VOA慢速英語,作為國際英語學習者的重要資源,通過清晰緩慢的發(fā)音與簡潔的詞匯,為初學者及中等水平學習者搭建了通往流利英語的橋梁。它不僅幫助提升聽力理解能力,還豐富了詞匯量,增強了語感,是學習地道英語表達不可或缺的工具,對全球英語學習者的語言提升至關(guān)重要。讓我們一起進入今天的VOA慢速英語聽力訓練:詞匯故事Sleep。
英文原文
Sleep, it's important to our mental and physical health. From a quick catnap to long deep beauty sleep, we have many expressions to describe sleep. Of course, cats sleep for many hours during the day. That's why we call a short period of sleep, preferably in a warm spot of the room, a catnap. The purpose of a catnap is different from that of a power nap. We take power naps during the middle of a work day to help us get more work done. But we take a cat nap because the sun feels so good and our pillow feels so soft that we simply must close our eyes for a few minutes, like a cat.
睡眠對我們的身心健康至關(guān)重要。從短暫的小憩到長時間的深度美容覺,我們有很多詞匯來描述睡眠。當然,貓在白天會睡上好幾個小時。這就是為什么我們把在房間里溫暖的地方小睡片刻稱為“catnap(打盹)”的原因。打盹的目的與小憩是不同的。我們在工作日午休時會小憩一會兒,以便完成更多的工作。但我們打盹是因為陽光如此明媚,枕頭如此柔軟,以至于我們就像貓一樣,不得不閉上眼睛小憩幾分鐘。
If you had a really tough week at work, you might want to sleep in on the weekend. This means you sleep later than usual. Teenagers are especially known for sleeping in when they don't have school. It's not hard to understand where we get some of our sleep expressions. For example, when we are tired, we may say we need to get some shut eye. You can only sleep when you shut your eyes. Although I have heard stories about people who sleep with their eyes open, which can look kind of creepy. When we use this expression, please note that it is singular. We just say "shut eye" and not "shut eyes."
如果你在工作上度過了非常艱難的一周,你可能會想在周末睡個懶覺。這意味著你比平時起得晚。青少年在沒有課的時候尤其喜歡睡懶覺。我們的一些睡眠表達方式是怎么來的,這不難理解。例如,當我們累了的時候,我們可能會說自己需要“小憩一下(get some shut eye)”。你只有在閉上眼睛的時候才能睡覺。雖然我聽說過有人睜著眼睛睡覺,但看起來有點嚇人。當我們使用這個表達時,請注意它是單數(shù)形式。我們只說“shut eye”,而不是“shut eyes”。
If you are feeling tired, you might need to catch some Z's. Z is the sound we use to represent sleeping. So to catch some Z's simply means to sleep. Now, sometimes we fall asleep when we don't mean to. We might nod off while sitting somewhere and waiting, like in a doctor's office or on the train after a long day of work. A nod is the up and down movement of the head. That head movement is what happens when you nod off while sitting. Your head drops down, and you fall asleep.
如果你感到疲倦,你可能需要“小憩一下(catch some Z's)”。Z是我們用來代表睡覺的聲音。所以“小憩一下”的意思就是睡覺。有時候,我們會在不經(jīng)意間睡著。我們可能會在等候時坐著睡著,比如在醫(yī)生的辦公室或工作了一天后在火車上。點頭是指頭部的上下運動。當你在坐著的時候打盹,就會發(fā)生這種頭部運動。你的頭會垂下來,然后你就會睡著。
Now, we might take a short snooze during the day to get a little rest. And if we had a late night, we might need to hit the snooze alarm or snooze button a couple of times before actually getting up. This lets us get a little more shut-eye. Most of these expressions are for the short rests we take during the day, but not when we actually go to bed at night. We have a whole different set of other expressions just for that.
現(xiàn)在,我們可能會在白天小睡一會兒來休息一下。如果我們晚上睡得很晚,我們可能會在真正起床前多次按下“小睡鬧鐘”或“小睡按鈕”。這能讓我們多睡一會兒。這些表達方式大多指的是我們白天進行的短暫休息,而不是晚上真正上床睡覺的時候。對于晚上上床睡覺,我們有一套完全不同的表達方式。
You can simply turn in. This just means to go to bed for the night. When you fold down the blankets to get into bed, you are turning down the bed. Some people are just too tired to fuss with turning down blankets. They might say, "It's late, I'm going to crash." This means they are so tired that they feel like they need to fall or crash onto the bed. Young people are very fond of this expression.
你可以簡單地“就寢(turn in)”。這意思就是晚上睡覺。當你把毯子折下來上床睡覺時,你就是在鋪床。有些人太累了,以至于懶得鋪床。他們可能會說:“很晚了,我要睡了?!边@意味著他們太累了,感覺需要倒在床上。年輕人非常喜歡這個表達。
If you hit the sack or hit the hay, you are officially going to bed for the night. A sack is a big bag, like the bag that rice comes in. Word historians say that in earlier days, people would fill sacks with something soft, like feathers, and make it a pillow. And hay is the kind of dried grass that farmers put down for some farm animals to sleep on. It is actually quite comfortable. In fact, a long time ago, some beds were filled with hay. Maybe you are one of those lucky people who drift off to sleep quickly as soon as your head hits the pillow. As soon as your head hits the pillow, you are out like a light. This means you fell asleep in the time it takes to turn off the light.
如果你“上床睡覺(hit the sack or hit the hay)”,那你就正式準備晚上睡覺了。sack是一個大袋子,就像裝米的袋子。詞匯歷史學家說,在早些時候,人們會用柔軟的東西(比如羽毛)裝滿袋子,然后做成枕頭。hay是農(nóng)民為一些農(nóng)場動物睡覺而鋪的干草。它實際上很舒服。事實上,很久以前,有些床是用干草填充的。也許你是那些幸運的人之一,只要頭一碰到枕頭就能迅速入睡。只要你的頭碰到枕頭,你就“睡著了(out like a light)”。這意味著你在關(guān)燈的同時就睡著了。
For some other people, sleep might not come so fast. Some people might need to listen to peaceful music or read a book to help them fall asleep. Others might need to count sheep. When you count sheep, you imagine cute little sheep jumping over a fence. The scene is so relaxing and counting sheep is so boring that you will soon be sawing logs.
對于其他人來說,入睡可能沒有那么快。有些人可能需要聽舒緩的音樂或看書來幫助入睡。另一些人可能需要“數(shù)羊(count sheep)”。當你數(shù)羊時,你會想象可愛的小羊跳過柵欄。這個場景如此放松,數(shù)羊如此無聊,以至于你很快就會“呼呼大睡(sawing logs)”。
以上便是VOA慢速英語聽力訓練:詞匯故事Sleep相關(guān)內(nèi)容,希望能幫助你提升聽力!