VOA慢速英语2014 Bigwig and Top Banana

 

Bigwig and Top Banana 

Now, the VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories. 

Some expressions describe people who are important -- or who at least think they are. One such expression is bigwig.

In the 17th century, important men in Europe began to wear false hair, called wigs². As years passed, wigs began to get bigger. The size of a man's wig¹ depended on how important he was. The more important he was -- or thought he was -- the bigger the wig he wore. Some wigs were so large they covered a man's shoulders or back.

Today, the expression "bigwig" is used to make fun of a person who feels important. People never tell someone he is a bigwig. They only use the expression behind his back.

"Big wheel" is another way to describe an important person. A big wheel may be the head of a company, a political³ leader, a famous movie star. They are big wheels because they are powerful⁴. What they do affects many people. Big wheels give the orders. Other people carry them out.  As in many machines, a big wheel makes the little wheels turn.

Big wheel became a popular expression after World War II. It probably comes from an expression used for many years by people who fix parts of cars and trucks. They said a person "rolled a big wheel" if he was important and had influence.

The top of something is the highest part. So it is not surprising that top is part of another expression that describes an important person. The expression is top banana. A "top banana" is the leading person in a comedy show. The funniest comedian⁵ is called "the top banana." The next is "second banana." And so on.

Why a banana? A comedy act in earlier days often included a part where one of the comedians⁶ would hit the others over the head with a soft object. The object was shaped like the yellow fruit: the banana.

Top banana still is used mainly in show business. Yet the expression can also be used to describe the top person in any area.

A "kingpin" is another word for an important person. The expression comes from the game of bowling⁷. The kingpin is the number one pin. If hit correctly with the bowling ball, the kingpin will make all the other nine pins fall. And that is the object of the game.

So, the most important person in a project or business is the kingpin. If the kingpin is removed, the business or project is likely to fail.

Kingpin is often used to describe an important criminal⁸, or the leader of a criminal gang⁹. A newspaper may report, for example, that "police have arrested the suspected kingpin of a car-stealing operation."

This VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories was written by Marilyn Christiano.

1 wig   

n.假发

参考例句：

• The actress wore a black wig over her blond hair.那个女演员戴一顶黑色假发罩住自己的金黄色头发。
• He disguised himself with a wig and false beard.他用假发和假胡须来乔装。

2 wigs   

n.假发，法官帽( wig的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They say that wigs will be coming in again this year. 据说今年又要流行戴假发了。 来自辞典例句
• Frank, we needed more wigs than we thought, and we have to do some advertising. 弗兰克，因为我们需要更多的假发，而且我们还要做点广告。 来自电影对白

3 political   

adj.政治上的，政党的，政略性的，政治的

参考例句：

• He was forced to leave his homeland for political reasons.因为政治原因他被迫离开自己的祖国。
• In ideas those two political parties are worlds apart.那两个政党在思想上有巨大分歧。

4 powerful   

adj.有力的，有权力的，强大的

参考例句：

• The UN began to get more and more powerful.联合国开始变得越来越强大了。
• Such are the most powerful voices of our times!这些就是我们时代的最有力的声音！

5 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

6 comedians   

n.喜剧演员，丑角( comedian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The voice was rich, lordly, Harvardish, like all the boring radio comedians'imitations. 声音浑厚、威严，俨然是哈佛出身的气派，就跟无线电里所有的滑稽演员叫人已经听腻的模仿完全一样。 来自辞典例句
• He distracted them by joking and imitating movie and radio comedians. 他用开玩笑的方法或者模仿电影及广播中的滑稽演员来对付他们。 来自辞典例句

7 bowling   

n.保龄球运动

参考例句：

• Bowling is a popular sport with young and old.保龄球是老少都爱的运动。
• Which sport do you 1ike most,golf or bowling?你最喜欢什么运动，高尔夫还是保龄球？

8 criminal   

n.罪犯，犯人，刑事；adj.犯了罪的，罪的，有罪的

参考例句：

• He is a habitual criminal.他是一个惯犯。
• We captured the criminal.我们捕获了那个犯人。

9 gang   

n.一伙，一帮；结伴的朋友

参考例句：

• The gang live abroad,beyond reach of the British police.这帮匪徒住在国外，英国警方鞭长莫及。
• Some gang came in and shot the place up.有股匪帮进来对这个地方开枪扫射。