(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
On today's Words and Their Stories we talk about a common word, a small word, but a word that is completely necessary for human life. In fact, without this simple, everyday material, all humans would die.
Scientists know it as sodium chloride. We know it as salt.
You may think, salt is just a simple cooking element we shake on our food for a little extra taste. But salt is much more than that.
Without salt our muscles would not move. Our nervous systems would not operate. Our hearts would not beat. Salt means life.
But do not think rubbing salt in a wound will help. Doing that would be painful and not heal the wound. To rub salt in a wound is an idiom that means to purposefully make a bad situation worse.
Early humans got the salt they needed to stay alive from the animals they killed. But advances in agriculture led to a diet low in salt. So, humans needed to find others sources.
Those who lived near the ocean or other natural sources for salt were lucky. Those who did not had to trade for salt. In fact, people used salt as a method of payment in many parts of the ancient world. The word "salary" comes from the word "salt."
Salt also played an important part in population movement and world exploration. Explorers understood that if they could keep food fresh, they could travel longer distances. So they used salt to preserve food and explored the world.
Salt meant movement.
Salt also changed the way nations fought. With preserved food on ships, nations could sail to distant lands ... and then attack them.
Salt meant power.
Salt was so important that, according to food historians, it was traded pound-for-pound for gold. Today, people still use the expressions to be worth one's salt or worth one's weight in salt. The expressions describe a person who is useful, a person of value.
A person might also be called salt of the earth. That description means he or she is dependable and trustworthy. The phrase comes from the Christian Bible. Jesus called his loyal group of followers -- or disciples -- the salt of the earth.
But one of these disciples was not so loyal. The disciple Judas betrayed Jesus. In his famous painting "The Last Supper," Leonardo da Vinci shows Judas spilling a bowl of salt. Spilled salt is a sign of bad luck and trouble. And trouble is exactly what Judas gave Jesus.
Even today, some people throw salt over one shoulder if they spill it. They believe throwing salt behind them scares any devil that has been following them -- or at least blinds it for a second while they run away.
But these stories about bad luck should be taken with a grain of salt. In other words, listen to a story or an explanation with suspicion and distrust.
But you don't have to take the information you find on VOA Learning English with a grain of salt. We do our research.
And this research led to some interesting facts about salt in other cultures and religions.
In 2200 BC, the Chinese emperor Xia Yu created one of the first known taxes. He taxed salt. And Egyptians preserved dead bodies with salt, creating mummies.
The Catholic Church uses salt in many of its rituals. Buddhists use salt to prevent evil. In Japan, the Shinto religion uses salt to clean an area of evil. In the U.S. Southwest, the Pueblo people worship the Salt Mother.
And in 1933, the Dalai Lama was buried sitting up in a bed of salt. Today in India, salt is still a symbol of good luck.
What about your culture? Do you have any idioms or expressions about salt? In the comments section, share a story of salt from your culture.
I'm Jonathan Evans. And I'm Anna Matteo.
词汇解释
1.chloride n. 氯化物
They produced ethylchloride by reacting chloride with waste.
他们使氯和废料相互作用而产生氯乙烷。
2.disciple n. 门徒，信徒；弟子
He was an ardent disciple of Gandhi.
他是甘地的忠实信徒。
3.ritual n. 仪式；惯例；礼制 adj. 仪式的；例行的；礼节性的
I realized that here the conventions required me to make the ritual noises.
我意识到这里的习俗要求我得说套话。
内容解析
1.But these stories about bad luck should be taken with a grain of salt.
take with a grain of salt 不全信；对…采取保留态度
You should take what he says with a grain of salt.
你对他讲的话不可尽信。
Take his words with a grain of salt. He always exaggerates.
对他的话要打折扣听，他总爱夸张。
参考译文
在今天的词汇典故中我们学习一个常见的小词，但这个词对人类来说非常必要，事实上，没有这种简单的日常用品，人类将会死亡。
科学家称之为氯化钠，我们称之为盐。
你可能会认为，盐不过是我们在食物上添加用以增加风味的简单东西，但盐的作用不仅于此。
没有盐我们的肌肉就不能懂，我们的神经系统就不能运作，我们的心脏就不能跳动，盐意味着生命。
但不要认为在伤口上撒盐能起到作用，这样将会很痛苦，而且不能愈合伤口。在伤口上撒盐是个习惯用语，意思是故意让情况更糟糕。
早期人类从他们杀死的动物身上获得生存所需的盐分，但农业的发展促成了低盐饮食，所以人类需要寻找其他的盐分来源。
居住在海边或其他天然盐资源附近的人很幸运，他们无需买盐，事实上，在古代世界的很多地方，人们使用盐来作为支付手段，salary(工资)这个词就来自salt(盐)。
盐在人口流动和世界探险中也起到重要作用，探险者们知道如果能保持食物新鲜，他们就能走更远的距离，所以他们用盐来保存食物并探险世界。
盐意味着流动。
盐还改变了各国作战的方式，船只上有了保藏的食物，各国就能乘船去远方的土地，然后袭击他们。
盐意味着权力。
食物历史学家说，盐是如此重要，还曾和黄金对等交易。今天，人们仍然使用to be worth one's salt或worth one's weight in salt这样的表达来描述重要人物。
有的人也会被称作salt of the earth(社会中坚)，意思是这个人可靠或可信，这个表达来自基督教圣经，耶稣称他忠实的信徒为the salt of the earth。
但其中一个信徒很不忠诚，门徒犹大出卖了耶稣，在名画《最后的晚餐》中，达芬奇描绘了犹大撒了一碗盐，撒盐象征着厄运和麻烦，这个麻烦就是犹大给耶稣带来的。
直到今天，如果有人碰洒了盐，他们就会把盐往肩膀后扔，他们认为把盐洒在身后可以吓走跟着自己的魔鬼，或至少在自己跑路时让魔鬼看不见。
但这种有关厄运的故事taken with a grain of salt(不可全信)，就是说带着怀疑来听故事或解释。
但你不必在收听美国之音慢速英语节目时持怀疑态度，我们是做过研究的。
这一研究将带来其他文化和宗教中有关盐的有趣故事。
在公元前2200年，中国帝王夏禹创造了第一个众所周知的税种，他向盐课税，埃及人使用盐来保存尸体制作木乃伊。
天主教会在很多仪式上使用到盐，佛教徒用盐来驱魔，在日本，神道教用盐来驱邪，美国西南的普韦布洛人崇拜盐母。
在1933年，十三世达赖喇嘛埋葬时坐在盐床上，今天在印度，盐仍是好运的象征。
你们的文化中有关于盐的表达或习语吗？请在评论中和我们分享你们文化中的故事。
我是乔纳森·伊万斯，我是安娜·马特奥。
