[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:07.41]Now, the VOA Learning English program Words and Their Stories.
[00:13.28]There are so many expressions in American English
[00:17.32]that sound pleasant but are not.
[00:21.02]"Face the music" is a good example.
[00:24.08]When someone says they have to "face the music,"
[00:28.84]it does not mean they are going to a musical performance or concert.
[00:35.24]"Facing the music" means to accept the unpleasant results of an action.
[00:41.96]Americans often use the word "face" in this way.
[00:46.92]For example, "I can't face another night of camping!
[00:51.72]It's cold and rainy."
[00:54.12]Or "In life, it is important to face your fears."
[00:59.92]Face used in this way is very common.
[01:03.16]But now, back to facing the music.
[01:06.84]Imagine a friend asks you to take care of her beautiful red sports car.
[01:12.92]She gives you the keys and says,
[01:15.88]"Thanks so much for watching my car while I'm away.
[01:19.92]But please, do not drive it.
[01:22.88]It is an extremely fast car and you are not on the insurance."
[01:28.96]But you do not listen.
[01:31.00]You want to show off to some friends and pretend the car is yours.
[01:36.88]So, you drive it around town one night.
[01:40.80]As bad luck would have it, you lose control of the car
[01:45.16]and drive it into a stop sign.
[01:48.28]The damage is severe.
[01:50.52]When your friend returns you must tell her what you have done and "face the music."
[01:58.04]The "music" here is the consequence or result of your actions.
[02:03.68]It could be losing her friendship or paying for repairs to her sports car or both.
[02:11.72]Whatever the music is, you must face it.
[02:16.20]Most Americans know the expression "face the music."
[02:21.20]It is more than 150 years old.
[02:24.96]As with many expressions, its history is not clear.
[02:30.20]In 1851, the writer James Fenimore Cooper
[02:34.88]reportedly explained "face the music" as a theatrical term.
[02:40.72]In a theater, the orchestra often sits in front of the stage.
[02:45.92]So, actors come on stage facing the musicians.
[02:50.32]Many actors are very nervous, a condition called stage fright.
[02:56.36]They may want to run away.
[02:59.05]Face the music came to mean accepting stage fright and not surrendering to it.
[03:05.52]Word experts also say "face the music" may have come from the military.
[03:12.52]A solider who did something terrible could be forced out of the horse cavalry.
[03:18.96]The army drummers would play a slow, sad beat.
[03:23.80]The soldier would be carried away seated backward on a horse
[03:28.16]and facing the music of the drums. Humiliating!
[03:33.36]There are other American expressions that mean the same thing as face the music.
[03:39.60]To "take your medicine" means to accept the results from something bad you have done.
[03:45.92]And if someone says, "You made your bed. Now lie in it,"
[03:51.40]they mean you created a bad situation and now you will experience the results,
[03:58.88]or as we say in spoken American English,
[04:02.36]you must deal with it!
[04:04.52]"Pay the piper" also means the same as "face the music."
[04:09.40]But, that expression has its own very interesting beginning.
[04:14.04]We will talk about that on another Words and Their Stories.
[04:18.28]I'm Anna Matteo.
[04:34.16]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM