VOA慢速英语:Words and Their Stories: Mayday

A listener from Venezuela sent us a question about the meaning of the expression mayday. He wrote that he often hears this expression in movies.
委内瑞拉的一位听众向我们询问mayday一词作何解释。他说他经常在电影中听到这种表达。

Mayday is an emergency code word. It is used around the world in voice communications. You might see a war movie in which an airplane has been hit by rocket fire. The pilot gets on his radio and calls “mayday, mayday, mayday” to tell that his plane is in danger of crashing to the ground.
Mayday（救我）是一个在国际语音通讯上广泛使用的紧急信号。你也许在战争片中看过一架飞机被火箭炮击中。飞行员拿起无线电喊道“mayday,mayday,mayday”来说明他的飞机正处于坠毁的危险中。

Mayday has nothing to do with the month of May. It comes from the French expressions “venez m’aider,” or “m’aidez,” which mean “help me.”
Mayday与月份中的五月并无关系。它来源于法语中的“venez m'aider”或“m'aidez”，意为“救我”。

Frederick Stanley Mockford created the mayday call signal in the nineteen twenties. Mockford was a radio officer at Croydon Airport in London. He was asked to think of a word that could be used in an emergency. The word had to be easily understood by all pilots and airport workers. Much of the air traffic at that time was between Croydon Airport and Le Bourget Airport near Paris, France. So he proposed the word mayday.
弗雷德里克•斯坦利•莫克福特于20世纪20年代创造了mayday这个紧急呼救信号。莫克福特是伦敦克罗伊登机场的无线电工作人员。他受命想出一个能用于紧急情况下的词语。这个词语必须易于被飞行员和机场人员理解。那个时候有大量的航班来往于克罗伊登机场和法国巴黎附近的布尔歇机场。所以他提出用“mayday”一词。

Today, many groups use the word to mean a life-threatening emergency. The call is always given three times to prevent mistaking it for some similar sounding words.
今天，很多机构使用这个词汇来表达生命受到威胁时的紧急情况。通常这个呼叫会被重复三遍来避免与一些近音词语相混淆。

Many other French words are commonly used in English. One of these words is even in the Special English Word Book. It is sabotage. It means to damage or destroy as an act of subversion against an organization or nation.
许多其它的法语词汇通常也在英语中使用。其中一个词语甚至编入了《特别英语词汇手册》。这个词就是“sabotage”(阴谋破坏)。它的意思是施加以破坏或毁灭，作为一种颠覆和反抗组织或国家的行为。

You may have heard the term laissez-faire to describe a kind of economic or political policy. It means to leave alone and not interfere.  It was first used in France in the eighteenth century.
你可能听说过“laissez-faire”(放任政策)这个术语，用来表示一种经济或政治政策。它的意思是放任不管，不干涉。这个词最早出现在18世纪的法国。

In the business world, entrepreneur is another French word. It means a person who starts and operates a new business and has responsibility for any risks involved.
在商业领域中，“entrepreneur”(创业家)又是一个法语词。它表示开创和营运一家新公司并承担其所涉及风险的个人。

Many French words are used in the arts. For example, a film noir is a movie about murder and other crimes. These films were popular in the nineteen forties and nineteen fifties. Anything in art, music or literature which is very modern or ahead of its time is called avant-garde.
许多法语词汇也运用于艺术当中。例如，"a film noir”(黑色电影)，指的是一部关于谋杀和其它犯罪的电影。这类电影在20世纪40、50年代很受欢迎。任何在艺术、音乐或文学领域中很现代或是超越时代的东西，都被称为“avant-garde”(前卫派)。

If you are looking for a job, you must prepare your résumé. This document lists all of your education, skills and experience. Something that is one of a kind and like no other thing is called unique.
如果你正在找工作，你必须要准备你的“résumé”(简历)。这份文件罗列了所有关于你学历、技能和经验的信息。独一无二绝无雷同的事物则被称为“unique”(独特的事物)。

The French are famous for their food. All cooks need to know how to sauté. This is frying something quickly in a small amount of oil or butter. When you are eating at a restaurant, the server may tell you bon appétit, which means good appetite, or enjoy your meal. And if you go away, someone may wish you bon voyage or have a good trip.
法国是因为其食物而闻名于世的。所有的厨师都需要知道如何sauté（煎）。这就是使用少量油或黄油迅速的炸东西。当你在餐厅吃饭时，服务员可能会告诉你bon appétit，意思是祝你有个好胃口，或慢慢享用。而如果你离开，有人可能会祝你一路顺风，或旅途愉快。