介绍:
Xiaohua: Hello and welcome to RoundTable’s Word of the Week. Last week we talked about fruit-related idioms and this week we are getting on to vegetables.
John: Which is actually kind of funny because we are going to talk about peas. This is the funny thing because technically peas are actually a fruit, but anyway let’s take a look at beans first. So to be “full of beans” is to talk nonsense, and to “not know beans” is to be ignorant or uninformed. To be “not worth a hill of beans” is to be worthless, and to “spill the beans” is to tell a secret.
Xiaohua: 嗯，所以我们先从豆类植物开始，beans，“full of beans”就是胡说八道，“not know beans”连豆子都不知道，就是说这个人什么都不懂，“not worth a hill of beans”是一文不值的意思，而“to spill the beans”是倒豆子，就是把你的秘密说出来。
John：Then there is to “dangle a carrot” before someone is to encourage them with an incentive, and the carrot in “carrot and stick” is an incentive or reward, with the stick being the punishment.
Xiaohua: 跟carrot 有关的习语我想大家可能都比较熟悉了，“dangle a carrot”就是在某人面前吊着一根胡萝卜，指的是用物质奖励刺激别人做某事，而“carrot and stick”就是胡萝卜和大棒的意思。
John: Then continue with carrots for a minute. Here, a“carrot top” is someone with red-haired.
Xiaohua:“carrot top”可不是指上衣或帽子而是指红头发的人。
John: Then someone “as cool as a cucumber” is very self-possessed under pressure, so cool and calm, cool as a cucumber.
Xiaohua: “cool as a cucumber”指某个人很酷，非常冷静。
John: Then to “pass an olive branch” is to make peaceful or reconciliatory overtures, so for example, maybe Xiaohua and I are having a really big argument and we are not talking to each other, we haven’t talked to each other in a while but then I can “pass her an olive branch”as a piece offering.
Xiaohua: Whether I accept it, may be another issue.
John: Exactly.
Xiaohua: “pass an olive branch”也就是伸出橄榄枝的意思。正在打仗或吵架的双方，一方决定握手言和。
John: And then looking at peas. As I said before, this is kind of funny because technically a pea is a fruit, so it should have been with last week’s but there you go. Now it’s with this week’s with the vegetables. And a “pea-brained” person is someone basically who is stupid.
Xiaohua: 好吧，pea 也就是植物中豌豆属的这些果实实际上是fruit水果而不是蔬菜，当然啦，一般人都认为它们是蔬菜，所以我们也把它放到蔬菜类来讨论。“pea-brained”是指某个人很笨的意思。
John：And then fog or something else can be very dense and can be described as being “as thick as pea soup.”
Xiaohua: So, another question John, here the pea soup is the really thick kind, almost like a puree, right?
John: Right.
Xiaohua: Ok. 在浓雾很重的天气，我们就会说“as thick as the pea soup”。
John: And to be “like two peas in a pod” is to be very close with or similar to someone else.
Xiaohua: 当两个人关系很近，very tight 的时候我们就会说，“like two peas in a pod”好像豌豆荚里面的两颗豌豆似的。
John: Exactly. And to be “in a pickle” is to be in some sort of complicated situations, for example, “Companies find themselves in a pickle when their markets change.”
Xiaohua: pickle是泡菜，“in a pickle”是遇到麻烦处于困境的意思。
John: And something that is “small potatoes” is insignificant and “salad days” refers to the youthful period of one’s life.
Xiaohua: “small potatoes”是小人物，“big potatoes”就是大人物的意思。And “salad days” 是指当我们年轻的时候。
John: And looking at perhaps a bit of a larger category here, sometimes in English colors can be described using a fruit and vegetable so for example if someone is “beet red”, like their face turn to beet red, it means they are very embarrassed. Perhaps even something is “cherry red”referring to something is the same color as a cherry.
Xiaohua: 另外英文中很多表示颜色的词也用到了fruit and vegetable，比如说当你个人很窘，脸都涨红了的时候，你可以说他的脸像甜菜一样红， “beet red”。而另外“cherry red”是指樱桃红。
John：Then“pear shaped”is exactly kind of interesting because this is talking about the actual shape of pear, but then something goes “pear shaped”which actually means that something goes wrong.
Xiaohua: “Pear-shaped”就是梨形，但pear-shaped这个词也有引伸义，就是说什么事情出错了。And that’s it for this edition of Word of the Week on Roundtable.
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