The english we speak(BBC教學)第19期: can of worms 棘手的事

Finn: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I'm Finn.

芬：大家好，歡迎大家來到我們所說的英語。我是芬。

Feifei: And I'm Feifei.

菲菲：我是菲菲。

Finn: Worms are great - don't you think they're really interesting?

芬：蟲子太棒了，你不覺得它們很有趣嗎？

Feifei: Erm, yeah, kind of. But what's today's phrase?

菲菲：嗯，是，有點。但是今天的習語是什麼？

Finn: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll come to that in a minute. But, did you know earthworms, the kind you normally find in the soil, are both male and female in one body?

芬：好，好，好，我們馬上就到那個部分。但是，你知道經常在土地裏見到的蚯蚓它們一個身體裏既是雌性又是雄性嗎？

Feifei: That is quite interesting.

菲菲：這很有趣啊。

Finn: And if you cut a worm in half - only one part of the worm will die!

芬：而且如果你把一個蟲子切成兩段，只有一半會死掉！

Feifei: Oh yes, the part with the fat little bump on it will survive.I knew that.

菲菲：哦是，有小腫塊的那一半會活下來，我知道這個。

Finn: And earthworms can be really short - from only one millimetre -to a massive three metres! Oh, and, another one, worms can...

芬：而且蚯蚓可以非常短，從小小的一釐米到很長的三米！噢，還有一個，蟲子可以...

Feifei: Finn, hang on a second, why are we talking about worms so much?

菲菲：芬，停一下，爲什麼我們說這麼多蟲子的事？

Finn: Sorry, yes, I was doing some research for today's programme. The phrase, today, is: a can of worms!

芬：不好意思，我在爲今天的節目做調查。今天的習語是：一罐蠕蟲（棘手的事）！

Feifei: Right. Well 'a can of worms' is a phrase we use to describe a situation that causes a lot of problems when you start to deal with it.

菲菲：好的，“一罐蠕蟲"可以用來形容一種一旦開始就可以招致很多問題的情況。

Finn: Yes, sometimes you want to deal with a problem, but you realise that by dealing with that problem it will open up a whole set of new problems.

芬：是的，有時候你想解決一個問題，但是你意識到一旦你解決這個問題就會有一系列新問題出現。

Feifei: Like in these examples:

菲菲：比如這些例子：

A: Charles, have you finished writing that report about our fantastic sales figures this month?

A:查爾斯，你寫完那篇關於我們這個月不可思議的銷售數字的報告了嗎？

B: No, because actually I realised our sales figures are all one has been giving us false information for months…

B:沒有，因爲事實上我意識到我們的銷售數字都是錯的。有人給了我們很多月的錯信息了。

A: Oh no, what a can of worms.

A:哦不，真是棘手的事！

When Frank asked why his brother arrived late to the party, his brother started telling Frank all about the problems in his life: why his car wasn't working and that he had to take it to the garage on his way; after visiting the doctor because, yes, his foot was very painful, because he hurt it playing tennis, which he didn't want to play anyway but did because his friend loved playing it so much, even though he didn't like the friend any more, because the friend still owed him money… Frank realised he'd opened a can of worms.

當弗蘭克問他的弟弟爲什麼在派對上遲到了，他弟弟開始給弗蘭克敘述他生活中所有的問題：他的車不工作了所以他需要在路上開去修車店，在這之前他因爲腳痛去了醫院，而他的腳痛是因爲他去參加了一個他並不想參加的網球比賽，但是他去參加的原因是一個他並不太喜歡的朋友很喜歡玩網球，而他不喜歡這個朋友是因爲他還欠他錢。弗蘭克意識到他遇到了棘手的問題。

Feifei: That was possibly the longest example we've had on The English We Speak!

菲菲：這個可能是我們所說的英語欄目最長的例子了！

Finn: Yes, well anyway - I hope everyone listening understands the phrase now. I think I'll get back to my reading. 34,000 different kinds of worm, wow... They can live for up to 10 years! eat their own weight every day...

芬：是的，不管怎樣，我希望每個聽的人都理解這個俚語了。我打算回到我的閱讀。34000不同種類的蠕蟲，哇...它們最長活10年！不可思議...它們每天吃自己的身體...

Feifei: OK, well I think we've lost Finn there. I think I've had enough of worms for one day. Do join us again for more The English We Speak! Bye.

菲菲：好的，我覺得Finn已經不在這了。我覺得我們一天說了太多蟲子了。加入我們瞭解更多我們所說的英語吧！再見。

Finn: s have existed for about 600 million years, and they breathe through their skin, cool!

芬：蠕蟲已經存在了大約6億年，而且它們通過皮膚呼吸，好酷！