The english we speak(BBC教学)第128期:To jump the gun 抢先行动

Feifei: Hello, and welcome to The English We Speak. My name is Feifei.

菲菲：大家好，欢迎收看地道英语节目。我是菲菲。

William: And I'm William.

威廉：我是威廉。

Feifei: William, how much do you know about China?

菲菲：威廉，你对中国了解多少？

William: Er... Not much. Why are you asking?

威廉：呃……知道得不多。你为什么这么问？

Feifei: Well, I was flicking through the papers and I came across this quiz.

菲菲：嗯，我刚刚在翻看报纸的时候，碰到了这个测验。

William: Oh no, not quizzes, I'm rubbish at them.

威廉：哦，不，测验，我完全不擅长这个。

Feifei: Oh, well. Let's see. Here is the first one–name the capital city of China.

菲菲：哦，好吧。我们来看一下。第一个问题是，中国首都的名字。

William: That's easy, Beijing.

威廉：这个很简单，北京。

Feifei: Yes. Which province is famous for its hot and spicy cuisine?

菲菲：对。中国哪个省以辛辣食物著称？

William: Em, I think Sichuan food is quite spicy.

威廉：嗯，我想四川菜肴非常辣。

Feifei: See, you are doing well! How about this one–roughly how many characters are there in the Chinese language?

菲菲：看，你做得很好！那这个呢，中国大约有多少个汉字？

William: Oh, loads. 5,000?

威廉：哦，很多。5000个？

Feifei: No. Try again.

菲菲：不对，再试一次。

William: 7,000?

威廉：7000个？

Feifei: Well, actually, roughly 42,000.

菲菲：实际上大约有4.2万个。

William: Wow, that's amazing. I didn't know it was that many. How can people possibly learn them all? It's totally mind-boggling!

威廉：哇，那太不可思议了。我不知道有那么多。人们怎么可能把那些都学了呢？那简直多得令人无法想象！

Feifei: What is mind-boggling?

菲菲：mind-boggling是什么意思？

William: Mind-boggling describes something overwhelming and amazing, like really impressive numbers or facts. It's made up of two words: mind and to boggle. Let's hear an example.

威廉：这个词有来描述某东西多得让人惊叹，比如令人印象深刻的数字或事实。它有两个词组成：mind和boggle。我们来听个例子。

Woman 1: I took my son to the Science Museum on Sunday.

女1：周日我带我儿子去科学博物馆了。

Woman 2: Did you go to the space mission area?

女2：你们去太空任务区了吗？

Woman 1: Oh yes. There were rockets, space suits, even parts from a satellite-so many mind-boggling things to see.

女1：去了。那里有火箭，太空服，甚至卫星的部件，好多让人难以想象的东西呀！

Feifei: I really want to learn more about the universe. It's a fascinating subject.

菲菲：我真的很想更多地了解宇宙。这真是门让人着迷的学校。

William: Well, astronomy, the study of stars, has lots of mind-boggling theories.

威廉：嗯，天文学，这个专门研究恒星的学科真的有很多让人不可思议的理论。

Man: I was at a physics workshop last month in Munich. There were seminars on black holes and antimatter. It was totally mind-boggling stuff; I think I might have understood about five percent of what was discussed.

男：上个月我去慕尼黑参加了一个研讨会。 会上讨论了宇宙黑洞和反物质。那完全是些常人不可理解的东西。我想研讨会上讨论的话题我可能只听懂了5%。

Feifei: Well, I think I now know what mind-boggling means and how to use this phrase. And here is one final mind-boggling question–How many stars are there in the Milky Way?

菲菲：嗯，现在我知道mind-boggling的意思和用法了。 最后再来一道让你意想不到的问题吧：请问银河有多少颗星星？

William: Er, is it 42,000 again?

威廉：额，不会又是4.2万吧？

Feifei: No, no! Some people say there are over 200 billion stars in the Milky Way but no one knows for sure. That's all from us on The English We Speak. See you next time.

菲菲：不，当然不是！有些人说银河有超过2千亿颗星星，但是没有人知道准确的答案。以上就是本期地道英语节目的全部内容。下期节目再见。

William: Bye.

威廉：再见。

重点讲解：
1. flick through
快速翻阅；浏览；不停地转换（电视频道）；
eg. She was flicking through some magazines on a table.
她正翻看着桌上的几本杂志。
eg. He switched on the television, flicking through the channels in a search for something to hold his interest.
他打开电视机，不停地换台，想找个感兴趣的节目。
2. come across
偶然发现；偶然遇见；
eg. We must hang in whenever we come across difficulties.
我们遇到困难时一定要坚持不懈。
eg. I never remember having come across a man like that.
我怎么也记不起碰到过这样一个人。
3. be rubbish at
极不擅长的；非常差劲的；
eg. He was rubbish at his job.
他的工作做得差劲极了。
eg. I was rubbish at maths at school, " Mr Welch says.
我读书时数学很烂。
4. mind-boggling
adj. （巨大、复杂、极端得）令人难以想象的；
eg. The amount of paperwork involved is mind-boggling.
相关的书面工作量大得令人难以想象。
eg. The potential of this business is absolutely mind - boggling.
这笔交易的潜力大得让入瞠目结舌。
5. make up
组成；构成；
eg. Insects are made up of tens of thousands of proteins.
昆虫由数万种蛋白质构成。
eg. Women officers make up 13 per cent of the police force.
女警占警力的13%。