词汇典故:特立独行,一个真正的美国

Maverick¹, A Truly American Word 词汇典故:特立独行,一个真正的美国

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

Our word today is “maverick.”

A maverick describes a person who thinks independently. A maverick refuses to follow the customs or rules of a group to which he or she belongs. In the U.S., a maverick is often admired for his or her free spirit. Although others who belong to the maverick’s group may not like the maverick’s independent ways.

But where did the name “maverick” come from?

Early in the 1800s, a man named Samuel Augustus Maverick moved to Texas from the eastern United States. Texas was a place of wide-open land, rich soil, cattle ranches³ and cowboys. Actually, it still is. But back then, it was even more so.     

Samuel Maverick had just completed law school. He settled down in Texas and became an important landowner and a politician. In fact, he became mayor for the city of San Antonio.

As the years passed, Mr. Maverick added to his property in Texas. Before long, he owned huge pieces of land good for raising cattle. But he had no cattle. He wasn’t a rancher. 

One day a man came to Sam Maverick to pay an old debt. But the man did not have the money he owed. So, he offered Mr. Maverick 400 cattle. Mr. Maverick accepted them. But, he didn’t really want them. He simply turned the cattle loose on his land to eat and care for themselves.

It was not long before the cows reproduced. The calves⁴ grew, and had more calves. Soon hundreds of cows and calves moved freely across Sam Maverick’s land. They also moved across the land of nearby ranch² owners.

It was a tradition among ranchers in the West to put a mark of ownership on newborn calves. They burned the name of their ranch into the animal’s skin with a hot iron. The iron made a clear mark called a “brand.” Brands allowed ranchers to easily see who owned which cattle.

Sam Maverick refused to brand his calves. Why should he, he asked. If all the other cattle owners branded theirs, then those without a brand belonged to him.

And this is how the word “maverick” got into the American language. It meant a calf⁵ without a brand.

As time passed, the word “maverick” took on a wider meaning. It came to mean a person who was too independent to follow even his or her group. Sam Maverick was a maverick in two ways. It was his name, of course. And it described his decision not to follow the tradition of ranchers to brand their cattle.

Sam’s grandson, Maury, was also a maverick. He was elected to Congress in 1935.

Maury Maverick was a member of the Democratic Party. But he was an independent thinker. As a Congressman⁶ in Washington, he refused to follow his party. In fact, he led a group of progressive Democrats⁷ who also disagreed with party leaders. His group was called “The Mavericks⁸,” because it refused to wear the Democratic brand.

Besides politics, you can also find mavericks in popular culture. The Mavericks is an American professional basketball team from Dallas, Texas.

In the 1986 movie “Top Gun,” Tom Cruise’s character is a fighter pilot named Maverick who plays by his own rules. (See movie clip below for an example.)

And a sporty car called the Ford⁹ Maverick popular in the 1970s has a nameplate that looks like a cow head.

Now, the word is also becoming a popular name for boys in the U.S. In fact, Maverick is my son’s middle name.

You have been listening to the VOA Learning English program, Words and Their Stories.

In the scene from the 1986 movie "Top Gun," the pilot who performs a gutsy move is called Maverick. The instructor¹⁰ criticizes his daring, gutsy flight moves and suggests a textbook maneuver¹¹, the opposite of a maverick one.

"Unfortunately, the gamble worked. The MiG never got a clean shot. Maverick makes an aggressive vertical¹² move here. Comes over the top and he defeats the Bandit with a missile shot. The encounter was a victory but I think that we’ve shown it as an example of what not to do. Next …”

“Gutsiest move I ever saw.”

“Now then, this is a perfect example of a textbook maneuver ..."

Words From the Movie Dialogue

MiG - Russian fighter jet

gutsiest – very tough or brave : showing courage

textbook - very typical

maneuver – a movement or series of moves requiring skill and care

1 maverick   

adj.特立独行的；不遵守传统的；n.持异议者，自行其是者

参考例句：

• He's a maverick.He has his own way of thinking about things.他是个特异独行的人。对事情有自己的看法。
• You're a maverick and you'll try anything.你是个爱自行其是的人，样样事情都要尝试一下。

2 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

3 ranches   

大农场， （兼种果树，养鸡等的）大牧场( ranch的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They hauled feedlot manure from the ranches to fertilize their fields. 他们从牧场的饲养场拖走肥料去肥田。
• Many abandoned ranches are purchased or leased by other poultrymen. 许多被放弃的牧场会由其他家禽监主收买或租用。

4 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》

5 calf   

n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮

参考例句：

• The cow slinked its calf.那头母牛早产了一头小牛犊。
• The calf blared for its mother.牛犊哞哞地高声叫喊找妈妈。

6 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

7 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 mavericks   

未烙印的牲畜( maverick的名词复数 )； 标新立异的人，不合常规的人

参考例句：

• And what about the Dallas Mavericks and Dirk Nowitzki? 那达拉斯小牛队和诺维斯基呢？
• And we see it with bringing Jason Kidd to the Dallas Mavericks. 而且我们看到它同实现基德向达拉斯小牛队。

9 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

10 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

11 maneuver   

n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略

参考例句：

• All the fighters landed safely on the airport after the military maneuver.在军事演习后，所有战斗机都安全降落在机场上。
• I did get her attention with this maneuver.我用这个策略确实引起了她的注意。

12 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。