VOA慢速英语:Green Means Spring and Other Things

Green is an important color in nature. It is the color of grass and the leaves on trees. It is also the color of most growing plants.
绿色是自然界一种十分重要的颜色，比如绿色的青草、树叶，此外大多数植物也都是绿色的。

Sometimes, the word green means young, fresh and growing. Sometimes, it describes something that is not yet ripe or finished.
有些情况下，green代表着年轻、新生以及成长。有时候人们也用它来描述那些没成熟或者尚未完成的东西。

For example, a greenhorn is someone who has no expereince, who is new to a situation. In the fifteenth century, a greenhorn was a young cow or ox whose horns had not yet developed. A century or so later, a greenhorn was a soldier who had not yet had any experience in battle. By the eighteenth century, a greenhorn had the meaning it has today - a person who is new in a job.
例如，greenhorn(新手)是指那些缺乏经验或者初到某个环境的人。15世纪，greenhorn是指触角尚未发育完全的幼年公牛。而大约在16世纪，greenhorn又用来指那些尚未踏上战场的士兵。到了18世纪，greenhorn被赋予了最新的含义并一直使用至今——新人。

About one hundred years ago, greenhorn was a popular expression in the American west. Old-timers used it to describe a man who had just arrived from one of the big cities back east. The greenhorn lacked the skills he would need to live in the hard, rough country.
在100多年前的美国西部，greenhorn是个非常流行的表达。老人们把那些刚刚从东部大城市来到西部的人称为greenhorn，这些人普遍缺乏在艰苦条件下生存的技巧。

Someone who has the ability to grow plants well is said to have a green thumb. The expression comes from the early nineteen hundreds.
如果一个人很擅长种植，人们便会说这个人很具有园艺才能(green thumb)。这种表达自20世纪初流传至今。

A person with a green thumb seems to have a magic touch that makes plants grow quickly and well. You might say that the woman next door has a green thumb if her garden continues to grow long after your plants have died.
有绿色拇指的人（园艺专家）仿佛有魔力可以使植物长的又快又好。如果隔壁女人的花园里德植物在你园中的植物都死掉以后依旧生长，你就可以说这个女人是个园艺专家。

The Green Revolution is the name given some years ago to the development of new kinds of rice and other grains. The new plants produced much larger crops. The Green Revolution was the result of hard work by agricultural scientists who had green thumbs.
几年前，开发优良的谷物和水稻的运动被称为绿色革命。这些新型作物的产量更高。绿色革命是那些经验丰富的农业科学家们努力工作的结果。

Green is also the color used to describe the powerful emotion, jealousy. The green-eyed monster is not a frightening creature from outer space. It is an expression used about four hundred years ago by British writer William Shakespeare in his play "Othello."
绿色也可用来表达一种强烈的情感——嫉妒。“绿眼怪”并不是来自外太空的可怕生物。它是英国作家威廉•莎士比亚四百年前在他的戏剧“奥赛罗”中用的表达。

It describes the unplesant feeling a person has when someone has something he wants. A young man may suffer from the green-eyed monster if his girlfriend begins going out with someone else. Or, that green-eyed monster may affect your friend if you get a pay raise and she does not.
它用来描述一个人在别人拥有某种他想要的东西时的不高兴的情绪。如果一个年轻人的女朋友开始跟其他人约会，他就可能会嫉妒。或者，如果你的工资涨了而你的朋友没有，她也可能会嫉妒。

In most places in the world, a green light is a signal to move ahead. A green light on a traffic signal means your car can continue on. In everyday speech, a green light means approval to continue with a project. We want you to know we have a green light to continue this series next week.
在世界上的大多数地方，绿灯是一个前行的信号。交通信号中的绿灯意味着你的车可以继续前行。在日常用语中，绿灯意味着准许继续进行一个项目。我们想让你知道，我们获准下周继续这个系列的广播。

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