VOA慢速英语:绿色代表着春天和其他事物

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

这里是VOA慢速英语节目词汇的故事。

Green is an important color in nature. It is the color of grass and the leaves on trees. It is also the color of most growing plants.

绿色是自然界中重要的颜色，是嫩草和树叶的颜色，还是大多数生长植物的颜色。

Sometimes, the word green means young, fresh and growing. Sometimes, it describes something that is not yet ripe or finished.

有些时候“绿色”这个词还作年轻，新鲜，生长讲。有些时候还可以指一些没有成熟没有完成的事物。

For example, a greenhorn is someone who has no experience, who is new to a situation. In the fifteenth century, a greenhorn was a young cow or ox whose horns had not yet developed. A century or so later, a greenhorn was a soldier who had not yet had any experience in battle. By the eighteenth century, a greenhorn had the meaning it has today - a person who is new in a job.

例如新手这个词就代表着没有经验，“初出的牛犊”。在15实际，这个词代表着角都没有长全的小牛。一个世纪或者更久之后，这个词被用来形容没有战场经验的小兵。到了18世纪，这个词就开始有了现在的意义，刚刚找到新工作的人。

About one hundred years ago, greenhorn was a popular expression in the American west. Old-timers used it to describe a man who had just arrived from one of the big cities back east. The greenhorn lacked the skills he would need to live in the hard, rough country.

大约一百年前，美国西部非常流行这种新浪潮，老一辈的人称从大城市回来的人为”greenhorn”。“奶油小生”缺乏工作技巧，需要生活的磨练。

Someone who has the ability to grow plants well is said to have a green thumb. The expression comes from the early nineteen hundreds.

一些有植物种植技巧的人被夸赞为“绿拇指”——有特殊园艺技巧的人。这一表达方式来自于二十世纪早些时候。

A person with agreen thumb seems to have a magic touch that makes plants grow quickly and well. You might say that the woman next door has a green thumb if her garden continues to grow long after your plants have died.

有“绿拇指”的人似乎双手沾满魔力可以让植物长得又快又好。你可能会夸隔壁的太太在你家植物都奄奄一息之后她的植物还能活好长时间。

The Green Revolution is the name given some years ago to the development of new kinds of rice and other grains. The new plants produced much larger crops. The Green Revolution was the result of hard work by agricultural scientists who had green thumbs.

绿色革命是几年前为开发新大米品种和其他谷物命名的。这种植物会产生更多的庄稼。绿色革命是拥有绿拇指的农业科学家辛勤工作的记过。

Green is also the color used to describe the powerful emotion, jealousy. The green-eyed monster is not a frightening creature from outer space. It is an expression used about four hundred years ago by British writer William Shakespeare in his play "Othello."

绿色还被用来形容强烈的嫉妒感情色彩。“绿眼妖怪”并不是一种来自外太空的可怕生物，而是大约四百年前莎士比亚用来形容他的戏剧《奥赛罗》里的角色。

It describes the unplesant feeling a person has when someone has something he wants. A young man may suffer from the green-eyed monster if his girlfriend begins going out with someone else. Or, that green-eyed monster may affect your friend if you get a pay raise and she does not.

这个词描述的是当别人得到了你一直想要的东西之后内心产生的一种不愉快的感情。年轻男子可能会因为自己的女朋友跟别人出去产生嫉妒。或者说你自己获得了加薪而你朋友没有，这时你朋友就会产生这种嫉妒情感。

In most places in the world, a green light is a signal to move ahead. A green light on a traffic signal means your car can continue on. In everyday speech, a green light means approval to continue with a project. We want you to know we have a green light to continue this series next week.

世界上大多数地方都把绿灯当做前进的信号。绿灯在交通信号中表示车辆前进。在日常讲话中，绿灯意味着可以讲话。我们想告诉大家下周这一系列节目会继续播出。

This VOA Special English program, "Words and Their Stories," was written by Marilyn Christiano. I'm Warren Scheer.

这里是VOA慢速英语词汇的故事，Marilyn Christiano编辑，我是Warren Scheer。