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Now, the VOA Learning1 English program Words and Their Stories.
Today we talk about a color found all throughout2 nature – green!
Green is also very common in American English. Let’s hear Warren Scheer read a story about these colorful expressions!
Green is an important color in nature. It is the color of grass and the leaves on trees. It is also the color of most growing plants.
Sometimes, the word green means4 young, fresh and growing. Sometimes, it describes something that is not yet ripe or finished.
For example, a greenhorn is someone who has no experience, who is new to a situation. In the fifteenth century, a greenhorn was a young cow or ox whose horns5 had not yet developed. A century or so later, a greenhorn was a soldier who had not yet had any experience in battle. By the eighteenth century, a greenhorn had the meaning it has today - a person who is new in a job.
About one hundred years ago, greenhorn was a popular expression in the American west. Old-timers used it to describe a man who had just arrived from one of the big cities back east. The greenhorn lacked the skills he would need to live in the hard, rough3 country.
Someone who has the ability to grow plants well is said to have a green thumb. The expression comes from the early 1900s.
A person with a green thumb seems to have a magic touch that makes plants grow quickly and well. You might say that the woman next door has a green thumb if her garden continues to grow long after your plants have died.
The Green Revolution6 is the name given some years ago to the development of new kinds of rice and other grains. The new plants produced much larger crops. The Green Revolution was the result of hard work by agricultural7 scientists who had green thumbs.
Green is also the color used to describe the powerful8 emotion, jealousy9. The green-eyed monster is not a frightening creature from outer space. It is an expression used about four hundred years ago by British writer William Shakespeare10 in his play "Othello."
It describes the unplesant feeling a person has when someone has something he wants. A young man may suffer from the green-eyed monster if his girlfriend begins going out with someone else. Or, that green-eyed monster may affect your friend if you get a pay raise and she does not.
In most places in the world, a green light is a sign to move ahead. A green light on a traffic signal11 means your car can continue on. In everyday speech, a green light means approval12 to continue with a project. We want you to know we have a green light to continue this series13 next week.
Give me the green light, give me just one night...
And that's the end of this Words and Their Stories. Until next time ... I'm Anna Matteo.
I'm ready to go right now, I'm ready to go right now
I'm ready to go right now, I'm ready to go right now
1 learning | |
n.学问,学识,学习;动词learn的现在分词 | |
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2 throughout | |
adv.到处,自始至终;prep.遍及,贯穿 | |
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3 rough | |
adj.粗糙的;粗略的,大致的;粗野的,粗暴的 | |
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4 means | |
n.方法,手段,折中点,物质财富 | |
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5 horns | |
n.角( horn的名词复数 );号;角质;(蜗牛等的)触角 | |
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6 revolution | |
n.革命,大变革;旋转;周期,循环 | |
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7 agricultural | |
adj.农业的;农艺的 | |
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8 powerful | |
adj.有力的,有权力的,强大的 | |
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9 jealousy | |
n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌 | |
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10 Shakespeare | |
n.莎士比亚(16世纪英国剧作家、诗人) | |
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11 signal | |
n.信号,暗号 | |
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12 approval | |
n.赞成,同意;批准,认可 | |
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13 series | |
n.连续;系列 | |
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