劉佳佳

Every language has its own special words and expressions. And a story can be told about each of them.

每種語言都有它自己的單詞和短語。每個單詞和短語都有它自己的來歷。

Hot is a simple， easily understood word. So are most of the expressions made with the word hot. But not always， as we shall see.

Hot是一個簡單易懂的單詞。由hot組成的短語也大都如此，但也不是一直這樣。正如我們下面將看到的這些短語。

The words hot potato， for example， give you no idea at all to the meaning of the expression， hot potato.

例如“hot potato”這個短語，從字面上你完全看不出它是什么意思。

The potato is a popular vegetable in the United States. Many people like baked[1] potatoes，

cooked in an oven or fire. Imagine trying to carry a hot， baked potato in your hand. It would be difficult， even painful， to do so.

在美國，土豆是非常受歡迎的蔬菜。許多人喜歡用火或者烤箱烤土豆。想象一下，你想用手拿一個剛烤出爐的燙土豆，肯定很不好拿，甚至?xí)C得手疼。

Now we are getting close to the meaning of hot potato.

現(xiàn)在我們已經(jīng)差不多了解hot potato的意思了。

Some publicly disputed[2] issues are highly[3] emotional. The issues must be treated carefully， or they will be difficult and painful if an elected official has to deal with them， as difficult and painful as holding a hot potato.

一些有爭議的輿論話題很容易使人情緒激動。當(dāng)選官員對這類話題必須小心對待，否則處理起來就會特別麻煩，特別痛苦，就像拿著“hot potato”。

Another expression is not so hot.

另外一個短語是not so hot。

If you ask someone how she feels， she may answer “not so hot”. What she means is she does not feel well.

如果你問一個人感覺如何，她可能回答你“not so hot”。意思就是“感覺不太好”。

Not so hot also is a way of saying that you do not really like something. You may tell a friend that the new play you saw last night is not so hot. That means you did not consider it a success.

Not so hot 也可以用來表達“不喜歡某樣?xùn)|西”的意思。你可以告訴你的朋友，昨天晚上那場新話劇看起來“not so hot”。也就是說你認(rèn)為該話劇不是很成功。

A hot shot is a person， often a young person， who thinks he can do anything. At least he wants to try. He is very sure he can succeed. But often he fails. The expression was born in the military forces. A hot shot was a soldier who fired without aiming carefully.

hot shot是指一個自以為無所不能的人，特別是指年輕人。至少他想去嘗試，他確定自己能夠成功，但結(jié)果常常是失敗。這個短語來源于軍隊，hot shot是指那些不認(rèn)真瞄準(zhǔn)就射擊的士兵。

Hot is a word that is often used to talk about anger.

Hot也經(jīng)常用來表示憤怒。

A person who becomes angry easily is called a hothead. An angry persons neck often becomes red. We say he is hot under the collar. You could say that your friend is no hothead. But he got hot under the collar when someone took his radio.

容易動怒的人被稱為hothead。人生氣的時候脖子常常會變紅，我們可以用hot under the collar來形容他怒氣沖沖。比如你可以說你的朋友不是hothead，但是如果有人拿了他的收音機，他就會變得hot under the collar。

In 1963， hot line appeared as a new expression. The hot line was a direct communications link between the leaders of the Soviet Union and the United States. The hot line had an important purpose： to prevent accidental[4] war between the two competitors during the period known as the Cold War. The American president and the Soviet leader were able to communicate directly and immediately on the hot line. This helped prevent any conflict[5] during an international

crisis[6].

1963年，hot line作為一個新詞匯出現(xiàn)了。在那時“熱線”是指前蘇聯(lián)和美國領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人之間的直接通信連接。它有一個重要的用途，就是在冷戰(zhàn)期間，防止這兩個競爭對手突發(fā)戰(zhàn)爭。兩國領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人可以通過熱線實現(xiàn)直接的、即時的溝通。所以熱線在當(dāng)時的國際危機期間起到防止沖突的作用。

[1] bake v. 烤，烘培 [2] dispute v. 辯論；爭論

[3] highly v. 非常；高度地 [4] accidental adj. 意外的

[5] conflict n. 沖突；矛盾 [6] crisis n. 危機；危險期