Li:   大家好，欢迎收听我们今天bbcukchina.com的《你问我答》节目。我是董征，而和我今天一起主持这期节目的是我的同事William Kremer. Hi William, how are you? 

The word 'down' probably has some uses that are new to you.

 
William:    I'm very well, thank you. How are you?
 
Li:      I'm very well too. Feeling ready for some tricky grammar and vocabulary questions, William?
 
William:    I'm ready and waiting Li.
 
Li:   好。我们今天要来解答的问题来自于中国广东一位叫卓的听友。让我们先来听一听他给我们提的这个问题。
 
Insert
 
Zhou:      Hello, I am Zhou. I am 19 years old, living in Guangdong. Today I referred to a dictionary to figure out the meaning of the word 'down'. But I was totally confused as there seemed to be many meanings and usages of this word. So could you please explain the word 'down'? Thank you. 
 
Li:   看来这位朋友想了解英语里 down 这个词在不同的使用中都有什么不同的含义。Can we help, do you think William?
 
William:    I think we can Li, especially as I have something to help us out today...
 
Li:    Oh... 别又是把BBC的特殊音响效果拿出来了吧？ 
 
William:    It's the BBC FX cupboard!
 
Li:   每次都这样。然后每次都是先把那个恐怖的开门声先放出来吓人。
 
William:    Let me just open this door...
 
Li:    Wow这么多级的石头台阶通往下面黑洞洞的地方！What's down there, William?
 
William:    What's down there? Here, the word down means below. 
 
Li:    Down这个词最常见的含义是“下面、向下”的意思。What's down there? 
 
William:    But down can also mean along. So for example, the station is down the road. 
 
Li:    The station is down the road, 并不是说车站是在马路的下面，而是说车站顺着马路走就能到。The station is down the road.
 
William:    Come on, let's stop talking Li and just go down. 
 
Li:    Oh William... I'm not sure...
 
William:    Come on Li! Come on! Come on, think of Zhou! Think of Zhou and her question!
 
Li:    Oh great! 现在门也关上了！Ungh! Ungh! 怎么也打不开了！怎么办！我们被关在这儿了，下午我还要去作头发呢！有人吗！快让我出去！
 
William:    Oh calm down Li. You're not going to die.
 
Li:    William让我calm down 平静下来。Quite frankly, I don't want to calm down. I want to go to my hairdresser and have my head massaged!
 
William:    You'll be OK. Trust me. We'll just keep going down and see what's at the bottom.
 
Li:   看来我也别无选择了。
 
怎么这里的墙都是湿乎乎的, William? 
 
William:    I think we must be deep underground. We've been going down for a long time. 
 
Li:   我的腿已经快走不动了。 
 
William:    Now we can say "to go down", but there are also a lot of other verbs which we can use with the word down.
 
Li:    Down和其它不同的动词搭配在一起经常有从上往下的意思。那William你给我们举几个例子吧?
 
William:    Well, we can say to come down, to fall down, to get down, to take down, to pull down, to climb down, to throw down and to shout down. And there are lots more examples too.
 
Li:    Oh.... 我希望咱们不用再往下走多远了。我今天穿的鞋根本就不适合这样的探险远
足！I'm worried I might fall down...
 
[sneeze]
 
William:    Are you ok Li? 
 
Li:    I... I... [sneeze]. I think I'm going down with something. Even coughing! 
 
William:    Oh no! 
 
Li:    To go down with something 就是说得了感冒或者其它的病。I think I am going down with something William, and do you know what? I think it's down to you!
 
William:    To me? Why's it down to me?
 
Li:   在英国英语里，如果你说有什么事是down to somebody意思就是这件事的发生全是因为这个人。It's down to you William that I am sneezing because you made me come in this cold and dark and wet place and... [sneeze]
 
William:    I'm sorry, Li. I can see that you're feeling down.
 
Li:    Yes, I am! I'm feeling down. To feel down 就是“情绪低落”。I'm feeling down.
 
Wow William! What's happening? 突然一片光明！还有这么美妙动听的音乐！空中还飘着雪花一样的羽毛！简直就像一个童话世界！
 
William:    We call this down. As a noun, down is soft feathers or hair. So for example pillows are filled with down.
 
Li:   对，真的就像一个巨大的羽绒枕头。
 
Finn:    Hi guys.
 
William:    Finn! What are you doing here? 
 
Li:    Isn't this amazing?!
 
Finn:    Yeah. It's all right. But I've been here a while now. I was thinking I might go down the pub.
 
Li:    To go down the pub. 去酒吧。这可是一个很英国的说法 – to go down the pub, to go down the shops.
 
Finn:    Do you guys want to go down the pub with me?
 
William:    Yeah. I'm down with that.
 
[end music]
 
Li:    Sorry? "Down... with that"...?
 
William:    I said "Yeah. I'm down with that."
 
Li:    To be down with something 就是同意赞成某事。不过这种说法是英国年轻人比较时尚的一个俚语性质的说法，可不太适合William。听William这么说，让人不禁有点起鸡皮疙瘩，是不是Finn？ 
 
Finn:   没错。听William装时髦就像看我爸爸跳现代舞一样。走，咱们快一起去酒吧吧。
 
William:    Finn, do you think you could do me a favour? It's a bit embarrassing but... do you think you could buy the drinks? I'm down to my last £5. 
 
Li:    Down to his last £5 – 就是说他身上只剩下五英镑的钱了。William is down to his
last £5. 
 
Finn:    OK then. There you go, Will. 
 
William:    Thanks Finn.
 
Finn:    Now, seeing as I've bought you a drink I want you to do a favour for me.
 
William:    Right... 
 
Finn:    I want you to down that pint.
 
Li:    Ah... boys will be boys! Finn刚才说到的  to down 就是“一口气喝干”的意思  to down a pint. 
 
William:    Oh Finn.... I'm not sure...   You know, I'm getting a bit old for that kind of thing. 
 
Finn:    Come on, come on! Down it! It's only orange juice!
 
William:    I don't know... 
 
Finn / Li:    Down it! Down it! Down it!...
 
William:    Hey guys guys guys.... I've got a great idea. Instead of me downing my drink why don't we listen again to all the examples of the word down from this programme?
 
Insert
 
Li:    What's down there, William?
William:    ...the station is down the road.
William:    Oh calm down Li.
William:    We've been going down for a long time. 
Li:    I think I'm going down with something. 
William:    Why's it down to me?
Li:    I'm feeling down. 
William:    Down is soft feathers or hair.
Finn:    I was thinking I might go down the pub.
William:    Yeah. I'm down with that.
William:    I'm down to my last £5. 
Finn:    Down it! It's only orange juice!
  
William:    Well Zhuo I do hope that we have helped answer your tricky question today.
 
Li:    Yes and remember that if you have a grammar or vocabulary question please email us at...
 
Finn:    ... questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk.
 
All:    Cheers! 

To answer Zhou's question, Li and William go on a special mission that takes them into the bowels of the earth. To their surprise they see a familiar face there and end up indulging in a traditional British activity.

Many learners of English struggle with the multiple uses of the words up and down. How many do you know?

Look at these examples try to work out what the function of the word is in each sentence.

What's down there?

The station is down the road.

Calm down please.

We've been going down for a long time.