VOA慢速英语:大人物的表达方式Bigwig and Top Banana

Now, the VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories.

现在是美国之音英语教学词汇掌故栏目。

Some expressions describe people who are important -- or who at least think they are. One such expression is bigwig.

用来描述一些重要的人物或者至少他们自认为自己了不起的那些人的一些词组，其中的一个就是bigwig。

In the 17th century, important men in Europe began to wear false hair, called wigs. As years passed, wigs began to get bigger. The size of a man's wig depended on how important he was. The more important he was -- or thought he was -- the bigger the wig he wore. Some wigs were so large they covered a man's shoulders or back.

17世纪，欧洲一些重要人物开始戴一种被称为wigs的假发。随着时间的流逝，这种wigs假发开始变得越来越大。假发的大小取决于这人的重要性，这个人物越重要，或者他自认为自己越重要，假发就越大。一些假发太大了，以至于覆盖了人的肩膀或者后背。

Today, the expression "bigwig" is used to make fun of a person who feels important. People never tell someone he is a bigwig. They only use the expression behind his back.

今天"bigwig"这个词用来取笑那些自认为很重要的人。人们从来不会当面说某人是一个bigwig，他们只在背后说人时用它。

"Big wheel" is another way to describe an important person. A big wheel may be the head of a company, a political leader, a famous movie star. They are big wheels because they are powerful. What they do affects many people. Big wheels give the orders. Other people carry them out. As in many machines, a big wheel makes the little wheels turn.

"Big wheel"是描述重要人物的另一种方式。一个big wheel可能会是一家公司的头儿，一位政治领袖，或者一位著名的电影明星。之所以称他们为big wheels 是因为他们手里有权利。他们的所作所为会影响许多人。他们发号施令，其他人执行。就像许多机器一样，大轮子带动小轮子旋转。

Big wheel became a popular expression after World War II. It probably comes from an expression used for many years by people who fix parts of cars and trucks. They said a person "rolled a big wheel" if he was important and had influence.

Big wheel是在二战以后开始被广泛应用的。它可能来自那些修理汽车或者卡车的人，可能已经被那些人用了好多年了!如果一个人很重要或者具有影响力，他们就称这些人为“能滚动大轮子”的人。

The top of something is the highest part. So it is not surprising that top is part of another expression that describes an important person. The expression is top banana. A "top banana" is the leading person in a comedy show. The funniest comedian is called "the top banana." The next is "second banana." And so on.

某物的最顶部是它最高的一部分。所以说用top相关的短语来表示一个重要的人也就不足为奇了。这个短语就是top banana。"top banana"是指一部喜剧表演的主角。最有趣的喜剧演员被称为"the top banana"。其次是"second banana"，然后依次类推。

Why a banana? A comedy act in earlier days often included a part where one of the comedians would hit the others over the head with a soft object. The object was shaped like the yellow fruit: the banana.

为什么用banana这个词呢?在早期的喜剧表演中经常会出现这样的场景：一位喜剧演员会用一个软的东西击打其他演员的头。这个东西的形状很像一种黄色的水果：香蕉。

Top banana still is used mainly in show business. Yet the expression can also be used to describe the top person in any area.

Top banana仍然主要用于娱乐圈。但是它还可以用来描述各个领域的拔尖人才。

A "kingpin" is another word for an important person. The expression comes from the game of bowling. The kingpin is the number one pin. If hit correctly with the bowling ball, the kingpin will make all the other nine pins fall. And that is the object of the game.

"kingpin"是表示物的另一个词。这个词来源于保龄球比赛。Kingpin是保龄球中最重要的球瓶。如果正确地用保龄球击中它，kingpin能让其它九个球瓶都倒下去而这就是打保龄球的目的。

So, the most important person in a project or business is the kingpin. If the kingpin is removed, the business or project is likely to fail.

因此不管是一项工程，或者是一个企业里最重要的人就称之为kingpin。如果kingpin被撤掉，那么这个企业或者工程可能会失败!

Kingpin is often used to describe an important criminal, or the leader of a criminal gang. A newspaper may report, for example, that "police have arrested the suspected kingpin of a car-stealing operation."

Kingpin也经常用来形容一个重要的犯人，或者犯罪集团的头目。比如说报纸上可能会这样报道“警察已经逮捕了一起汽车盗窃案的嫌疑头目。”

This VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories was written by Marilyn Christiano.

这次的词汇掌故是由Marilyn Christiano编写的。

I'm Warren Scheer.

我是Warren Scheer。
（本文转自chinavoa.com）