[ti:Sometimes Help Is Just 'A Phone Call Away']
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:08.36]And now, Words and Their Stories,
[00:11.88]from VOA Learning English.
[00:19.20]On today's show we talk about some expressions
[00:22.88]that deal with an important device
[00:25.80]in our lives – our phones.
[00:30.04]With a smartphone,
[00:31.76]we can connect to the world.
[00:34.00]In fact, we can say smartphones
[00:37.56]give us the world at our fingertips.
[00:41.56]Needless to say, we use phones
[00:44.04]to stay in contact
[00:45.60]with the people in our lives.
[00:47.92]We use them to reach out to our friends,
[00:51.40]family, neighbors, and co-workers.
[00:55.68]So, when we tell someone
[00:57.88]that we are just a phone call away,
[01:00.96]what we are really telling them
[01:03.24]is that we are available.
[01:06.00]We are there for them.
[01:09.00]We often use this expression to offer help
[01:12.44]to someone who is in a difficult situation
[01:16.04]or just in need of a friendly voice.
[01:20.84]For example, let's say my friend
[01:24.00]is having a hard time
[01:25.80]with an advanced English course.
[01:28.76]The assignments are difficult,
[01:31.52]the material is hard to understand,
[01:34.32]and his teacher has not
[01:36.64]been answering his emails.
[01:39.40]I can say to him, "Look, if you ever need help,
[01:43.36]I'm just a phone call away. Call anytime!"
[01:48.68]It's good to be available
[01:50.68]to some people some of the time.
[01:53.40]But maybe not all the time.
[01:57.36]We all have someone in our lives
[01:59.88]who contacts us too much.
[02:03.36]They may blow up our phones
[02:05.40]with a flood of calls and text messages.
[02:10.40]When your phone blows up,
[02:12.28]someone is trying to contact you repeatedly.
[02:17.40]Here's an example.
[02:18.96]Let's say your neighbor, Jana,
[02:21.72]is having trouble with another neighbor, Jake.
[02:25.60]And you are in the middle of it.
[02:29.24]They are both blowing up your phone with calls
[02:32.76]and texts about their disagreement.
[02:35.64]You can tell them, "Hold the phone! Just stop!
[02:39.64]Talk to each other and work out your problems
[02:42.96]because I've had enough."
[02:46.36]The expression hold the phone
[02:48.72]is a way to say "wait" or "stop."
[02:52.68]We use it when we hear something surprising
[02:56.48]or when we have had enough of a situation.
[03:01.36]And it doesn't have to be about phone calls or texts.
[03:05.04]For example, let's say a friend tells me
[03:09.12]that my favorite singer is coming to town.
[03:11.96]I can't believe it!
[03:13.92]So, I can say,
[03:16.24]"Hold the phone! Are you serious?"
[03:19.68]It's like saying, "Hold on a minute!"
[03:22.64]Now, let's go back to your arguing neighbors,
[03:26.20]Jana and Jake.
[03:28.60]Let's say they take your advice.
[03:31.04]They are willing to work out their problems.
[03:34.56]They try to call each other
[03:36.60]but the keep missing each other's calls.
[03:39.96]First Jana calls Jake,
[03:41.92]but he isn't available.
[03:44.20]Then Jake calls her back,
[03:46.04]but now Jana isn't available.
[03:48.92]They play phone tag like this for days
[03:52.60]until they finally speak to each other.
[03:56.44]Tag is a child's game.
[03:59.36]One person is "it"
[04:01.72]and must chase and tag,
[04:04.44]or touch, the other children.
[04:07.84]So, phone tag is when two people
[04:10.52]try to contact each other
[04:12.40]but their calls go unanswered.
[04:15.60]At least Jake and Jana are trying
[04:17.88]to work out their problems.
[04:19.80]When it comes to keeping
[04:21.68]relationships happy in the neighborhood,
[04:24.16]they are not phoning it in.
[04:27.40]When we phone it in,
[04:29.08]we don't try our best at something.
[04:31.80]We don't give our best efforts.
[04:34.72]For example, some people
[04:37.12]who lose interest in their jobs
[04:39.16]might start phoning it in.
[04:41.52]They stop trying and do not do their best work.
[04:46.20]That's not the case with us here
[04:48.16]at VOA Learning English.
[04:50.44]we are not phoning it in.
[04:52.64]We work hard every day to bring you
[04:55.52]new learning English content.
[04:58.32]And that's all the time we have
[05:00.20]for this Words and Their Stories.
[05:02.04]Until next time, I'm Anna Matteo.
[05:05.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.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
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