Hot Potato - 英语听力.mp3

[00:00.10](MUSIC)
[00:09.39]Now, the VOA Special English program
[00:13.72]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
[00:17.00]Every language has its own
[00:21.52]special words and expressions.
[00:24.71]And a story can be told
[00:27.46]about each of them.
[00:29.73]Hot is a simple,
[00:33.02]easily understood word.
[00:35.54]So are most of the expressions
[00:39.19]made with the word hot.
[00:41.51]But not always,
[00:43.63]as we shall see.
[00:45.61]The words hot potato,
[00:49.74]for example,
[00:50.78]give you no idea at all
[00:53.34]to the meaning of
[00:54.77]the expression, hot potato.
[00:57.80]The potato is a
[00:59.68]popular vegetable
[01:01.32]in the United States.
[01:03.23]Many people like
[01:04.88]baked potatoes, cooked
[01:06.22]in an oven or fire.
[01:09.10]Imagine trying to carry a hot,
[01:12.09]baked potato in your hand.
[01:14.01]It would be difficult,
[01:15.90]even painful, to do so.
[01:19.14]Now we are getting close
[01:21.50]to the meaning of hot potato.
[01:24.24]Some publicly disputed issues
[01:29.81]are highly emotional.
[01:32.00]The issues must
[01:33.82]be treated carefully,
[01:35.21]or they will be difficult
[01:37.23]and painful if an elected official
[01:39.76]has to deal with them.
[01:41.37]As difficult and painful
[01:44.48]as holding a hot potato.
[01:47.69]One such hot potato is taxes.
[01:52.32]Calling for higher taxes
[01:54.99]can mean defeat for a politician.
[01:57.70]And yet, if taxes are not raised,
[02:01.27]some very popular government
[02:03.98]programs could be cut.
[02:06.34]And that also can make
[02:08.63]a politician very unpopular.
[02:11.25]So the questions must
[02:14.05]be dealt with carefully,
[02:16.14]the same way you would
[02:18.43]handle any other hot potato.
[02:21.52]Another expression is not so hot.
[02:26.54]If you ask someone
[02:28.63]how she feels,
[02:30.32]she may answer "not so hot."
[02:33.83]What she means is
[02:35.13]she does not feel well.
[02:37.03]Not so hot also is a way of saying
[02:40.57]that you do not really like something.
[02:43.56]You may tell a friend
[02:45.55]that the new play you saw
[02:47.69]last night is not so hot.
[02:49.99]That means you did not
[02:52.33]consider it a success.
[02:54.48]A hot shot is a person,
[02:57.87]often a young person,
[02:59.76]who thinks he can do anything.
[03:02.21]At least he wants to try.
[03:05.10]He is very sure he can succeed.
[03:08.48]But often he fails.
[03:10.57]The expression was born
[03:13.11]in the military forces.
[03:15.17]A hot shot was a soldier
[03:18.13]who fired without aiming carefully.
[03:20.64]Hot is a word that is often
[03:24.43]used to talk about anger.
[03:26.38]A person who becomes angry easily
[03:30.22]is called a hothead.
[03:32.57]An angry person's neck
[03:34.86]often becomes red.
[03:36.90]We say he is hot under the collar.
[03:40.25]You could say
[03:42.09]that your friend is no hothead.
[03:44.48]But he got hot under the collar
[03:47.02]when someone took his radio.
[03:49.52]In nineteen sixty-three,
[03:53.40]hot line appeared
[03:55.95]as a new expression.
[03:57.64]The hot line was a direct
[04:00.77]communications link
[04:02.26]between the leaders of
[04:03.55]the Soviet Union
[04:04.64]and the United States.
[04:06.66]The hot line had an important purpose:
[04:09.78]to prevent accidental war
[04:12.02]between the two competitors
[04:13.92]during the period known
[04:15.71]as the Cold War.
[04:17.40]The American president
[04:19.54]and the Soviet leader were able
[04:21.63]to communicate directly
[04:22.98]and immediately on the hot line.
[04:25.73]This helped prevent any conflict
[04:28.52]during an international crisis.
[04:31.61](MUSIC)
[04:38.76]You have been listening
[04:40.67]to the VOA Special English program,
[04:43.31]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
[04:46.05]Our program was written
[04:48.09]by Marilyn Rice Christiano.
[04:50.38]I'm Warren Scheer.