[ti:Bird Words]
[ar:Jill Moss]
[al:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]go to 51voa.com for more...
[00:10.85]Now, the VOA Special English program
[00:14.15]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
[00:16.52]Today we explain some expressions
[00:20.04]about birds.
[00:21.79]For example, if something
[00:23.96]is for the birds,
[00:25.58]it is worthless
[00:27.32]or not very interesting.
[00:29.50]Someone who eats like a bird
[00:32.36]eats very little.
[00:34.17]And a birds-eye view
[00:36.47]is a general look
[00:38.21]at an area from above.
[00:40.14]Did you know that
[00:42.69]if you tell a young person
[00:44.31]about the birds and the bees
[00:46.61] you are explaining
[00:47.97]about sex and birth??
[00:49.90]Have you ever observed that
[00:52.77]birds of a feather flock together?
[00:55.50]In other words, people
[00:57.37]who are similar become friends
[00:59.30]or do things together.
[01:01.10]Here is some good advice:
[01:03.65]a bird in the hand
[01:05.52]is worth two in the bush.
[01:08.07]This means you should not risk
[01:11.11]losing something you have
[01:12.86]by trying to get more
[01:15.03]of something you do not have.
[01:17.27]Sometimes I can do two things
[01:21.25]by performing only one action.
[01:23.87]This is called killing
[01:26.23]two birds with one stone.
[01:28.66]But I would never really
[01:31.08]kill any birds.
[01:32.33]I love all kinds of animals.
[01:35.37]This is a real feather in my cap.
[01:38.30]It is something to be proud of.
[01:41.10]Most of the people I work
[01:43.77]with are early birds.
[01:46.01]They believe that the early bird
[01:48.56]catches the worm.
[01:50.24]They think that a person
[01:52.29]who gets up early in the morning
[01:54.66]for work has the best chance of success.
[01:57.83]Everyone in my office works hard,
[02:01.31]but some people have
[02:03.93]had their wings clipped.
[02:05.17]Their jobs have been limited.
[02:07.91]This is because the office
[02:10.33]is organized by pecking order.
[02:13.13]People with more years
[02:15.12]and experience
[02:16.18]are given more responsibility.
[02:18.48]Some bird expressions are
[02:22.46]about crows, chickens and ducks.
[02:25.57]For example, when I am driving,
[02:28.50]I always travel as the crow flies.
[02:32.42]I go the most direct way.
[02:35.15]Anyone who eats crow
[02:37.95]has to admit a mistake or defeat.
[02:41.50]Now let's talk about my sister.
[02:45.98]She is not very young.
[02:48.65]She is no spring chicken.
[02:51.70]She will work any job
[02:53.94]for chicken feed
[02:55.74]-- a small amount of money.
[02:57.80]She is easily frightened.
[03:00.91]For example, she is
[03:02.96]too chicken-livered to walk down
[03:05.57]a dark street alone at night.
[03:08.50]Often she will chicken out
[03:10.74]¨C she will not go out alone at night.
[03:14.10]My sister was an ugly duckling.
[03:18.33]She looked strange
[03:19.94]when she was a child,
[03:21.19]but she grew up to
[03:23.42]be a beautiful woman.
[03:24.61]Sometimes she thinks too much
[03:28.40]about having something
[03:30.39]in the future
[03:31.45]before she really has it.
[03:33.88]She counts her chickens
[03:35.80]before they are hatched.
[03:37.54]Sometimes her chickens
[03:39.79]come home to roost.
[03:41.46]That means her actions
[03:43.77]or words cause trouble for her.
[03:46.13]However, my sister does not worry
[03:49.68]about what people say about her.
[03:51.98]Criticism falls off her
[03:54.53]like water off a duck's back.
[03:57.26]Politicians are sometimes
[04:01.06]considered lame ducks
[04:02.80]after losing an election.
[04:04.67]They have little time left
[04:07.28]in office and not much power.
[04:09.77]Congress holds a lame duck session
[04:13.44]after an election. Important laws
[04:16.80]are not passed during this period.
[04:19.41](MUSIC)
[04:29.80]This VOA Special English program,
[04:33.78]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES,
[04:35.77]was written by Jill Moss.
[04:37.82]I'm Faith Lapidus.
[04:40.82]go to 51voa.com for more...
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." HoMEJULIA¾©Ïã2018ÏÂÔØ
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