VOA慢速英语2017-不要陷入困境之中

 

Now, it’s time for the VOA Learning¹ English program Words and Their Stories. On this show we explore the origins, meanings and usage² of common expressions in everyday English.

Today we talk about a very common place – a corner. This word has many uses and we use it in many expressions.

The most common definition³ of a corner is where two lines, edges, or sides of something meet. For example, squares have four corners. And unless they are round, rooms have corners.

Home decorators have advice related⁴ to corners: If you are painting a floor, start with the inside corners and work your way to the door. Otherwise, you will paint yourself in a corner. You will be stuck there, with no way to walk out without stepping on your newly⁵ painted floor!

As an expression, “painting yourself in a corner” means you have trapped yourself in a bad situation. You have not given yourself a good way out.

Okay, most rooms have corners and so do neighborhoods. A corner is where two streets meet. So, it’s a word we often use when giving directions. For example, I can tell my friend to meet me at the corner of Main Street and Pine Avenue.

If your friends are looking for the corner store near your house, you can tell them, “You can’t miss it. Just go down the street and turn left. It’s right around the corner.”

However, you should know that when we are not giving directions, right around the corner has a meaning that is not related to space. It’s related to time.

“Right around the corner” can mean that something will be happening soon. So, if your birthday is right around the corner, you will be celebrating it soon.

In conversation, to turn the corner also means much more than telling someone how to get somewhere. When we “turn the corner,” we have passed a difficult part of some process.

Let’s say your boss gives you big project at work. But she doesn’t give you enough resources. So, the start is very rough. You struggle through many weeks of not knowing if the project will be successful.

But then finally, you achieve the project’s first major goal. You can say you finally turned the corner. You have gotten through the tough part, and now, everything will be fine.

We also call the sides of our eyes and mouths the corners. So, if you’re on a date eating messy pizza, make sure to wipe the corners of your mouth. That’s usually where the sauce collects.

Now, when we talk about the eye, corners get a little more interesting. Seeing something out of the corner of the eye means you see something quickly and unclearly. So, if the police question you after a traffic accident, you could say, “Sorry, officer. I didn’t see much. I simply caught a glimpse⁶ out of the corner of my eye.”

We also use this expression to describe something we see in a secretive, suspenseful⁷ or romantic way. For example, “Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her -- the woman of his dreams! His heart began to pound in his chest.”

Some other definitions⁸ of corner are also secretive and romantic. A corner can be a place that few people know about or visit or a place that is very far away.

For example, if you know a man who lives very far away from you in a very private place, you can say he lives in a remote corner of the world. Your other friend is quite the opposite. She loves to travel and has visited every corner of the world!

Now, a corner doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you can cut. But you can – at least in conversation.

When you cut corners you do something in a cheaper or easier way. For example, when my friends got married, they didn’t have much money. So, they cut corners on the music and photography. Instead of hiring a band, the bride asked her brother to play the guitar. And instead of paying a lot of money for a professional photographer, the couple gave all the guests inexpensive cameras and asked them to shoot candid⁹ photos.

Cutting corners on music and a photographer allowed my friends to spend more money on food and drinks. So, it was a good idea. However, cutting corners on expenses like childcare and healthcare is, most likely, not a good idea.

Some word experts suspect the phrase “cut corners” comes from taking a shorter route by taking a diagonal path. Moving diagonally allows you to literally¹⁰ cut out the corners.

Now, let’s talk about a type of corner found in sports.

In boxing, boxers¹¹ fight in a four-cornered square called a ring. The corners of a boxing ring give us several expressions.

During a boxing match, the most dangerous place to be is in a corner. If a boxer¹² gets trapped in a corner, he or she is unable to move right or left. This leaves them open to an attack. So, if you are boxed in a corner, or in a tight corner, or backed into a corner you are trapped and do not have a good way to get out.

Here are some examples.

“My girlfriend has me backed into a corner. She says I don’t take her out to dinner enough. But when I take her out to dinner, she says I spend too much money!”

“Look, I know you don’t agree with Neil’s ideas. But don’t box him into a corner. If he feels trapped, he will take his investment¹³ money elsewhere¹⁴.”

“Stephanie is one of my oldest and dearest friends. But she’s really put me in a tight corner. She won’t come to my birthday party if Daniel comes. But Daniel is my close friend too!”

So, if someone boxes you into a corner, that person has control over you. In fact, the verb “corner” means to control something. It is used a couple of ways.

If you force someone to talk to you, you have cornered them.

Here are two examples:

“The fan cornered the famous actress and demanded her autograph.”

“The reporter cornered the politician outside his office with a series of difficult questions.”

“To corner” can also mean you have physically¹⁵ blocked someone’s path. If the police chase¹⁶ a criminal into a dark alley¹⁷ and there is no escape, they have trapped the criminal! The police may yell¹⁸, “Give up! It’s no use trying to escape! We’ve got you cornered!”

We also use the verb "corner" this way in business. If you control the buying and selling of a product or service, you have cornered it. We often use “corner” this way in the phrase to corner the market.

For example, when it comes to freshly baked bread in the city, one business has cornered the market. No other bakery can compete. With this phrase, you can also add what type of market is being cornered. The owners of the bakery have cornered the city’s homemade bread market.

Now, we use many of these corner expressions in bad situations, such as when we are trapped, stuck by someone or surrounded by police.

Let’s end on a happy note. When we say someone is in your corner, it means they are on your side. They are fighting for you.

This expression also comes from the boxing world. The trainer is the person who comes to the boxer’s corner between rounds to give water, advice and medical help, if needed. So, if my friend says to me that she is in my corner, I know she is there to help me. In other words, she has my back.

And that’s the end of this Words and Their Stories. When it comes to improving your English, you can rest easy knowing that everyone here at Learning English is in your corner!

I’m Anna Matteo. And I'm Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

glimpse – n. a brief or quick view or look : also – v. to look at or see (something or someone) for a very short time

suspenseful – adj. a feeling or state of nervousness or excitement caused by wondering what will happen

romantic – adj. of, relating to, or involving love between two people

candid – adj. photography : showing people acting¹⁹ in a natural way because they do not know that they are being photographed

route – n. a way to get from one place to another place

diagonal – adj. joining two opposite corners of a shape (such as a square or rectangle) especially by crossing the center point of the shape

literally – adv. with the meaning of each individual word given exactly: in a completely accurate²⁰ way

digress – v. to speak or write about something that is different from the main subject being discussed

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 usage   

n.惯用法，使用，用法

参考例句：

• I am clear about the usage of this word at last.这个词的用法我算是弄明白了。
• The usage is now firmly established.这种用法现已得到确认。

3 definition   

n.定义；限定，确定；清晰度

参考例句：

• The book attempts a definition of his role in world politics.该书要阐明的是他在世界政局中的作用。
• I made a definition for this word.我给这个字下了定义。

4 related   

adj.有关系的，有关联的，叙述的，讲述的

参考例句：

• I am not related to him in any way.我和他无任何关系。
• We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。

5 newly   

adv.新近，最近；重新，再度；以新的方式

参考例句：

• Have you reviewed for this newly published novel?你给这本新出版的小说写书评了吗？
• It is a newly planted tree and it has not established yet.这是一颗新栽的树，还没有扎下根来。

6 glimpse   

vt.瞥见；n.一瞥，一看

参考例句：

• One glimpse at himself in the mirror was enough.让他照着镜子看自己一眼就够了。
• She catches a glimpse of a car in the distance.她一眼就瞥见了远处的汽车。

7 suspenseful   

adj.悬疑的，令人紧张的

参考例句：

• If his experiences then had been carefully recorded, it would undoubtedly have made a suspenseful and moving book. 若是把他所经历的事实记录下来，那就是一部充满着大智大勇，惊心动魄的小说。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Lily is an atmospheric and suspenseful tale of love, loss and obsession. 这是一个关于爱情、失落与迷恋的故事，充满情调与悬疑色彩。 来自互联网

8 definitions   

定义( definition的名词复数 )； 规定； 清晰（度）； 解释

参考例句：

• Write clear definitions in order to avoid ambiguity. 释义要写清楚以免产生歧义。
• Definitions in this dictionary are printed in roman type. 这本词典里的释义是用罗马体印刷的。

9 candid   

adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的

参考例句：

• I cannot but hope the candid reader will give some allowance for it.我只有希望公正的读者多少包涵一些。
• He is quite candid with his friends.他对朋友相当坦诚。

10 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

11 boxers   

n.拳击短裤；（尤指职业）拳击手( boxer的名词复数 )；拳师狗

参考例句：

• The boxers were goaded on by the shrieking crowd. 拳击运动员听见观众的喊叫就来劲儿了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The boxers slugged it out to the finish. 两名拳击手最后决出了胜负。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 boxer   

n.制箱者，拳击手

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• He moved lightly on his toes like a boxer.他像拳击手一样踮着脚轻盈移动。

13 investment   

n.投资，投资额；(时间、精力等的)投入

参考例句：

• It took two years before I recouped my investment.我用了两年时间才收回投资。
• The success of the project pivots on investment from abroad.这个工程的成功主要依靠外来投资。

14 elsewhere   

adv.在别处，到别处

参考例句：

• Our favourite restaurant was full so we had to go elsewhere.我们最喜欢去的那家饭店客满了，因此不得不改去别处。
• I have half a mind to move elsewhere.我有点想搬到别处去。

15 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

16 chase   

vt.追逐，追赶，追求；n.追赶

参考例句：

• The police grabbed the robbers after a long chase.警察经过长距离追赶后逮住了抢劫犯。
• Would you chase me if I did?如果我逃开了，你会来追吗？

17 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

18 yell   

vi./n.号叫，叫喊

参考例句：

• This gave them a chance to yell.这给了他们大声喊叫的机会。
• When his schoolmate made the last goal,the boy gave out with an untrammeled yell.那个男孩在他的同学踢进最后一球时不禁纵声欢呼。

19 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

20 accurate   

adj.正确无误的；准确的，精确的

参考例句：

• He has made an accurate measurement of my garden.他准确地丈量了我的花园。
• He is always accurate in what he says and does.他说的和做的总是正确无误。