词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Listener Mail

Broadcast on "Coast to Coast": March 13, 2003

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster -- questions and more questions!

RS: Listener Ahmed Mustaque sends this question by e-mail from somewhere in cyberspace¹: "Could you please tell me about the word 'being.'"

AA: "Being" is used as a verb when you talk about a continuous situation. For instance, the Irish-born playwright² Oscar Wilde wrote a comedy called "The Importance of Being Earnest."

RS: It can also mean something that exists -- like a human being. There it's used as a noun. And it can modify a noun. When people say "for the time being," "being" serves as an adjective.

AA: "For the time being" means "for now," the present time -- in other words, until something changes. Some people also use "being" in place of "because" or "since," as in the phrase "being as how ... "

RS: Now, being as how we don't have much time, we move on to a question that should resound³ with teachers everywhere. It's from Dianne Gray in Moscow. She's new to English teaching, and we've answered some of her questions before.

AA: Recently Dianne was invited to help a group of four new students. Her question: "How can these students be corrected as a group (if so) without embarrassing anyone?"

RS: Well, as it turned out, Dianne answered her own question this time. She wrote back to say: "What I did with my new group of students was to ask them how they feel comfortable about being corrected as a group. They said I should just correct them and they would not get upset. So, we're trying that."

AA: Next a question from a listener in Bangladesh who's also written us before. Azmul Haque in Dhaka asks us to explain what鈥檚 called an oxymoron.

RS That word -- which comes to us from Greek -- is a combination of words that seem to make no sense being together, yet, despite the contradiction people use them.

AA: Here are some examples: "healthy tan," "jumbo shrimp," "working vacation," "peace force" and "pretty ugly."

RS: These examples come from the "Top 20" at oxymoronlist.com. Number 20, by the way, is "government organization."

MUSIC: "Mister Ed"/Theme from 1960s TV show

AA: And now, the most unusual question we've ever gotten. A listener in China would like to know what we Americans say to a horse to urge it to move faster.

RS: "In my country,鈥?writes Pan Runzhou in Shanghai, 鈥減eople utter the sound like jar~jar~jar~".

AA: Well, for an answer we turn to a horse expert, Nancy Smart at Longevity⁴ Farm in Maryland:

SMART: "Actually this is kind of an interesting question, because we don't say much. If we say anything, we cluck at them [sound] -- you know, click, click, click, click. But really mostly the way we ask our horses to go faster is with our legs and our seats and our hands, non-verbal aids. If I'm asking my horse to move from a walk to a trot⁵, I'll just squeeze gently with my calves⁶, and he will move into a trot."

AA: "Do you ever use the expression 'whoa Nelly!'"

SMART: "Never. Never. I know what it means -- it means 'stop horse.' But it's not something that I've ever in my life used."

RS: Nancy Smart, accomplished⁷ equestrian⁸ and -- until she retired⁹ from VOA last year -- our editor on Wordmaster. But while serious riders like Nancy may bridle¹⁰ at the term "whoa Nelly!" it is used as slang ... to tell a PERSON to slow down, like if someone is talking too fast or coming on too strong.

AA: And while you're talking like a make-believe cowboy, you might also say that you've got to "giddy up and go!" And that's what we've got to do. Catch us on the Web at voanews.com/wordmaster, and our e-mail address is [email protected]. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

MUSIC: "Back in the Saddle Again"/Gene Autry (first recorded in 1939)

1 cyberspace   

n.虚拟信息空间，网络空间，计算机化世界

参考例句：

• She travels in cyberspace by sending messages to friends around the world.她利用电子空间给世界各地的朋友们发送信件。
• The teens spend more time in cyberspace than in the real world of friends and family.青少年花费在电脑上的时间比他们和真正的朋友及家人在一起的时间要多。

2 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

3 resound   

v.回响

参考例句：

• A roar of approval resounded through the Ukrainian parliament.一片赞成声在乌克兰议会中回响。
• The soldiers' boots resounded in the street.士兵的军靴踏在地面上的声音在大街上回响。

4 longevity   

n.长命；长寿

参考例句：

• Good habits promote longevity.良好的习惯能增长寿命。
• Human longevity runs in families.人类的长寿具有家族遗传性。

5 trot   

n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧

参考例句：

• They passed me at a trot.他们从我身边快步走过。
• The horse broke into a brisk trot.马突然快步小跑起来。

6 calves   

n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解

参考例句：

• a cow suckling her calves 给小牛吃奶的母牛
• The calves are grazed intensively during their first season. 小牛在生长的第一季里集中喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

8 equestrian   

adj.骑马的；n.马术

参考例句：

• They all showed extraordinary equestrian skills.他们的骑术都很高超。
• I want to book two equestrian tickets.我想订两张马术比赛的票。

9 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

10 bridle   

n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒

参考例句：

• He learned to bridle his temper.他学会了控制脾气。
• I told my wife to put a bridle on her tongue.我告诉妻子说话要谨慎。