VOA慢速英语:Words and Their Stories: Pan

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.  Today's word, pan, takes us back to the days of the gold rush in California.
现在，这里是美国之音慢速英语词汇掌故。今天的词汇，选矿锅，把我们带回了加利福尼亚淘金热的时代。

On January twenty-fourth, eighteen forty-eight, a man named James Wilson Marshall discovered gold in the territory of California.  The news spread quickly.  Thousands rushed west.  They traveled on foot, by horseback and by boat to reach the gold fields.  By eighteen forty-nine, the great gold rush was on.
在1848年1月24日，一个名叫James Wilson Marshall的男子在加利福尼亚境内发现了黄金。这个消息很快传开了，数千人徒步，骑马或乘船奔向加州西部的黄金地区。到1849年，淘金热开始了。

Towns and cities grew overnight.  Throughout the territory – in the mountains, along the streams and rivers – thousands of people searched for gold.  They had food to eat and blankets to cover them.  They also had mules to ride, and picks and pans to search for gold.
那里的城镇一夜之间人海茫茫。在这个区域内，成千上万的人在山上，沿河流溪流寻找金子。他们随身携带了食物和毛毯。他们还骑着骡子带工具和选矿锅寻找金子。

Some found areas of mountain rock thick with gold.  These men got rich.  But such areas were few and quickly claimed by the first men to find them.  Others searched for gold in the rivers coming down the mountains.  They were after pieces of gold that the rains had washed down from above.
一些人在岩石山发现了金子，这些人变得很富有。但这样的地方很少，而且很快就被第一批爬上山的人发现并占领了。其他人到山脚下的河流里寻找从山上被雨水冲下来的黄金。

The only way to find this gold was by panning.  First a gold miner put dirt in a metal pan and added water.  Then he shook the pan so that the water would wash the dirt.  Slowly, he poured the water out of the pan.  If he was a lucky miner, pieces of gold would remain.
寻找这种金子的唯一办法淘洗。首先，一个黄金矿工把带泥土的金子放在金属锅里然后加入水。然后摇动锅，水会洗掉泥土。再慢慢地把水从锅里倒出来。如果他是一个幸运的矿工，金子就留下来了。

Across the nation, newspapers carried stories of the gold being found.  One told how thousands of people climbed the mountains looking for gold.  Some stories told how others followed the rivers and streams with pans.  Each one hoped that the place he claimed panned out well – had some gold.
全国各地的报纸都报道了发现黄金的事情。有的报道告诉人们是如何在山上寻找金子的，有的则报道人们是怎样拿着淘金盆沿河寻找金子的。每个人都希望他们占领的地方都能淘到金子。

For many, gold mining did not pan out.  For a few, it panned out well.  But in time, huge machines were built that could wash many tons of dirt at a time.  Panning died out.
对于许多人来说，用选矿锅淘金并没有收获。只有少数人有所收获。随着时代的发展，一种一次可以洗掉几吨泥的巨型机器诞生了，人们就不再淘洗了。

The word, however, remained in the language.  Today, Americans still say, "It panned out well," when something they have done pleases them.  A business, a discovery, a simple event pans out well if it is successful.  Unhappily, sometimes things do not pan out.
然而，这个词语仍留在语言中。如今，美国人还用它来表达“结果很好”。当他们所做的事情成功了，事业、发现或简单的事情成功了就可以用pans out well这个短语表达。不幸的是，如果没成功就用things do not pan out表达。

In recent years, the word pan has taken on another meaning.  Today, it also means to criticize.  How it got this meaning is hard to discover.  But the job of a critic is to sometimes pan the work of a writer, artist or singer.
近年来，pan又有了另一个意思。现在，它也意味着批评。很难发现它是如何获得这种意思的。但是，一个批评家批评作家、艺术家和歌唱家的作品用pan来表达。

Sometimes, critics may pan a movie or play so severely that no one will go to see it.  There are times, however, when a play became highly successful, even though most of the critics panned it without mercy.  The pans should have washed out the play.  But, as actors have pointed out, sometimes a critic's pan turns up gold.
有时候，批评家会严厉批评一部电影或话剧，以至于没人去看。然而有时，尽管批评家批评的毫不留情，那部话剧还是会非常成功。批评能把该剧推向成功。但是，正如演员们所说，有时候批评家的批评变成黄金。

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