B: 我是Mike! What are we going to teach today, Xiaobei?

　　A: 今天，我们要和大家聊聊旅行计划，看看在家工作的好处，还要告诉你怎么说发疯。

　　B: But first, let's learn a word!

　　Learn A Word  1663 unconditional

　　今天我们要学的词是 unconditional, unconditional is spelled unconditional, unconditional. Unconditional 无条件的。The U.S. Senate passed a resolution calling for Cuba's immediate and unconditional release of Alan Gross, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison. 美国国会参议院通过决议，要求古巴政府立即无条件释放被判入狱15年的艾伦.格罗斯。1970年，佛罗里达州一个16岁的女孩因为药物反应进入昏迷状态，一直没有醒来。42年间，她的家人一直陪伴在她身边，直到她上星期去世。This is undoubtedly a true testimony of unconditional love. 这无疑是无条件爱的真实体现。好的，今天我们学习的词是 unconditional, unconditional, unconditional...

　　A: unconditional love,真让人感动啊! 在现在这个是故的社会中，很多事情都讲条件。It's hard to find unconditional support or unconditional friendship.

　　B: Speaking of friendship, I went to a highschool reunion last week. I had expected to meet some of  my old friends and talk about the funny things we did in the old days.

　　A: 对啊，结果呢？

　　B: The reunion turned into a brawl!

　　A: 啊？同学聚会变成了吵架大会？What happened?

　　B: One guy confessed after a few drinks that back in high school he actually stole another guy's girlfriend.

　　A: 原来是因为争风吃醋啊。结果呢？

　　B: Well, we can use the phrase from the following program to describe the reaction of the other guy. Let's listen.

　　Words and Idioms  Go Berserk

　　美国习惯用语第813讲

　　有时候，人急了会做出非常过激的反应。今天早上在楼下餐厅，一个男的不小心撞在了一位女士的身上，托盘里的东西撒了女的一身。虽然他连忙道歉，但那个女的还是不依不饶，大叫着要找律师，把那个男的告上法庭，周围的人都觉得有些过份。在英语里，这就叫 go berserk.

　　M: Go berserk. Berserk is spelled berserk. GoBerserk. Go berserk.

　　Go berserk 这个习惯用语是发疯的意思，而且往往是以疯狂、粗暴的形式表现出来。要形容今天早上我在餐厅里看见的那位女士， go berserk 这个词简直是再恰当不过的了。她本来不用发那么大火的，完全没有必要因为这点儿小事 go berserk.

　　在下面这个例子里，一场舞蹈比赛的观众对比赛结果做出了强烈的反响，让我们听听其中一个“粉丝”是怎么说的。

　　M: "After our favorite couple finished their dance, everyone stood up and applauded. No one had ever seen such a perfect performance. But the judges gave them scores which put them in second place. Well, the crowd WENT BERSERK. It took security guards to restore order."

　　这个人说，我们最喜欢的一对参赛选手表演完毕后，全场起立，掌声雷动。大家从来没有看过如此完美的表演。但是评委给他们打的分，却让他们排在了第二位，场下的观众简直气炸了，直到保安人员进场，才恢复了秩序。Went berserk? 我怎么从来没遇到过这种情况呢？我最爱看的就是真人秀。现在的真人秀五花八门，不仅让著名舞蹈演员、歌星，还让设计师、厨师，甚至是发型师现场一比高低，虽然那些号称专家的评委有时打分也不公平，但是 The audience has never GONE BERSERK. 观众从来没有为此而不依不饶。当然还有一种可能，就是节目是提前录制的，观众闹场的部分播出前被减掉了。好的，让我们再来听听上面那段话。

　　M: "After our favorite couple finished their dance, everyone stood up and applauded. No one had ever seen such a perfect performance. But the judges gave them scores which put them in second place. Well, the crowd WENT BERSERK. It took security guards to restore order."

　　大家可以想象，go berserk 这个习惯用语不仅可以用来形容人，而且可以用来指事物。让我们一起来听听下面这个例子。

　　M: "When I tried to use my laptop, the cursor began moving all over the screen by itself. Then it clicked on several documents without my ever touching it. So I unplugged the mouse, cleaned it, and plugged it back in. Now the computer isn't GOING BERSERK anymore."

　　这个人说，今天我的手提电脑好像发了疯，光标自己在屏幕上到处乱跑，我根本没碰它，它却自做主张地打开了好几份文件。我只好把鼠标拆下来，清理干净，再插回去，电脑才停止发疯。]

　　这里说 the laptop went berserk 意思就是电脑不听指挥，好像发了疯一样。同样的，go berserk 也可以用来形容动物。我曾经读过一本畅销小说，讲的是马戏团里的一头大象跑了，出去闯了不少祸。至于它为什么会 go berserk, 我现在已经记不清楚了。好的，让我们再听一下上面的例句。

　　M: "When I tried to use my laptop, the cursor began moving all over the screen by itself. Then it clicked on several documents without my ever touching it. So I unplugged the mouse, cleaned it, and plugged it back in. Now the computer isn't GOING BERSERK anymore."

　　大家可能会问，这种说法是从哪来的？有人说，Go Berserk 最早是指古代的北欧勇士，他们以英勇善战著称。这些人打仗不穿盔甲，只穿一件熊皮做的单衣，叫 Berserkar. Go berserk 这个习惯用语由此而来。

　　好的，这次美国习惯用语]就到此结束了。我是杨晨，我是 Douglas Johnson。这次节目的制作人是胡小玲。谢谢各位的收听。

　　B: Yep. The guy who got dumped by his girlfriend went Berserk and the whole reunion was ruined.

　　A: 唉，都是陈年旧事了，何必动怒呢？ They should let bygones be bygones.

　　B: I agree. Let's lighten things up a bit and listen to a guy's plan for a vacation!

　　礼节美语Vacation I

　　Jerry跟同事Paula和Will打招呼，注意听他们三人周末都干了些什么。

　　Jerry: Hey, Paula. Hi, Will. Did you have a good weekend?

　　Paula: Yeah... I checked out that new 3D movie. It's amazing what they can do with technologies these days!

　　Will: I went mountain biking with a couple of friends. We worked up a good sweat and had a good time. How about you, Jerry?

　　J: Actually, I spent most of the weekend looking at travel brochures.

　　Paula周末去看了新出的三维电影，3D movie. Will 跟几个朋友一起去骑山地车，山地车在英语里叫 mountain bike，可以是名词，在上面那段话里是做动词用，Will went mountain biking. Will 还说，他们出了一身汗，玩得特别开心。work up a sweat 是一种习惯用法，指锻炼身体或从事体力活动很投入，可以是真的出了一身汗，也可以形容特别卖力。Jerry呢，一个周末大部分时间都在看旅游宣传材料 travel brochures. 看来他是要休假喽？Paula问：

　　P: Really? Are you going somewhere?

　　J: Well, starting on the 20th of this month, I'm taking a fiveweek vacation.

　　W: Five weeks!! No way!

　　P: Get out of here! How did you swing that?

　　J: Actually, the company owes me about four months' worth of vacation time. I've been working here since 2002 and haven't taken a vacation yet. I've got oodles of comp time as well.

　　W: Sorry, what's comp time?

　　Jerry要休五个星期的假，Will和Paula都不敢相信，问Jerry, How did you swing that? to swing it 是一种口语里非正式的说法，意思是说服别人，达到自己的目的。Jerry解释说，他从2002年来这家公司工作，就一直没休过假，现在公司欠他四个月的假期，Jerry说，另外，I've got oodles of comp time as well. oodles is spelled oodles, oodles, oodles of something 也是一种非正式的说法，相当于 a lot of something 很多，Jerry说自己除了四个月的假期，还攒了很多 comp time. Will是新毕业的大学生，不知道什么是comp time. Paula解释说，

　　P: The "comp" is short for compensation. Basically he means overtime pay.

　　J: Yeah, but some companies  like ours  don't really pay overtime.... they give you extra vacation hours instead. If you add up all the vacation time and comp hours I have, I have a lot of time.

　　P: When I was working for a company in Germany they had super short work weeks and very liberal overtime rules.

　　Paula解释说，comp, comp, comp 是 compensation的简写，其实就是 overtime 加班，有些公司不发加班费，而是把员工加班的时间折合成假期，补偿给员工。另外，欧洲和美国的情况也有很大的区别，Paula说，她以前曾经在德国的一家公司工作过，they had super short work weeks and very liberal overtime rules. 那家公司不仅工作时间短，而且加班的规定也 very liberal, 很松。

　　A: 唉! 要去旅行一次真不容易，平时还要攒假，comp time, vacation hours，要加班加点才能获得的一点奖励。

　　B: That's why we envy some of the European countries where the work weeks are short and overtime rules are liberal.

　　A: 好吧，咱们还是继续把对话听完，看看Jerry到底打算怎么渡假。

　　礼节美语Vacation II

　　Jerry跟同事Paula和Will聊天，说到telecommuting远程上班。Paula说：

　　Paula: Twenty years ago, many people thought that by this time, no one would be working in offices and everybody would have a more flexible schedule.

　　W: Well, that certainly hasn't happened.

　　J: Not yet....but it could still be the wave of the future. Then again, you know the famous saying:  "Old habits die hard." Most bosses like to keep tabs on their employees and they think the best way to do that is by having them come into an office.

　　Paula说，20年前，很多人都以为社会发展到今天，大家都不用去办公室，可以在家上班了，and everyone would have a more flexible schedule. 大家都有更灵活的工作时间，但这种情况显然没有出现。Jerry 说，It could still be the wave of the future. the wave of the future 意思是未来的发展趋势。不过，老话说得好，"Old habits die hard." 积习难改。Jerry说，Most bosses like to keep tabs on their employees 大多数老板都想严格控制员工，to keep tabs on someone or something 是密切注意某人某事的意思。要想控制员工，最好的办法当然就是让他们来办公室上班，在老板眼皮底下工作。

　　J: I have to say I'm looking forward to my long vacation. I think you need at least three or four weeks of doing nothing before you can truly relax.

　　W: I thought you said you had months and months of vacation time available. Why are you only taking five weeks off?

　　J: Five weeks was the best I could negotiate with my boss. She says she knows I've earned the time, but she begged me not to take more than five weeks.

　　P: Five weeks should be long enough! Who knows? Maybe you'll get bored and come back early!

　　J: (laugh) I doubt it.

　　Jerry虽然有好几月的假期，但老板最多只让他休五个星期， 看来他一定是很能干。Paula开玩笑说，五个星期也足够了，搞不好用不了五个星期Jerry就觉得实在无聊，提前回来上班了呢！Jerry休假准备到哪里去呢？

　　W: So, where are you going?

　　J: I can't decide if I want to go with a more relaxing trip, or if I want to explore cities.

　　W: If you were to choose the more relaxing option, where would you go?

　　J: I'm thinking of the island of Bali in Indonesia. I hear it's a very relaxing and cheap vacation destination.

　　P: And what's your second option?

　　J: I was thinking of traveling around Europe, starting with Paris. I could take trains and visit other nearby major European cities as well. It's a tough call.

　　W: I'm so jealous of you!

　　P: Me too! Don't forget to bring us back some souvenirs!

　　J: I won't!

　　Jerry说，他有两种选择，一个是印度尼西亚的巴厘岛，去那里更放松 more relaxing, 另外一种选择是去欧洲，第一站是巴黎，然后可以从巴黎坐火车到其他欧洲城市去玩。Jerry 说，It's a tough call. 意思是他很难在这两种选择之间做出决定。Will 和 Paula 都很羡慕 Jerry, 提醒他一定要带 souvenirs 纪念品回来送给他们。

　　A: 原来Jerry要去欧洲，而且要坐火车游遍欧洲的各大城市，真够爽的!

　　B: Yeah. That's my dream vacation too. But Europe is expensive. I need to start saving right now. My first goal is to save enough money for an air ticket!

　　A: 说到坐飞机，咱们先来学一个很有用的词!

　　Learn A Word   inflight

　　今天我们要学的词是 inflight, inflight is spelled in, in, flight, flight, flight, inflight. Inflight 飞行中的。比如：inflight meals 飞行餐点；inflight movies 飞行途中播放的电影。A number of airlines in the U.S. are now offering inflight WiFi service to passengers. 美国现在有好几家航空公司都向乘客提供飞行途中无线上网的服务。In August, the FAA released a study of inflight use of cell phones in a few European countries that found no direct incidents of interference. 美国联邦航空局八月份公布了一份在几个欧洲国家进行的对飞行途中使用手机的研究结果，没有发现直接影响飞行信号的情况。好的，今天我们学习的词是 inflight, inflight, inflight...

　　A: I have to say a lot of airliner's inflight service is not laudable.

　　B: I know what you mean. But still, flying is your only option if you want to go to a faraway place.

　　A: 对啊。另外，去外国旅游最好还是要事先了解一下人家当地的风俗，不然很可能去了之后不光外语听不懂，礼节也不懂，这可是要出丑的。

　　B: And the idiom we'll teach in the following program can describe such a situation! Let's listen

　　Words and Idioms 814 Be Greek to Me

　　美国习惯用语第814讲

　　我花了整个一个周末的时间，终于把地下室清理干净了。你肯定想象不到，我找出了多少零七八碎的旧东西，其中不知道哪来的一本天体物理学课本，里面的公式对于我来说，简直就是天书。不过，这倒让我找到了灵感，今天我们学习的习惯用语就是：

　　M: Be Greek to me. Greek is spelled Greek. BeGreektome. Be Greek to me.

　　大家都知道， Greek 是希腊语的意思。Be Greek to me 这个习惯用语的意思就是完全无法理解，换句话说，就是中文里说的天书。这下你明白了吧，我对天体物理学一窍不通，所以那些公式对于我来说，就是天书。It's Greek to me.

　　中文说，隔行如隔山，很多专业都有自己的术语，外行人听上去自然会一头雾水。让我们听听下面这个人买房子的经历。

　　M: "Finding a house to buy was complicated enough. But that's nothing compared to all the paperwork my realtor is asking me to sign. I'm looking at nearly a hundred pages of official documents full of terms I've never seen before. It's all GREEK TO ME."

　　这个人说，找到合适的房子已经够麻烦的了，但这跟经纪人让我签字的那些文件相比，简直就是小巫见大巫。我要在一百来页的正式文件上签字，虽然里面说的是什么我完全搞不懂。

　　我也有同感。每次要在正式文件上签字，我都会很紧张，因为文件上到处都是术语。It's Greek to me. 另外一件让我头痛的事就是地方口音。就在几天前，我接到了一个推销产品的电话，推销员一口美国南部口音，虽然她重复了好几遍，但我就是听不懂她在说些什么。It was Greek to me. 好的，让我们再来听听上面那段话。

　　M: "Finding a house to buy was complicated enough. But that's nothing compared to all the paperwork my realtor is asking me to sign. I'm looking at nearly a hundred pages of official documents full of terms I've never seen before. It's all GREEK TO ME."

　　说起电话，不知道听众里有多少人使用过“即时通信”instant messaging? 我侄女每天都不停地在手机小小的键盘上敲打，给朋友发短信，可说来惭愧，我发短信的次数最多不超过五次。这种代沟给很多家长带来了困扰。让我们一起来听听下面这位父亲的牢骚。

　　M: "What was so important that our daughter was always exchanging messages with her friends? Finally, I grabbed her cell phone to see for myself. But it's like she was writing in some kind of code. My wife couldn't figure it out either. It WAS ALL GREEK TO US."

　　这个人说，我女儿好像无时无刻不在给朋友发短信，这难道真的那么重要吗？最后，我拿起她的手机，要看看上面到底写了些什么。但她好像是在用密码，我和太太根本看不懂。

　　没错，这些孩子们用的都是缩略语，比如LOL是laugh out loud太好笑了；BBL 是 be back later 一会儿见，还有 POTS 是 parents over the shoulder 有家长站在身后，意思是不方便。

　　不过，并非所有家长都象我这么落伍，与时俱进的父母还是很多的，所有孩子们最好不要肆无忌惮。好的，让我们再听一下上面的例句。

　　M: "What was so important that our daughter was always exchanging messages with her friends? Finally, I grabbed her cell phone to see for myself. But it's like she was writing in some kind of code. My wife couldn't figure it out either. It WAS ALL GREEK TO US."

　　大家可能会问，这种说法是从哪里来的？ It was Greek to me 这个习惯用语的历史可以追溯到1599年莎氏比亚的名著凯撒大帝。在书中，他谈到了一篇讲话，很多听众都听不懂，因为讲话用的是希腊语。It was Greek to them. 这个习惯用语由此而来。

　　好的，这次美国习惯用语]就到此结束了。

　　B: Speaking of not being able to communicate, I had firsthand experience at my high reunion.

　　A: 又是你的高中聚会？

　　B: Yep! After the brawl, we went to an after party and for some reason all my friends started talking about investing in stocks and securities. They spoke in jargons and it was Greek to me!

　　A: 看来你落伍啦! 赶快多看点财经新闻吧，这年头，不懂点股市期货啥的都不好意思和别人打招呼啦!

　　B： Are you also speaking from personal experience, Xiaobei?

　　B: 这你就别管啦! 好了，节目时间到了，听众朋友，咱们下次再见喽!

　　A: See you next time!

　　-