(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, welcome to Words and Their Stories.
On this program, we explore the origin of common expressions in American English. And we teach you how to use them.
Today, we talk about a famous character from a classic Disney fairy tale -- Cinderella. In American English, Cinderella's story gives us several expressions.
Little girls all over the United States love Cinderella. But she is not an American creation – far from it. Cultures all over the world have their own version of this story. In Europe alone, scholars have found more than 500 versions of the Cinderella story. Many of them are much older than Disney's Cinderella which comes from a 1690s French story.
So, what is so special about Cinderella? Why has this character been around for so long and in so many different places?
Well, Cinderella is good, kind and very beautiful. But she must overcome a bad situation. See, she has a really terrible family.
In case you don't know the story, Cinderella lives with her evil stepmother and two awful stepsisters. They hate Cinderella. They keep her locked away and force her to clean and cook for them.
Then, the handsome prince invites all the women in the kingdom to a ball, or formal dance. He is looking for a woman to marry. The last thing the evil stepmother and stepsisters want is for Cinderella to meet the prince. So, they do everything they can to prevent Cinderella from going to the ball.
However, Cinderella has a protector -- a fairy godmother.
The fairy godmother waves her magic wand. Suddenly, Cinderella is dressed in a beautiful gown. The fairy godmother even arranges transportation to the ball by turning a pumpkin into horse-drawn coach. But here's the trick -- the magic does not last all night.
Cinderella must leave the ball before midnight. That is when the magic ends and everything turns back to the way it was, including Cinderella.
This is where we get our first expression.
A "magic wand" means something that will solve all problems. But we often use it in the negative. So in conversation, you could say, "There is not a magic wand that can solve all the problems facing society."
Our next expression is turning into a pumpkin like Cinderella's horse-drawn coach.
To turn into a pumpkin means you must return home or go to bed due to the late hour of the night. So, if you're out with friends and it's late, you can say, "I have to go home before I turn into a pumpkin!"
The story of Cinderella has a few twists and turns, but in the end she marries the prince and they live happily ever after -- thanks to the fairy godmother.
And that brings us to another term from this Disney classic -- "fairy godmother."
In conversation, a fairy godmother is a generous friend or benefactor. She is someone who looks after you. She even seems to have magical powers to make everything better.
For example, let's say I am having a really bad week. My kitchen sink is clogged, my car breaks down and I am having trouble at work with a project.
My friend Madeline comes to my apartment, fixes my sink, drives me to and from work and helps me organize my project. I can say to her, "Thanks so much for all your help. You have been my fairy godmother!"
But now, let's get back to Cinderella.
It's true that the story is about a young woman finding her prince while wearing a beautiful gown. But now, the expression "Cinderella story" is used mostly for sports!
In sports, a Cinderella story is when the underdog wins the game, usually in a dramatic way. The underdog is a person or team that is not expected to win. It is good to note that the word "underdog" can be used in any situation.
A Cinderella story is also called an "upset." Usually, the word "upset" means to be troubled. But when used as a noun, an upset is when something happens that no one was expecting.
According to several sports websites, there have been many dramatic Cinderella stories.
Here are just a few:
NO 1: In tennis, Boris Becker, a 17-year-old German, wins Wimbledon in 1985.
NO 2: In boxing, Muhammad Ali wins back his heavyweight title in 1974 against George Forman in a fight known as the "Rumble in the Jungle."
NO 3: In cycling, Graeme Obree, known as the Flying Scotsman, broke the sport's one-hour record in 1993. He broke the record on a self-made bike that contained parts from an old washing machine.
NO 4: In cricket, Sri Lanka won the Cricket World Cup in 1996.
NO 5: In soccer, Uruguay beat Brazil in the 1950 World Cup. To this day, many Brazilians still talk about that upset.
These Cinderella stories lead us to another expression: "a fairy tale ending."
Many fairy tales – including the fairy tale of Cinderella – end happily ever after. At least one character gets what he or she wants after a long period of suffering.
In sports, a "fairy tale ending" happens when someone wins in the most dramatic, lucky or fortunate way imaginable. Anything can have a fairy tale ending. And that's a good thing. But we also use this term in the negative. To say something didn't have a fairy tale ending means that nothing ended well.
And that brings us to the end of Words and Their Stories. If you suffered through this program but still learned something, you can call this a fairy tale ending. Otherwise, we'll just end happily ever after!
I'm Anna Matteo.
重点解析
1.in the end 终于，最后
He calmed down in the end.
他的情绪终于平定下来。
2.thanks to 由于，幸亏
Thanks to that job I became an avid reader
多亏了那份工作我才成了一个喜欢阅读的人。
3.win back （尤指经过千辛万苦）赢回，夺回
Police must stick to the highest standards if they are to win back public confidence.
要想重新赢得公众的信任，警方必须紧遵最高标准。
4.suffer through 挨过
At least Alice and I will never have to suffer through another Cleveland winter.
至少我和爱丽丝不用再忍受克利夫兰的寒冬了。
参考译文
这里是VOA学英语，欢迎来到《词汇掌故》节目。
我们的节目探索美语里常见表达的来源，而且我们会教你怎样使用这些表达。
今天，我们聊聊一个来自经典的迪士尼童话中的一个有名的角色——辛德瑞拉。美语里，辛德瑞拉的故事给我们提供了好几个表达。
全美的小女孩都喜欢辛德瑞拉。但她却不是美国创造，一点都不是。全世界的文化都有这个故事自己的版本。单单就欧洲而言，学者们就发现了超过500个辛德瑞拉的故事版本。许多故事版本都比迪士尼版的辛德瑞拉要古老。迪士尼辛德瑞拉的故事取材于17世纪90年代法国的辛德瑞拉故事。
所以，辛德瑞拉为什么如此特别？为什么这个角色流传了这么久并传播到这么多不同的地方？
好吧，辛德瑞拉人好，善良又漂亮。但是她必须克服一个很糟糕的处境。看，她的家庭环境真得很糟糕。
假设你不知道这个故事，辛德瑞拉和恶毒的继母以及继母的两个可怕的女儿住在一起。他们讨厌辛德瑞拉。她们把她锁起来，强迫她打扫卫生，给她们做饭。
然后，英俊的王子邀请王国里的所有女孩参加一个舞会，或者说是正式舞会。他在寻找他的王后。邪恶的继母和她的女儿最不想的就是辛德瑞拉见到王子。所以，他们做了一切能阻挡辛德瑞拉去舞会的事情。
然而，辛德瑞拉有一个守护者——一个仙女。
仙女挥舞着她的魔法棒。突然，辛德瑞拉穿了一件漂亮的礼服。这个仙女甚至安排了去舞会的交通工具，她把南瓜变成了一辆马车。但是诀窍在于这个魔法不能持续整夜。
辛德瑞拉必须在午夜时分离开舞会。那时，魔法会失灵，一切都会回到原来的样子，包括辛德瑞拉。
这里有一个我们今天的第一个表达。
“magic wand（灵丹妙药）”意思是能解决所有问题的东西。但我们经常在否定句中使用这个短语。所以在交流中，你可以说，“没有能解决所有社会问题的灵丹妙药。”
我们的下一个表达是“turning into a pumpkin（变成南瓜）”，就像辛德瑞拉的马车可以变成南瓜。
“To turn into a pumpkin”（该回家睡觉了）意思是由于夜太深了，你该回家或者上床睡觉了。所以，如果你和朋友外出，时间太晚了，你可以说：“太晚了，我该回家睡觉了！”
辛德瑞拉的故事有点一波三折，但最后她和王子结婚了并从此过生了幸福的生活——多亏了仙女的帮忙。
这带出来了我们这部经典迪士尼故事的另一个词组——“fairy godmother（救星）。”
在交流中，你的“救星”是慷慨的朋友或捐助者。她是照顾你的那个人。她甚至有能把一切事情变好的魔力。
例如，假设我这一周过得很不好。我的厨房水槽堵了，我的车坏了，工作上我的一个项目遇到了问题。
我的朋友梅德林来到我的公寓，修好了我的水槽，开车送我上下班，帮我组织了项目。我可以对她说，“太谢谢你的帮忙了。你就是我的救星啊！”
但现在让我们回到辛德瑞拉吧。
这个故事的确是关于一个年轻女孩穿着漂亮的礼服找到自己的王子的故事。但现在短语“Cinderella story”主要用于体育方面。
在体育界，“a Cinderella story”用来形容劣势方戏剧性地赢了比赛的时候。“underdog”是指不被看好会赢的人或者队伍。值得注意的是，“underdog”这个词可以在任何情况下使用。
“A Cinderella story”也被称之为一个“反转（upset）”。通常，单词“upset”意思是烦恼。但当用作一个名词时，反转是指意想不到的事情发生了。
依据几个体育网站，曾经有许多戏剧性的反转故事。
这里只列举了几个：
第一个：在网球比赛中，17岁的德国人鲍里斯·贝克尔在1985年赢得了温布尔登网球公开赛。
第二个：在拳击比赛中，1974年，穆罕默德·阿里在与乔治·福尔曼的比赛中历经千辛万苦赢回了他的重量级冠军，这场比赛被称为“丛林之战”。
第三个：在骑行比赛中，格雷姆·奥布里，被称为“飞行苏格兰人”，1993年打破了这项运动的一小时纪录。他靠着一辆自制自行车打破了该记录，那辆自行车上的一些零件来自一台旧洗衣机。
第四个：在板球比赛中，斯里兰卡在1996年赢得了板球世界杯。
第五个：在足球方面，乌拉圭在1950年的世界杯上击败了巴西。直到今天，许多巴西人还在谈论那场反转的足球比赛。
这些反转故事让我们来到另一个表达：“童话故事般的结局”。
许多童话故事，包括辛德瑞拉的故事，结局都很圆满。至少会有一个角色在长时间的受苦受难后得到了自己想要的东西。
在体育界，“童话结局”用来形容某人以最戏剧化、最幸运或最能想象的到的方式获胜的时刻。一切都可以有童话故事般的结局。这是件好事。但我们也会在否定句中用到这个词。说有些事情没有童话故事般的结局意思是不是所有结局都那么美好。
这就是我们今天的《词汇掌故》。如果你是挨着听完我们的节目，但是仍然有所收获，你可以称之为圆满结局。否则，我们将从此幸福地结束！
我是安娜·马特奥。
