Successful People 'Take the World by Storm'

 

Now, Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning¹ English. Every week, we explore common expressions in American English.

Thunder storms. Rain storms. Snow storms. Electrical storms!

If conditions get bad enough, almost any kind of weather can become a storm.

Stormy weather can cause people to cancel their plans. It can cause major events to be postponed². And severe stormy weather can be dangerous to people, property and animals.

"Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky, stormy weather

since my man and I ain't together, keeps raining all the time."

Now, let's flip³ around the term “stormy weather.”

If you weather the storm, or ride out the storm, you survive and move on without harm or injury. For example, let's talk about Tornado⁴ Alley⁵, the name for part of the central United States.

During springtime, this area often has a large number of powerful tornadoes⁶. People who live there are taught to hunker down in the safest place they can find and wait for the storm to pass. People who live in Tornado Alley are used to weathering many storms!

"To weather the storm" can also mean to make it through a difficult experience or trying times. So, if the stock⁷ market crashes, you might have to weather a financial storm. If you are a politician who gets discredited⁸ in public, you may have to lie low and weather the political storm.

Often before a big storm, conditions are calm.

The calm before the storm can happen anytime. It is the time before something bad happens. For example, at the beginning of a family reunion, the adults were all talking happily. But the older children knew it was just the calm before the storm. They’ve seen it happen before. The adults talk happily for about an hour. Then they start arguing about events from the past -- things that should really stay buried!

But after the storm begins and you find yourself in the middle of it, you are in the eye of the storm.

In the world of weather, the eye of the storm is the calmest part, in the center of a hurricane, for example.

However, in the English language, if you are in the eye of the storm, you are in the most intense⁹ part of a conflict. For example, she had no idea that walking into the meeting would put her in the eye of the storm.

Now, a storm can cause great destruction¹⁰, but it can also cause excitement. It's something people talk about.

If you want to give people something to talk about, you might want to use the following "storm" phrasal verb. Combining a verb with "up" and then the words "a storm" gives you a very useful phrasal verb. It means doing something to a great extent¹¹ or degree.

For example, if you danced all night, you can say you danced up a storm. If you spend the whole month writing a book, you can say you wrote up a storm. If you are at a party and meet someone who won’t keep quiet, you can say they are talking up a storm.

I think you get the idea.

Let's look again at the verb "to storm." It can also mean to attack. If soldiers storm a military base, they are attacking it. Used another way, you could say one storms into a place. We only do this when we are angry and/or full of purpose.

For example, if you find out that someone at the place where you work is making twice as much as you do while doing less work -- you might storm into your supervisor's office and demand a raise. But I would suggest that you call, make an appointment and calmly walk into the meeting.

There is another very useful expression involving the word "storm." But it has two very different meanings.

Taking something by storm can suggest a sudden, perhaps violent attack. For example, the police took the bank by storm and arrested the bank robbers¹².

But this term can be used in another way. "To take something by storm" can mean to have great and sudden success in a certain field. And that field can be just about anything.

Let's say you are a great cook and open a new restaurant. Everyone loves it and it quickly becomes a big success. You can then say you took the restaurant world by storm.

Or maybe you are a gifted violinist and perform in over 100 cities. Critics love you and they say you are taking the classical music world by storm.

So, taking something by storm is a good thing. But a perfect storm is not.

In the world of weather, a perfect storm is a violent storm that results from a rare combination¹³ of severe weather events. We can use this expression in other situations, but the meaning is the same. It's when a particularly bad or critical situation arises from several bad and usually unpredictable events.

Let’s hear this one in an example.

You are going on a trip and you are very excited! You have no idea that a perfect storm is building to ruin your vacation. First, the city where you’re going has an unexpected¹⁴ electrical outage. Then when you arrive you find that the airline has lost your luggage. And finally you discover that a person you really don’t like is staying in the same hotel and wants to hang out the whole time!

There are other kinds of storms.

Firestorm is also another "storm" word that can used when talking about the weather and real life. An actual firestorm is a strong, damaging fire that often has tornado-like columns¹⁶ of fire.

In conversation, a "firestorm" is a violent outburst or disagreement that causes damage. For example, the movie star created a firestorm when she made comments about the political situation in her home country.

However, a brainstorm¹⁷ does not exist in the world of weather. To brainstorm means to try to solve a problem by talking with other people.

And that's Words and Their Stories for this week. I'm Anna Matteo.

And I’m Bryan Lynn.

And don't worry. If we have trouble thinking of an idea for the next program, we can always brainstorm with you!

"Riders on the storm, riders on the storm.

Into the house we're born, into this world we're thrown."

Words in This Story

flip – v. to change from one state, position, subject, etc., to another

hunker down – phrasal verb to lower the body to the ground by bending the legs : to stay in a place for a period of time to remain safe

degree – n. a step or stage in a process, course, or order of classification¹⁸

column¹⁵ – n. something that is tall and thin in shape

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 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

3 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

4 tornado   

n.飓风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• A tornado whirled into the town last week.龙卷风上周袭击了这座城市。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

5 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。

6 tornadoes   

n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Tornadoes, severe earthquakes, and plagues create wide spread havoc. 龙卷风、大地震和瘟疫成普遍的毁坏。 来自互联网
• Meteorologists are at odds over the working of tornadoes. 气象学者对龙卷风的运动方式看法不一。 来自互联网

7 stock   

n.存货，储备；树干；血统；股份；家畜；adj.存货的；平凡的，惯用的；股票的；畜牧的；vt.进货，采购；储存；供给；vi.出新芽；进货

参考例句：

• The shop takes stock every week on Friday mornings.这家商店每星期五早晨盘点存货。
• Experts have forecast an upturn in the stock market.专家已预测股票市场价格有上升趋势。

8 discredited   

不足信的，不名誉的

参考例句：

• The reactionary authorities are between two fires and have been discredited. 反动当局弄得进退维谷，不得人心。
• Her honour was discredited in the newspapers. 她的名声被报纸败坏了。

9 intense   

adj.认真的，专注的；强烈的；紧张的；热情的

参考例句：

• Susan was an intense young lady.苏珊是一个热情的年轻姑娘。
• The quarrel caused her intense unhappiness.争吵令她极其不快。

10 destruction   

n.破坏，毁灭，消灭

参考例句：

• The enemy bombs caused widespread destruction.敌人的炸弹造成大面积的破坏。
• Overconfidence was his destruction.自负是他垮台的原因。

11 extent   

n.程度，范围，限度；广度，宽度，大小

参考例句：

• The new race track is nearly six miles in extent. 这条新跑道将近六英里长。
• What's the extent of the damage? 损坏的程度如何?

12 robbers   

n.抢劫者，强盗，盗贼( robber的名词复数 )；盗匪

参考例句：

• The robbers fled empty-handed. 抢劫犯一无所获地逃走了。
• The policeman discharged his gun at the fleeing robbers. 警察向逃跑的强盗开了枪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 combination   

n.组合，合并，联合；

参考例句：

• He carried on the business in combination with his friends.他与朋友们合伙做生意。
• The materials can be used singly or in combination.这些材料可以单独使用也可以混合用。

14 unexpected   

adj.想不到的，意外的

参考例句：

• I always keep some good wine in for unexpected guests.我总保存些好酒，用来招待不速之客。
• His promotion was unexpected.他的升迁出人意料。

15 column   

n.列，柱形图；专栏；圆柱；纵队

参考例句：

• I often read his column in the local paper.我经常在当地的报纸上看到他的专栏文章。
• A column of soldiers marched down the highway.一个士兵纵队沿着公路行进。

16 columns   

n.柱( column的名词复数 )；纵队；栏；（舰队的）纵列

参考例句：

• The temple is supported by marble columns. 这座庙宇由大理石柱支撑。
• There are two columns on each page of this dictionary. 这本词典每一页有两栏。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 brainstorm   

vi.动脑筋，出主意，想办法，献计，献策

参考例句：

• The women meet twice a month to brainstorm and set business goals for each other.她们每个月聚会两次，在一起出谋献策，为各自制定生意目标。
• We can brainstorm a list of the most influential individuals in the company.我们可以集体讨论，列出该公司中最有影响的人员的名单。

18 classification   

n.分类，分级；类别，级别

参考例句：

• These things belong in a different classification.这些东西属于不同的类别。
• This is a good system for classification.这是一个很好的分类法。