The english we speak(BBC教学)第306期:Knee jerk reaction 本能反应

Neil's performing medical experiments on Feifei. Why's he hitting her with a hammer? To teach you a useful English expression!

尼尔在菲菲身上做起了医学试验。他为什么要用锤子敲菲菲？是为了教大家一个有用的英语表达！

Neil: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, I'm Neil and joining me is Feifei...

尼尔：大家好，欢迎收听地道英语节目。我是尼尔，今天和我一起主持的是菲菲。

Feifei: Hello.

菲菲：大家好。

Neil: I've got a medical experiment to perform on you in this programme, Feifei.

尼尔：菲菲，在这期节目里，我想在你身上做个医学试验。

Feifei: Righhhhht...

菲菲：啊……

Neil: Come on — it's for our listeners. We've got an expression which means to react to something without thinking about it carefully first. So, cross one leg over the other, like that.

尼尔：来吧，这都是为了听众。有个表达方式的意思是不经仔细思考就对某事做出反应。所以，把你的这条腿放在另一条腿上，就像这样。

Feifei: What are you doing with that hammer?

菲菲：你拿着那个锤子要干什么？

Neil: Keep calm — it's OK, I'm not going to hurt you. And I'll just tap your knee... And... it worked!

尼尔：冷静，没事的，我不会伤害你的。我只是要轻轻地敲一下你的膝盖……有效果了！

Feifei: Yes Neil, well done. You've just tested my reflexes. When you hit my knee with the hammer, my leg kicked automatically. I didn't even think about it.

菲菲：尼尔，做的好。你刚刚是在测试我的条件反射。你用锤子轻敲我的膝盖时，我的腿会自动地踢一下。我甚至都没有思考。

Neil: It was a knee-jerk reaction. And in English we can say that someone has a knee-jerk reaction when they act after an event without thinking carefully.

尼尔：这就是本能反应。在英语中，当有人没有仔细思考就对一个事件做出反应时，我们可以说这个人做出了本能的第一反应。

Feifei: Let's hear some examples of 'knee-jerk reaction'.

菲菲：下面我们来听几个例句。

Examples

例句

After the terrorist attack, the government should be careful to avoid a knee-jerk reaction. A declaration of war could lead to even bigger problems later.

恐怖袭击发生之后，政府应小心避免本能的第一反应。宣战可能会引发更大的问题。

He left his wife after he saw her having a drink with another man but it was a knee-jerk reaction. He'll be back.

他看到妻子和另一个男人一起喝酒以后离开了她，不过这只是他的本能反应。他会回来的。

Putting up interest rates because of inflation is a knee-jerk reaction. They haven't thought of the other consequences.

因为通货膨胀而提高利率是一种本能反应。他们没有考虑过其他后果。

Feifei: A knee-jerk reaction. Acting automatically, without thinking about the consequences.

菲菲：本能的第一反应。没有考虑后果而做出地自动的动作。

Neil: Let's try that again with the other knee. Here we go... (Smacking sfx) Argh — you kicked me in the face!

尼尔：我们在另一个膝盖上再试验一下吧。开始了。（敲打音效）你踢到我的脸了！

Feifei: Sorry Neil — it was just a knee-jerk reaction.

菲菲：抱歉，尼尔，这只是本能反应。

Neil: Ow...

尼尔：哎呦…

Feifei: Bye!

菲菲：再见！

Neil: Bye!

尼尔：再见！

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