERG: OK.

LYONS: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: JJ, can you steal?

MAXWELL: Double Dayton...

EISENBERG: I don't...

(GROANS)

MAXWELL: I'm sorry.

LYONS: At least we're both awful.

EISENBERG: This is the 10th circle of hell.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: OK. "Dante's Inferno⁴," the inferno. Dante we were looking for, so then it would become double Dante 'cause you add an N to the...

LYONS: Oh.

MAXWELL: Oh.

LYONS: Got you.

EISENBERG: Yep.

LYONS: OK, OK, OK.

MAXWELL: All right, all right. At least...

EISENBERG: Not an easy game. Here's your next one. Add N to a place where you talked to friends back when you had an AOL account and it becomes a place where Monk's drone on in unison⁵.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Kaiya...

LYONS: Chantroom.

EISENBERG: Yes.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Yeah.

LYONS: I did it.

MAXWELL: That was good. That was good.

EISENBERG: And N to the face covering you'd wear to hit the slopes or rob a bank and it becomes a face covering worn by Hannibal Lecter.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

LYONS: Kaiya.

LYONS: Skin mask.

EISENBERG: Yeah, that's right.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Blech...

JONATHAN COULTON: Yeah, ugh, not my favorite kind of mask.

EISENBERG: (Laughter) Add N to one of the Golden Girls actresses and she becomes a magical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Kaiya.

LYONS: Bean Arthur - I'm sorry.

EISENBERG: Yeah, you got it.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: I can't believe we've come to our final clue. Doesn't it - we've all come a long way. Add N to a venomous spider and it becomes a glass-wall opening that's hard to see through.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: JJ

MAXWELL: Black window.

EISENBERG: Black window is correct.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Puzzle guru Art Chung, how did our contestants⁷ do?

CHUNG: Well, we made it.

(LAUGHTER)

CHUNG: Congratulations, Kaiya, you've tied it up one game apiece. So I'm going to give you a quick tiebreaker round. I'm going to give you a category and you're going to go back and forth⁸ naming things that fall into that category. The first contestant⁶ to mess up, either by guessing incorrectly, repeating an answer or taking too long, will be eliminated. Buzz in to answer first.

Here's your category - name the 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

CHUNG: JJ, you go first.

MAXWELL: Pig.

CHUNG: Pig is correct. Kaiya.

LYONS: Dog.

CHUNG: Dog is also correct. JJ

MAXWELL: Rat.

CHUNG: That's right. Kaiya.

LYONS: Rabbit.

CHUNG: Rabbit is correct. JJ.

MAXWELL: Bull.

CHUNG: We'll accept bull. We're looking for ox...

(CROSSTALK)

LYONS: Is sheep one?

CHUNG: I'm sorry, Kaiya. Sheep was wrong. The other possible answers were dragon, goat, horse, monkey, rooster, snake and tiger. So that means JJ, you're moving on to the final round.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: It's settled, our finalists are Angeline and JJ, and they'll face off in the final round at the end of the show. And if you hear the word contestant and immediately anagram it to not ten cats, then you should be not ten cats on our show. Go to amatickets.org.

Coming up, we've got Dennis Quaid and Christian⁹ Cooke from "The Art Of More." And they'll find out which item is worth more, Pharrell's hat or Gary Coleman's sweatpants. I'm Ophira Eisenberg, and you're listening to ASK ME ANOTHER from NPR.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 glum   

adj.闷闷不乐的，阴郁的

参考例句：

• He was a charming mixture of glum and glee.他是一个很有魅力的人，时而忧伤时而欢笑。
• She laughed at his glum face.她嘲笑他闷闷不乐的脸。

3 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。

4 inferno   

n.火海；地狱般的场所

参考例句：

• Rescue workers fought to get to victims inside the inferno.救援人员奋力营救大火中的受害者。
• The burning building became an inferno.燃烧着的大楼成了地狱般的地方。

5 unison   

n.步调一致，行动一致

参考例句：

• The governments acted in unison to combat terrorism.这些国家的政府一致行动对付恐怖主义。
• My feelings are in unison with yours.我的感情与你的感情是一致的。

6 contestant   

n.竞争者，参加竞赛者

参考例句：

• The company will furnish each contestant with a free ticket.公司将为每个参赛者免费提供一张票。
• The personal appearance and interview of the contestant is another count.参加比赛者的个人仪表和谈话也是一项。

7 contestants   

n.竞争者，参赛者( contestant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The competition attracted over 500 contestants representing 8 different countries. 这次比赛吸引了代表8个不同国家的500多名参赛者。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency. 两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 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。

9 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。