Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English – the show that brings you an interesting topic, authentic listening practice and vocabulary to help you improve your language skills. I’m Dan…
Ok, and by alleged, you mean ‘said or believed to be true but not proven’. I don’t believe in mermaids, but I think there’s a lot of people who do, so I will say c) the 2000s.
Well, we’ll find out if you’re right a bit later on. So, what do you know about mermaids, Catherine?
好吧，我们稍后会发现你是对的。那么，凯瑟琳，你对美人鱼了解多少呢？
Catherine(凯瑟琳)
Well, a mermaid is a creature that’s similar in appearance to a woman but instead of legs, a mermaid has the tail of a fish. The males are called mermen, and they live in the ocean. I thought they were a myth.
They certainly appear to be mythical. They feature in legends and stories from all over the world. The earliest known one in a story dates from ancient Assyria, around 1000 BC. Can you think of a more modern example?
Many people will be familiar with the Disney story, ‘The Little Mermaid’.
很多人都熟悉迪斯尼的故事《小美人鱼》。
Dan(担)
Yes. Before it was an animated movie, it was a renowned fairy-tale written by Hans Christian Andersen, first published in 1837. Interestingly, a small bronze statue of the little mermaid has been sitting in Copenhagen in Denmark since 1913.
是的。在成为动画电影之前，它是汉斯·克里斯蒂安·安徒生 （Hans Christian Andersen） 创作的著名童话故事，于 1837 年首次出版。有趣的是，自 1913 年以来，丹麦哥本哈根一直矗立着小美人鱼的小铜像。
Catherine(凯瑟琳)
There you go! There’s no real evidence.
给你！没有真正的证据。
Dan(担)
What if I told you that over 200 mermaids have recently gathered in Greensboro, North Carolina in the USA?
如果我告诉你，最近有 200 多条美人鱼聚集在美国北卡罗来纳州的格林斯博罗，会怎么样？
Catherine(凯瑟琳)
You’re telling me fish tales, Dan
你在给我讲鱼的故事，丹
Dan(担)
Ok. I’ll confess. They aren’t real mermaids. Each person is a normal human wearing a waist- high latex tail. They meet to share an interest in aquatic mythology, take underwater photos, and swim. For many of them, it’s a source of income too! Listen to Daniel Craig, five year merman, explain.
好吧，我承认。他们不是真正的美人鱼。每个人都是穿着齐腰高的乳胶尾巴的正常人。他们相聚一堂，分享对水生神话的兴趣，拍摄水下照片和游泳。对于他们中的许多人来说，这也是一个收入来源！听听 Daniel Craig，五年人鱼，解释。
Daniel Craig, merman(DanielCraig，人鱼)
A lot of the mermaids we have attending here are professional mermaids. They will entertain at birthday parties, social events, company events. I stumbled across the mermaiding community merely by accident.
So it’s a job too! A professional merman. And Daniel said that he stumbled across it, or ‘found it by accident’. So, it doesn’t really count then though, does it Dan?
A real, real mermaid? That’s a different kettle of fish, which is an idiomatic phrase that means ‘a completely different matter or issue’. Well, while we have no hard evidence, such as a photo of a real mermaid, there have been several sightings. One of the more recent ones was in 2009 in Haifa Bay.
Hang on now, that rings a bell! That’s in Israel, isn’t it? And it allegedly appeared at sunset. Apparently the mermaid was doing tricks.
等一下，这敲响了警钟！那是在以色列，不是吗？据称，它出现在日落时分。显然，美人鱼在耍花招。
Dan(担)
There you go then!
那你去吧！
Catherine(凯瑟琳)
But there is no reason, Dan, to believe that it was anything other than a hoax, which means ‘a deception or lie – often done for humour or sometimes cruelty’. Well, real or not, it could be fun to be a mermaid. I wonder what it would be like?
You’re right. It was the 2000s. It was in 2012 in Zimbabwe and it was reported by the water resource minister. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this programme. Our first word was alleged. If something is alleged it is ‘said or believed be true but not proven to be true’. Can you think of a recent example, Catherine?
US President Donald Trump has alleged that newspapers have been printing fake news, but apparently there’s no proof. And our next one was stumbled across. So, if you stumble across something you ‘encounter or find it by accident’. It’s a phrasal verb and you could also say come across. So, Dan, have you ever stumbled across anything unusual?
美国总统唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）声称报纸一直在刊登假新闻，但显然没有证据。而我们的下一个是偶然发现的。所以，如果你偶然发现了一些东西，你 “偶然遇到或发现它”。这是一个短语动词，你也可以说 come acounter。那么，Dan，你有没有偶然发现过什么不寻常的事情？
Dan(担)
Well, there was a time when I was going to a party in Holborn and I got completely lost. And there on the floor in front of me I stumbled across a map of London. It got me straight to the party.
The next one after that was a different kettle of fish. A different kettle of fish is an idiomatic phrase which means ‘a completely different matter or issue’. You could also use the phrase ‘a horse of a different colour’.
在那之后的下一个是不同的鱼缸。A different kettle of fish 是一个惯用语，意思是“完全不同的事情或问题”。你也可以使用 ‘a horse of a different colour’ 这个短语。
Catherine(凯瑟琳)
Next up, we had hoax. And a hoax is ‘a deception or lie – which is often done for humour or cruelty’. What was the last hoax you did, Dan?
One Christmas I wrapped a broken lightbulb in a box and gave it to mother as a present. I pretended to drop it and the broken lightbulb made a glass shattering noise and she thought that I had broken her present. After that we heard serene. Serene means ‘calm and peaceful’. The noun is serenity. What’s your idea of serene, Catherine?
Two weeks, lying on the beach, drinking lemonade, listening to the sound of the sea. Fabulous. And finally we had a getaway. A getaway is an informal word meaning ‘a place you go in order to escape from normal life’, such as a holiday. So, where’s your favourite getaway, Dan?
My favourite getaway is my yoga class. I find it really, really refreshing. Well, that’s the end of today’s 6 Minute English. Please join us again soon!
我最喜欢的度假胜地是我的瑜伽课。我觉得这真的非常令人耳目一新。好了，今天的六分钟 English 到此结束。请尽快再次加入我们！
Catherine(凯瑟琳)
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