[ti:Early American Railroads Shape Modern Language]
[ar:Anna Matteo]
[al:Words and Their Stories]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]Now, the VOA Learning English program Words and Their Stories.
[00:10.75]Each week, we tell about American expressions
[00:14.56]and where they come from.
[00:16.68]Today we talk about railroads.
[00:20.62]Railroads were important to the development of the United States.
[00:27.98]The first U.S. railroads were built in eastern states.
[00:33.02]Trains later connected the East Coast with the West Coast.
[00:37.77]Train and railway expressions worked their way
[00:42.08]into American English over a century ago.
[00:45.09]Many of those terms are still being used today.
[00:49.65]Railroads changed the look of the United States.
[00:54.44]They cut through mountains,
[00:57.00]crossed through wide open prairies and joined together in cities.
[01:02.74]The railroads made transporting goods easier.
[01:07.94]They also gave many Americans
[01:11.60]the chance to move around the country.
[01:14.34]Sometimes railroad tracks would not join up
[01:18.95]in a town but divide it in two.
[01:22.10]One side of the tracks might be good,
[01:26.26]while the other side was ‘not-so-good.'
[01:30.16]If you say someone is from the wrong side of the tracks,
[01:35.11]it means they are from the bad side of town.
[01:38.62]For the train running down the track
[01:41.87]there is no right or wrong side.
[01:44.52]The track is simply the metal structure on which the train runs.
[01:49.12]To go off track means to move away
[01:53.61]from one's intended purpose or goal.
[01:56.52]For example, you could say your career
[02:01.16]went way off track if you wanted to be a lawyer
[02:05.17]but became an actor instead.
[02:08.06]But if you go to law school and complete your studies,
[02:13.06]your career is back on track.
[02:15.75]Let's say you finished law school very quickly
[02:20.45]because you took double the course load.
[02:23.66]You then could say you fast-tracked your way to becoming a lawyer.
[02:29.55]In the world of business,
[02:31.95]it is common to say
[02:33.52]a project has been fast-tracked or is on a fast track.
[02:39.11]To stay on track means to pay attention to your goal or purpose.
[02:44.86]But getting sidetracked is just the opposite.
[02:49.10]A train that is sidetracked
[02:51.29]gets sent to a different station or down a different line.
[02:56.39]Talking about train tracks,
[02:59.19]a rail is a single piece of steel
[03:02.88]that is part of the larger railway.
[03:05.44]Some rails are dangerous to touch.
[03:08.53]In some cities, a third rail provides power to a subway train,
[03:14.40]usually operating underground; electricity passes through the rail.
[03:21.23]The third rail also is an issue which can fuel a heated debate.
[03:28.27]At a party, religion or politics could be third rail topics.
[03:34.11]Talking about them could kill your social life!
[03:38.00]Many Americans say things get derailed
[03:42.79]when they go off track or away from a goal –
[03:46.15]or when they simply go wrong.
[03:48.89]For example, they might say something like this,
[03:52.90]"My travel plans got derailed by the bad weather."
[03:57.54]It usually is bad news when something gets derailed.
[04:02.64]When something goes off the rails,
[04:05.54]it is always a bad thing.
[04:08.25]To go off the rails means a person's project or life is a wreck,
[04:15.78]or -- pardon the expression -- a train wreck.
[04:20.42]When a train reaches its final stop,
[04:23.77]we say it has reached the end of the line.
[04:27.27]If you reach the end of the line
[04:30.38]you have come to the end of something.
[04:32.91]Often in old films,
[04:35.41]this is what the bad guy says just before he kills someone.
[04:40.36]"It's the end of the line for your buddy boy."
[04:46.60]And we have reached the end of the line
[04:51.15]for this Words and Their Stories.
[04:53.30]In other words, the show is over.
[04:56.19]I'm Anna Matteo.
[04:58.25]更多听力请访问51voa.com
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA京香2018下载
ENTER NUMBET 0015cwthk.com.cn
www.lujinkonggu.com.cn
www.sifengyuan.com.cn
www.gaotuo.net.cn
minube.com.cn
www.whxg.net.cn
www.china819.net.cn
cykax.com.cn
ecumle.net.cn
www.iamseek.com.cn