VOA慢速英語:Hot Potatoes, Hotshots and Hotheads

[00:00.00](MUSIC) [00:09.39]Now, the VOA Special English program [00:13.72]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. [00:17.00]Every language has its own [00:21.52]special words and expressions. [00:24.71]And a story can be told [00:27.46]about each of them. [00:29.73]Hot is a simple, [00:33.02]easily understood word. [00:35.54]So are most of the expressions [00:39.19]made with the word hot. [00:41.51]But not always, [00:43.63]as we shall see. [00:45.61]The words hot potato, [00:49.74]for example, [00:50.78]give you no idea at all [00:53.34]to the meaning of [00:54.77]the expression, hot potato. [00:57.80]The potato is a [00:59.68]popular vegetable [01:01.32]in the United States. [01:03.23]Many people like [01:04.88]baked potatoes, cooked [01:06.22]in an oven or fire. [01:09.10]Imagine trying to carry a hot, [01:12.09]baked potato in your hand. [01:14.01]It would be difficult, [01:15.90]even painful, to do so. [01:19.14]Now we are getting close [01:21.50]to the meaning of hot potato. [01:24.24]Some publicly disputed issues [01:29.81]are highly emotional. [01:32.00]The issues must [01:33.82]be treated carefully, [01:35.21]or they will be difficult [01:37.23]and painful if an elected official [01:39.76]has to deal with them. [01:41.37]As difficult and painful [01:44.48]as holding a hot potato. [01:47.69]One such hot potato is taxes. [01:52.32]Calling for higher taxes [01:54.99]can mean defeat for a politician. [01:57.70]And yet, if taxes are not raised, [02:01.27]some very popular government [02:03.98]programs could be cut. [02:06.34]And that also can make [02:08.63]a politician very unpopular. [02:11.25]So the questions must [02:14.05]be dealt with carefully, [02:16.14]the same way you would [02:18.43]handle any other hot potato. [02:21.52]Another expression is not so hot. [02:26.54]If you ask someone [02:28.63]how she feels, [02:30.32]she may answer "not so hot." [02:33.83]What she means is [02:35.13]she does not feel well. [02:37.03]Not so hot also is a way of saying [02:40.57]that you do not really like something. [02:43.56]You may tell a friend [02:45.55]that the new play you saw [02:47.69]last night is not so hot. [02:49.99]That means you did not [02:52.33]consider it a success. [02:54.48]A hot shot is a person, [02:57.87]often a young person, [02:59.76]who thinks he can do anything. [03:02.21]At least he wants to try. [03:05.10]He is very sure he can succeed. [03:08.48]But often he fails. [03:10.57]The expression was born [03:13.11]in the military forces. [03:15.17]A hot shot was a soldier [03:18.13]who fired without aiming carefully. [03:20.64]Hot is a word that is often [03:24.43]used to talk about anger. [03:26.38]A person who becomes angry easily [03:30.22]is called a hothead. [03:32.57]An angry person's neck [03:34.86]often becomes red. [03:36.90]We say he is hot under the collar. [03:40.25]You could say [03:42.09]that your friend is no hothead. [03:44.48]But he got hot under the collar [03:47.02]when someone took his radio. [03:49.52]In nineteen sixty-three, [03:53.40]hot line appeared [03:55.95]as a new expression. [03:57.64]The hot line was a direct [04:00.77]communications link [04:02.26]between the leaders of [04:03.55]the Soviet Union [04:04.64]and the United States. [04:06.66]The hot line had an important purpose: [04:09.78]to prevent accidental war [04:12.02]between the two competitors [04:13.92]during the period known [04:15.71]as the Cold War. [04:17.40]The American president [04:19.54]and the Soviet leader were able [04:21.63]to communicate directly [04:22.98]and immediately on the hot line. [04:25.73]This helped prevent any conflict [04:28.52]during an international crisis. [04:31.61](MUSIC) [04:38.76]You have been listening [04:40.67]to the VOA Special English program, [04:43.31]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. [04:46.05]Our program was written [04:48.09]by Marilyn Rice Christiano. [04:50.38]I'm Warren Scheer.

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