VOA慢速英语206--Does This Story Have Legs?

Does This Story Have Legs?

From VOA Learning¹ English, it’s time again for Words and Their Stories.

Legs. They are the base of the body. They provide support and balance. And, of course, we use them to walk.

Besides being a part of the body, leg also means a part of a journey or trip. For example, on the first leg of a trip, you might feel fresh and ready-to-go. But by the last leg, you might be tired and ready for sleep.

Legs have walked themselves right into many English expressions.

A useful expression using the word “legs” is to simply have them. If something has legs, it means people have interest in it.

This expression often describes a story, issue or scandal². If you are involved in a scandal that has legs, you will hear about it for a long time, which is unfortunate.

On the other hand, you can also say that something does not have legs, meaning no one is interested. This expression is commonly heard in newsrooms and politics.

Now, I will demonstrate³ the power of a preposition⁴. If I add “up” to the expression “has legs,” you have a whole new expression with a whole new meaning.

To have a leg up means that you are ahead of others in some competition.

For example, if you are studying rocket science in college and your mother is a rocket scientist, you have a leg up on other students.

Your mother can help you understand difficult concepts⁵. You would have another a leg up if your father owned the local rocket factory.

“Having a leg up” is much better than not having a leg to stand on. This expression means that a person has no proof⁶ or evidence to support their actions or opinions.

This expression is not new. Someone used it for the time over 500 years ago!

“To not have a leg to stand on” is often used in discussions⁷ about legal actions or court trials. If someone threatens legal action against you but they do not have evidence to prove guilt⁸, you could say, “Go ahead -- take me to court. You don’t have a leg to stand on!”

Keep in mind when using this idiom that it is only used in the negative form. So, don’t drop the “not!”

Now, let’s move our legs to the sea. Imagine you are on a boat that is rocking back and forth⁹ in rough ocean waters. You are unable to walk steadily¹⁰ and you feel a little sick. This is because you haven’t found your sea legs.

Sea legs are the ability to move about and not feel sick while traveling on a boat or ship.

If you are a pirate¹¹ and you don’t have a good pair of sea legs, your career may not progress as you would hope.

"Arrrr, matey...!"

Now, the meaning of leg work is just as it sounds, the physical part of any task. For example, a political campaign involves planning and organization, but it also requires a lot of leg work. A candidate¹² needs to talk to as many voters as possible. This means knocking on doors, standing¹³ at metro¹⁴ stations and going to community meetings.

So, if someone tells you that running a political campaign is easy office work, they are pulling your leg.

To pull someone’s leg is to tell a lie but in a friendly way. You can tell someone to not pull your leg. Or you can ask them if they are, as in this example:

A: I just won two free tickets to the big rock concert tonight and a free dinner on a night-time boat cruise¹⁵! Do you want to join me?

B: Are you pulling my leg?! That sounds too good to be true.

A: It’s true! I’ll pick you up at 6 o’clock.

Some language experts say this expression may have come from a group in England many years ago call the “trippers-up.” They were criminals who robbed people by pulling their legs out from under them.

Besides pulling a leg, you can also tell someone to shake a leg. This means to hurry. You often hear parents telling children to “shake a leg” when they are getting ready for school in the morning -- or perhaps not getting ready.

Saying break a leg to someone performing on stage is the same as saying “good luck.”

In the theater, saying “good luck” is actually considered to be bad luck.

Saying “break a leg” is a tradition for actors and musicians, but not for dancers. Telling a dancer to break a leg would just be mean.

Lastly, we come to last legs. If you find yourself on your last legs, you had better sit down for a while and rest.

Being on your last legs can mean that you are so tired you cannot continue. And the personal pronoun¹⁶ here can change. She can be on her last legs. And he can be on his last legs.

However, this expression does not have to be used just for a person.

If something you own is old and not working, you can say it is on its last legs. For example, I have owned my car for 15 years, and it is on its last legs. Everything is breaking. A company that is losing money and soon to be out-of-business can be said to be on its last legs.

But Words and Their Stories is not on its last legs!

This show has been going strong for several decades! So, please listen, Like, Share and Comment to make sure this show has legs to stand on in the years to come!

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 scandal   

n.丑事，丑闻，流言蜚语，反感，愤慨

参考例句：

• Scandal and gossip are meat and drink to him.各种丑闻和流言蜚语是他最感兴趣的事。
• His theft from the shop caused scandal in the village.他因偷商店的东西引起全村的公愤。

3 demonstrate   

vt.论证，证明；示范；显示；vi.示威游行

参考例句：

• Let me demonstrate to you how this machine works.我给你演示一下这台机器的运转情况。
• How can I demonstrate to you that my story is true?我怎样才能向你证明我的话是真实的呢？

4 preposition   

n.介词

参考例句：

• You should cancel this preposition in the sentence.你应该删去句子中的这个介词。
• We use different preposition to talk about time,days,months and seasons.我们用不动的介词来谈论时间，日，月和季节等。

5 concepts   

n.概念( concept的名词复数 )；观念；想法；总的印象

参考例句：

• He speaks in concepts rather than specifics. 他讲话时尽用抽象概念，而不谈具体。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The word "beauty" comprehends various concepts. “美”这个词包括许多概念。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 proof   

adj.防...的，耐...的，能防护；n.校样，证据，证明；vt.检验，给...做防护措施

参考例句：

• He is living proof of the wonders of modern medicine.他是当代医学奇迹的活证明。
• The proof was fished up from some old papers.校样在旧文件中被找到了。

7 discussions   

n.讨论( discussion的名词复数 )；商讨；详述；论述

参考例句：

• Discussions are held on an informal basis within the department. 讨论限于在本部门内非正式地进行。
• Her specialist input to the discussions has been very useful. 她在这些讨论中提供的专家建议很有助益。

8 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

9 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。

10 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

11 pirate   

n.海盗，每盗船

参考例句：

• The pirate chief commanded that the prisoners should be shot.海盗头子下令枪毙俘虏。
• The shore batteries fired at the pirate boat.海岸炮兵向海盗船开火。

12 candidate   

n.候选人；候补者；投考者，申请求职者

参考例句：

• Voters like a candidate who has the common touch. 投票者喜欢那些平易近人的候选人。
• The local newspapers dressed up the candidate as a boxer.当地报纸把那个候选人描绘成一个拳击手。

13 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

14 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

15 cruise   

v.巡航，航游，缓慢巡行；n.海上航游

参考例句：

• They went on a cruise to Tenerife.他们乘船去特纳利夫岛。
• She wants to cruise the canals of France in a barge.她想乘驳船游览法国的运河。

16 pronoun   

n.代词

参考例句：

• The relative pronoun is often dropped if it is the subject.关系代名词做受词时常被省略。
• Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。