VOA词汇掌故2023--'Light at the End of the Tunnel'

And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning¹ English.

Tunnels are long passageways that help us get from one point to another. We drive through tunnels. Subways and trains travel through tunnels. We can walk through tunnels and be protected from bad weather.

Some tunnels are very long. When we drive through them, we must turn on our headlights. If not, we cannot see! If you are afraid of long dark tunnels, having lights is important.

And that gives us this expression – light at the end of the tunnel.

This means to have hope that a bad situation will soon come to an end.

Imagine you are traveling through a long, dark tunnel. You keep going and going but you only see darkness. Then, finally, you see light up ahead! The end of the tunnel is near!

We use this expression for any difficult situation or long process. Let's say you are working on a long difficult project. It feels like you will never finish. But then, after a long day of working you finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. There is hope that the project will finally be finished.

Our other tunnel expression for today is not as hopeful.

Tunnel vision² is an actual condition where your field of vision is limited. You have a narrow field of vision resulting in loss of side vision. That is the medical condition.

As an expression, to have tunnel vision means you are narrow-minded. You have a small or narrow viewpoint³ on a certain subject. It can also mean that you are single-minded, meaning you are only able to think of one thing.

Tunnel vision is usually not considered a good thing. But sometimes having tunnel vision temporarily helps you to finish something. Used this way, tunnel vision means to be extremely focused on something or on a part of something while ignoring other things. So, again, that can be helpful.

When talking about people who have tunnel vision, we can also say they have blinders on. They are not willing to see certain things. As with tunnel vision, having blinders on can also help you finish something difficult or meet a goal.

"Tunnel" can also be used a verb. It means to dig or bore through something. It is quite an act to tunnel through a mountain when making a tunnel. But you can also dig through things like work. If I tunnel through a pile of documents, it means I was buried in work but worked my way out.

And that's all the time we have for this Words and Their Stories. Until next time.

Words in This Story

narrow – adj. of slender⁴ width⁵ limited in size or scope⁶ not broad or open in views or opinions

focused – v.to cause to be concentrated

bore – v. to make (as a hole shaped like a cylinder) by boring or digging away material

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 vision   

n.视觉，先见之明，光景，视力，眼力，幻想，影像；vt.幻想

参考例句：

• The wall cuts across our line of vision.那面墙挡住了我们的视线。
• Much reading has impaired his vision.大量读书损害了他的视力。

3 viewpoint   

n.观点，看法，见解

参考例句：

• He explained his viewpoint that taxes should be increased.他解释了他认为应该增加税收的观点。
• My viewpoint is in coincidence with you.我的观点与你的一致。

4 slender   

adj.苗条的，修长的；微薄的，微弱的

参考例句：

• Everybody of us admired her slender figure.我们人人都羡慕她的苗条身材。
• The girl was pretty and slender.那姑娘长得美丽苗条。

5 width   

n.宽度，阔度，广度；宽阔，广阔

参考例句：

• The hall is 15 metres in length and 8 in width.这个大厅直里有15米，横里有8米。
• Use a rule to measure the width of that cloth.用尺子量一下那块布的宽度。

6 scope   

n.（处理、研究事物的）范围，余地，机会

参考例句：

• There is limited scope for creativity in my job.我的工作中发挥创造力的空间有限。
• There is little scope for initiative in this job.这工作几乎没有发挥主动性的余地。