VOA慢速英语: 野猫：国会议员、金钱、油井和罢工者（双语）

Wildcats: Congressmen, Money, Oil Wells and Strikers
野猫：国会议员、金钱、油井和罢工者
Now, the VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories.
这里是美国之音慢速英语词汇掌故故事。
Today, we tell about the word "wildcat."
今天，我们讲讲关于“野猫”这个词语。
Humans have always depended on animals. From the beginning of human history, wild animals provided food, clothing and sometimes medicine.
人类一直依赖于动物，从人类历史的开始，野生动物就为人类提供了食物、衣服和某些时候需要的药品。
We may not depend as much on wild animals now. But we hear about them every day. Americans use the names of animals in many ways.
现在的我们可能对野生动物的依赖性不那么大了，但是我们每天都可以听到关于动物的对话。美国人在很多方面都使用了动物的名字。
Many companies use animals to make us want to buy their goods. Automobile companies, for example, love to show fast horses when they are trying to sell their cars. They also name their cars for other fast powerful animals.
许多公司用动物的名字命名商品，来吸引我们去买他们的商品。例如汽车公司，在试图销售他们的汽车的时候，喜欢展示那快速奔跑的骏马来吸引大家目光。而且他们还用其他迅猛强壮的动物的名字来命名他们的汽车。
Automobile manufacturers and gasoline companies especially like to use big cats to sell their products. They like lions, tigers and wildcats.
汽车制造商和汽油公司则特别喜欢使用大型猫科动物来销售他们的产品。他们喜欢用狮子、老虎和野猫来吸引顾客。
When Americans say "wildcat," they usually mean a lynx, an ocelot or a bobcat. All these cats attack quickly and fiercely. So wildcats represent something fast and fierce.
当美国人说到“野猫”，他们通常是说猞猁、豹猫或者山猫。这些猫类攻击时迅速而猛烈。所以野猫代表着迅速和猛烈的事物。
What better way is there to sell a car than to say it is "as fast as a wildcat"? Or, what better way is there to sell gasoline than to say that using it "is like putting a tiger in your tank"?
在卖车时，还有什么方法比说“这辆车比野猫跑的还快”更好的？或者说，在销售汽油时，还有什么方法比说“就像把一只猛虎放在油箱里”更好的？
An early American use of the word "wildcat" was quite different. It was used to describe members of Congress who declared war on Britain in 1812. A magazine of that year said "the wildcat congressmen went home." It said they were unable to face the responsibility of having involved their country in an unnecessary war.
这与早期美国对“wildcat”这个词的使用是大相径庭的，这个词曾在1812年被用来描述向英国宣战的国会议员。当时的一本杂志称，不可靠的国会议员们回家了。据该杂志称，这些议员无法承担面对将自己的国家卷入一场不必要的战争的责任。
"Wildcat" also has been used as a name for money. It was used this way in the 1800s. At that time, some states permitted banks to make their own money. One bank in the state of Michigan offered paper money with a picture of a wildcat on it.
在19世纪，“Wildcat”这个词也曾备用来命名货币的名称。在那时，有一些州允许银行发行自己的货币，密歇根州的一家银行所发行的货币上就印有野猫的图案。
Some banks, however, did not have enough gold to support all the paper money they offered. So the money had little or no value. It was called a "wildcat bill" or a "wildcat bank note." The banks who offered this money were called "wildcat banks."
但是，一些银行没有足够的黄金来支持他们所发行的纸币，所以这些纸币的价值都很低，或者说没有价值。这种纸币被称为“野猫纸币”或“野猫银行纸币”。发行这种纸币的银行被称为“野猫银行”。
A newspaper of the time said those were the days of "wildcat money." It said a man might be rich in the morning and poor by night.
当时的一家报纸称，那是一个金钱非常靠不住（wildcat money）的时代，那就是说一个早上腰缠万贯的人，到了晚上就有可能变得一贫如洗了。
"Wildcat" was used in another way in the 1800s. It was used for an oil well or gold mine that had almost no oil or gold in it. Dishonest developers would buy such property. Then they would sell it and leave town with the money. The buyers were left with worthless holes in the ground. Today, wildcat oil wells are in areas that are not known to have oil.
在19世纪，“Wildcat”还被以另一种方式来使用。它被用来指里面没有石油的油井或里面没有金子的金矿。奸诈的开发商会买下这样的资产，然后再将其卖掉，并携款离开此地，留给买家的是一些地下毫无价值的坑洞。现在，这种“盲目开掘的油井”都存在于未探明是否有是有的地区。
Yet another kind of wildcat is the "wildcat strike." That is a strike called without official approval by a union. During World War II, an American publication accused wildcat strikers of slowing government production.
然而“Wildcat”的另一种用法是“wildcat strike”（野猫式罢工：未经公会同意的非法自发罢工）。在第二次世界大战期间，一家美国出版公司就指责野猫式的自发罢工减缓了政府的生产活动。