[ti:Hold Your Horses]
[ar:Faith Lapidus]
[al:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]Go to 51voa.com for more...
[00:10.07]Now, the VOA
[00:13.14]Special English program
[00:15.40]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
[00:18.24]Today, we tell about
[00:20.35]"horse" expressions.
[00:22.51]In the past, many people
[00:25.35]depended on horses
[00:26.99]for transportation, farming
[00:29.84]and other kinds of work.
[00:32.03]A lot of people still like
[00:34.48]to ride horses.
[00:35.84]And, horse racing is also popular.
[00:39.92]So it is not surprising
[00:42.36]that Americans still use
[00:44.91]expressions about the animals.
[00:47.59]Long ago, people who were rich
[00:51.28]or important rode horses
[00:53.81]that were very tall.
[00:56.05]Today, if a girl acts like she
[00:59.92]is better than everyone else,
[01:01.88]you might say she should
[01:04.08]get off her high horse.
[01:06.36]Yesterday my children wanted me
[01:10.20]to take them to the playground.
[01:12.34]But I had to finish my work,
[01:15.42]so I told them to hold your horses.
[01:18.36]Wait until I finish what I am doing.
[01:22.01]My two boys like to compete
[01:25.69]against each other
[01:27.05]and play in a violent way.
[01:29.29]I always tell them
[01:31.82]to stop horsing around
[01:33.47]or someone could get hurt.
[01:35.86]We live in a small town.
[01:39.29]It does not have any exciting
[01:42.67]activities to offer visitors.
[01:45.27]My children call it
[01:47.52]a one-horse town.
[01:49.96]Last night, I got a telephone call
[01:53.79]while I was watching
[01:55.48]my favorite television show.
[01:57.72]I decided not to answer it
[02:00.56]because wild horses could not
[02:03.69]drag me away from the television.
[02:06.23]There was nothing that
[02:08.32]could stop me from doing
[02:09.67]what I wanted to do.
[02:12.01]Sometimes you get information
[02:15.54]straight from the horse's mouth.
[02:18.38]It comes directly from the person
[02:21.37]who knows most about the subject
[02:23.81]and is the best source.
[02:26.15]Let us say your teacher
[02:29.33]tells you there is going to be
[02:31.92]a test tomorrow.
[02:33.36]You could say you got the information
[02:37.35]straight from the horse's mouth.
[02:40.04]However, you would not want to
[02:43.13]call your teacher a horse!
[02:45.62]You may have heard this expression:
[02:50.10]You can lead a horse to water,
[02:53.53]but you cannot make him drink.
[02:56.91]That means you can
[02:59.71]give someone advice
[03:01.15]but you cannot force him
[03:04.24]to do something
[03:05.58]he does not want to do.
[03:07.83]Sometimes a person fights a battle
[03:11.37]that has been decided
[03:13.07]or keeps arguing a question
[03:15.75]that has been settled.
[03:17.99]We say this is like
[03:20.83]beating a dead horse.
[03:23.17]In politics,
[03:25.71]a dark-horse candidate is someone
[03:29.54]who is not well known to the public.
[03:32.97]Sometimes, a dark horse
[03:35.86]unexpectedly wins an election.
[03:39.10]Another piece of advice is,
[03:43.04]do not change horses in midstream.
[03:47.17]You would not want to get off
[03:50.45]one horse and on to another
[03:53.29]in the middle of a river.
[03:54.98]Or make major changes in an activity
[03:58.51]that has already begun.
[04:00.70]In the past, this expression
[04:03.59]was used as an argument
[04:05.78]to re-elect a president,
[04:08.02]especially during a time
[04:10.36]when the country was at war.
[04:12.86](MUSIC)
[04:23.48]This VOA Special English program
[04:27.41]was written by Shelley Gollust.
[04:30.19]I'm Faith Lapidus.
[04:31.94]You can find more
[04:33.68]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES
[04:35.42]at our website, 51voa.com.