VOA慢速英语:Words and Their Stories: I'm Feeling Very Blue

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Every people has its own way of saying things, its own special expressions. Many everyday American expressions are based on colors.
每个人都有自己独特的表达方式。美国有许多基于颜色的日常表达方式。

Red is a hot color. Americans often use it to express heat. They may say they are red hot about something unfair. When they are red hot they are very angry about something. The small hot tasting peppers found in many Mexican foods are called red hots for their color and their fiery taste. Fast loud music is popular with many people. They may say the music is red hot, especially the kind called Dixieland jazz.
红色是火热的颜色。美国人经常用它来表达热度。他们可能会说red hot来表达一些事情的不公，当他们red hot时表明他们对一些事情非常愤怒。许多墨西哥食物中有的红色小辣椒因为他们的颜色和热辣的味道而被称为red hots。劲爆快歌受到很多人的欢迎。他们可能会说这些音乐red hot，尤其是那种所谓的迪克西兰爵士乐。

Pink is a lighter kind of red. People sometimes say they are in the pink when they are in good health. The expression was first used in America at the beginning of the twentieth century. It probably comes from the fact that many babies are born with a nice pink color that shows that they are in good health.
粉色是一种比较淡的红颜色。当人们身体健康时他们可能会说他们in the pink。这种表达在二十世纪初的美国第一次被使用，它可能来源于许多婴儿出生时皮肤是漂亮的粉红色，这明他们的健康状况良好。

Blue is a cool color. The traditional blues music in the United States is the opposite of red hot music. Blues is slow, sad and soulful. Duke Ellington and his orchestra recorded a famous song – Mood Indigo – about the deep blue color, indigo. In the words of the song: “You ain’t been blue till you’ve had that Mood Indigo.” Someone who is blue is very sad.
蓝色是一种冷色调。美国传统蓝调音乐与炽热的音乐正好相反。蓝调音乐是缓慢的、悲伤的和深情的。艾灵顿公爵和他的乐队录制了一首著名的歌曲-- Mood Indigo，就是关于深蓝色的。歌词中有一句："You ain’t been blue till you’ve had that Mood Indigo." Blue的人就是悲伤的人。

The color green is natural for trees and grass. But it is an unnatural color for humans. A person who has a sick feeling stomach may say she feels a little green. A passenger on a boat who is feeling very sick from high waves may look very green.
绿色是树木和青草的自然颜色，但是对于人类，这就是不正常的了。感到胃不舒服的人可能会说她feels a little green。在一艘船上的一名乘客经受不住风浪晕船时可能look very green。

Sometimes a person may be upset because he does not have something as nice as a friend has, like a fast new car. That person may say he is green with envy. Some people are green with envy because a friend has more dollars or greenbacks. Dollars are called greenbacks because that is the color of the back side of the paper money.
有时一个人可能会不高兴，因为他拥有的一些东西并没有朋友的那么好，例如一辆新跑车。那个人可能会说他羡慕不已(green with envy)。有些人朋友比他更有钱而羡慕不已。美元因为背面是绿色的而被称为greenback，。

The color black is used often in expressions. People describe a day in which everything goes wrong as a black day. The date of a major tragedy is remembered as a black day. A blacklist is illegal now. But at one time, some businesses refused to employ people who were on a blacklist for belonging to unpopular organizations.
黑颜色也经常用于各种表达之中。人们形容各种事都不顺利的日子称为黑色的日子(black day)。发生重大悲剧的日自己也被称为黑色的日子。现在黑名单(blacklist)是违法的。但曾有一段时间，一些企业会拒绝雇佣属于不受欢迎组织黑名单上的人。

In some cases, colors describe a situation. A brown out is an expression for a reduction in electric power. Brown outs happen when there is too much demand for electricity. The electric system is unable to offer all the power needed in an area. Black outs were common during World War Two. Officials would order all lights in a city turned off to make it difficult for enemy planes to find a target in the dark of night.
在某些情况下，颜色描述了某种情况。brown out表示电力不足。当对电力有更多的需求时就会出现brown out，电力系统无法提供在一个地区所需的所有电力。灯火管制(black outs)在二战期间非常普遍。官方会下令关闭城市所有灯光，使敌机在漆黑的夜晚中难以找到攻击目标。

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