时间:2019-02-16 作者:英语课 分类:词汇大师(Wordmaster)


英语课

Broadcast: November 17, 2004


AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster we have part two of our look at proverbs in American English.


RS: We continue our conversation with Wolfgang Mieder, a professor of German and folklore 1 at the University of Vermont, and a widely published expert on proverbs.


AA: And there are certainly lots of them, although there are also many proverbs that different cultures have in common. So is this a case where "great minds think alike"?


WOLFGANG MIEDER: "If you look back in history and you compare the proverbs let's say of Germany, England, and also including the United States, France, Russia, Italy, Spain, you'd be surprised how many absolutely identical proverbs there are. The reason why that is, is that many of our everyday proverbs actually originated in Greek and Roman antiquity 2.


"I'll give you an example. 'Big fish eat little fish' is a proverb that goes back, way back, into Greek antiquity, and then it was translated in Europe from language to language and it wound up in England, and of course the immigrants brought it to the United States."


RS: Professor Mieder says the Bible is the second major source for proverbs that cross national boundaries.


WOLFGANG MIEDER: "I'll give you an example: 'Man does not live by bread alone' is absolutely identical in France, it's identical in Germany, it's identical in Poland. So that's the second major group. And the third one is Medieval Latin. If you take the proverb 'strike while the iron is hot,' we know it started in the Middle Ages, in Latin, and they used proverbs at that time to teach youngsters foreign languages, in other words Latin and French or Latin and German and so on."


RS: "Speaking of learning languages, how useful are proverbs in learning American English or any other language?"


WOLFGANG MIEDER: "Oh, oh, extremely important. You know, those instructors 3 who, let's say -- or students who study to become teachers of English as a second language -- are very interested in teaching some of the colloquial 4 language like proverbs and phrases. And we are now doing studies where, through questionnaires -- thousands of questionnaires -- we have established which proverbs, let's just say in the United States, are the most popular."


AA: "And could you tell us the top five?"


WOLFGANG MIEDER: "Well, I will not say that these are exactly the top five, but I'll give you some examples."


AA: "OK, great."


WOLFGANG MIEDER: "Well, 'strike while the iron is hot' is certainly one. 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder' is one. 'New brooms sweep clean' might be one."


AA: "Now that's an old one. I haven't heard that one in a while."


WOLFGANG MIEDER: "That's actually a Medieval Latin one that was translated into all of those languages as I mentioned. Let me give you some new American ones that one ought to know. 'It takes two to tango.' That started in 1952 with Pearl Bailey's famous song 'Takes Two to Tango.'"


MUSIC: "TAKES TWO TO TANGO"/Pearl Bailey


WOLFGANG MIEDER: "And then there is 'a picture is worth a thousand words.'"


RS: "Well, that had to start with modern photography."


WOLFGANG MIEDER: "That started in 1921 with an advertising 5 campaign."


RS: "That was what I was going to ask you. What's the difference between a proverb and advertising jargon 6 -- "


AA: "Or slogan."


RS: " -- or slogan? Can an advertising slogan morph it's way into becoming a proverb?"


WOLFGANG MIEDER: "You're catching 7 on beautifully. [Laughter] Yes, if an advertising slogan has a certain amount of wisdom to it or generality or truth, then advertising can become a proverb. In fact, I would say that one of the most important sources for modern proverbs is advertising."


AA: Wolfang Mieder is a professor at the University of Vermont.


RS: If you have a favorite proverb, send it to us! Our e-mail address is。。。。。。。And you can visit us online at voanews.com/wordmaster. With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.


MUSIC "Takes Two to Tango"


 



n.民间信仰,民间传说,民俗
  • Zhuge Liang is a synonym for wisdom in folklore.诸葛亮在民间传说中成了智慧的代名词。
  • In Chinese folklore the bat is an emblem of good fortune.在中国的民间传说中蝙蝠是好运的象征。
n.古老;高龄;古物,古迹
  • The museum contains the remains of Chinese antiquity.博物馆藏有中国古代的遗物。
  • There are many legends about the heroes of antiquity.有许多关于古代英雄的传说。
指导者,教师( instructor的名词复数 )
  • The instructors were slacking on the job. 教员们对工作松松垮垮。
  • He was invited to sit on the rostrum as a representative of extramural instructors. 他以校外辅导员身份,被邀请到主席台上。
adj.口语的,会话的
  • It's hard to understand the colloquial idioms of a foreign language.外语里的口头习语很难懂。
  • They have little acquaintance with colloquial English. 他们对英语会话几乎一窍不通。
n.广告业;广告活动 a.广告的;广告业务的
  • Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
  • The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。
n.术语,行话
  • They will not hear critics with their horrible jargon.他们不愿意听到评论家们那些可怕的行话。
  • It is important not to be overawed by the mathematical jargon.要紧的是不要被数学的术语所吓倒.
adj.易传染的,有魅力的,迷人的,接住
  • There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
  • Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。
学英语单词
acft
additional document
alar plate
anachitis
anhydrous sodium sulfate
audio-recording
bilithic filter
bowyang
braeden
bulletheads
cellular sheet pile wharf
choosest
chromoneucleoprotein
chrysemys pictas
Consumer Reports
coppice-wood
coral spot
cordierite-anthophyllite rock
crack border
cylic compound
denumerable at infinity
Dictyodrama
Dihydrocoumarone
duncer
error routine address
family Ascaphidae
finger buff
finger-pick
follow feed
football leagues
fuel knock
gabeller
Geneva Bureau
gigabarrels
gished
heavyhanded
homentropic
incestous
incremental pricing
indol(e)amine
indolic
initial free volume
inverse suppressor
jeanbandyite
key schedule
knot-head
light-weight concrete
liquor sauce
longisporin
Lord President of the Court of Session
macro-cracks
magnetic detent
megamonuments
microcosmographic
need it!
nongeriatric
nonzero queue
one's word is as good as one's bond
paediatric psychopharmacology
pareucalanus sewelli
party to a case
penis palmatus
perpendicular susceptibility
pet subject
piscinest
plain snap gauge
plug and chug
plug-finishing bur
poeciloblast
polyimidoylamidine
Posang-ni
proportion of resin present
providers
RAM refresh operation
rauning
reaction control
return flow line
round bordered pit
rug? vaginales
saddle coil magnet
Samut Songkhram, Changwat
Sepyron
Silfiac
spinal lemniscus
stabilizing tester
starting torque in air
static memory interface
stellaria uliginosa murr.var. undulata franch. et sav.
swifterly
sy
the fag end of sth
threofuranoside
tocofersolan
trade identity
transition transient
Triodanis perfoliata
uncarboxylated
under water fittings
unequaladdendum system
venae spinales externae posteriores
William Caxton
willians