Now, Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning English.
您現在收聽的是美國之音慢速英語周更節目詞彙及其故事。
Today we will be talking about a hated but misunderstood animal — the rat.
今天我們要談論的是一種被人憎恨但其實是被誤解的動物——老鼠。
The sight of a rat might frighten you. Or it might make you sick to your stomach.
老鼠的出現可能會嚇到你，或者讓你感到噁心。
Well, perhaps not everyone.
好吧，可能不是每個人都這樣。
In some countries, dishes made with rat meat can be rare and sometimes pricey -- what we call a delicacy.
在一些國家，用老鼠肉做的菜餚十分稀有，有時甚至也很昂貴——我們稱之為美味。
Plus, rats are useful.With their extreme sense of smell, people can train giant rats to find land mines and even tuberculosis.
此外,老鼠用處很大。由於它們的嗅覺非常敏銳，人們可以訓練巨型老鼠來尋找地雷，它們甚至能聞出引發肺結核的結核分歧桿菌。
But do these things make people love rats?
但是這些事情會讓人們開始喜歡老鼠嗎?
No. For the most part, rats are not beloved animals.
不，在很大程度上，老鼠並不是受人喜愛的動物。
For starters, they’re not cute. They have pointed noses and long, thin tails. They can eat and damage crops. And the world has long blamed rats for spreading diseases, like the Bubonic plague in Europe during the 14th century. It does not help your reputation when you are accused of killing at least one-third of the population of an entire continent.
首先，他們長得並不可愛。它們有尖尖的鼻子和細長的尾巴。它們能吃也能破壞莊稼。全世界一直指責老鼠傳播疾病，如14世紀在歐洲肆虐的鼠疫。當你被指控殺死了整個大陸三分之一的人口時，這對你的名聲並沒有任何益處。
But, perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to judge.
但是，也許我們不該這麼快下結論。
Scientists now think that it was most likely not rats, but another rodent, the gerbil, that caused the Bubonic plague. They suspect that gerbils traveled to Europe from Asia, some along the Silk Road that traders used. But these animals were not carrying spices and silk, but rather disease.
科學家們現在認為疾病的產生很可能不是因為老鼠，而是另一種齧齒動物——沙鼠，導致了鼠疫。他們懷疑沙鼠是從亞洲傳到歐洲的，一些是沿著商人走過的絲綢之路過來的。但是這些動物並沒有攜帶香料和絲綢，而只有疾病。
Today, however, gerbils are pets in many American homes. Teachers sometimes keep them in classrooms for students to care for. Rats, not so much.
然而，今天，沙鼠是許多美國家庭的寵物。老師有時會把他們養在教室裡，讓學生們去照料。但是老鼠,並非如此。
Such is the difficult life of an unwanted, misunderstood animal.
這就是不受歡迎、被誤解的動物所過的艱難生活。
So, scientists can debate the role of rats in spreading disease. But the fact that rats have a really bad reputation in American English is not debatable. It’s the truth. None of our rat expressions means anything good.
因此，科學家們經常爭論老鼠在傳播疾病方面的作用。但是，事實是老鼠在美式英語中的名聲並不好，這是毋庸置疑的。這是真的。我們所有和老鼠相關的表達都沒有什麼好東西。
The simplest way we use this word is to simply say, 「Rats!」 Americans often use this expression when something goes wrong. The term is common and polite -- unlike some of our other expressions we might use when we are angry.
這個詞最簡單的用法就是簡短地說:「Rats!」美國人經常在發生一些不好的事情時使用這個短語。這個詞很常見也屬於禮貌性用語，並不像我們在生氣時可能會用到的其他表達方式。
As we said earlier, rats have a good sense of smell. But smelling a rat isn’t good. When we say, 「I smell a rat!」 we suspect that something is wrong. If you feel that someone has betrayed you, you can say that you smell a rat.
就像我們之前說過的，老鼠的嗅覺很敏銳。但是聞到老鼠的氣味就不好了。當我們說:「我聞到了老鼠的味道!」（有不祥的預感）這意味著我們懷疑有什麼不對勁。如果你覺得有人背叛了你，你可以說你聞到了老鼠的味道。
A pack rat is not good, either. This is a person who keeps useless things. And worse, they live with all the stuff they have collected.
a pack rat 也是一個貶義詞，它意為（收藏的東西都是自己不需要的）垃圾收藏家，更糟糕的是，他們和收集的所有東西生活在一起。
So, calling someone a "rat" is never an expression of respect or affection. When describing people, a 「rat」 is someone who is not loyal or cannot be trusted. A rat snitches on someone to an authority figure – a parent, a teacher, a police officer.
所以，稱某人為「rat」（背叛者）從來都不是一種尊重他人或充滿情感的表達。在描述人的時候，「rat」是指不忠誠或不可信的人。上位者經常告密如向家長，老師或警察。
As a verb, the word "rat" isn’t good either.
即使用作動詞，「rat」這個詞也不好。
To rat on someone means to betray a loved one, friend or someone else you know. When you rat on someone, you tell on them.
To rat on someone（告發某人）意味著背叛你所愛的人，朋友或你認識的人。當你背叛某人時，就相當於你告發了他們。
Let’s say you know that your brother ate the last piece of cake when he wasn’t supposed to. You rat on him to your parents. Or maybe you rat on a colleague at work. Ratting on people, or tattling on them, will not win you friends.It just makes you a rat. Or worse -- a rat fink.
假設你發現你的兄弟吃了最後一塊他不應該吃蛋糕。你向父母告發了這件事。或者可能你在工作中會背叛你的同事。背叛他人，或在他們背後打小報告，都會讓你的朋友與你漸行漸遠。它只會讓你變成一個背叛者。更糟的是，變成一個卑鄙，下賤之人（尤指告密者）。
The words tattling and tattletales are often used for children. But ratting someone out or snitching on them can be for any age.
tattling和tattletales這些詞經常用於兒童之間。但是 ratting someone out （出賣某人）或 snitching on them（告發他們）可以用於任何年齡段。
No matter what your age, nobody likes to be called a rat, a snitch or a tattletale. However, it is a little different when the police are involved.
不管你多大，沒有人喜歡被稱為老鼠、告密者或搬弄是非的人。然而，當事情與警方相關的時候，情況就有所不同了。
Let’s say you have information about a crime. When the police begin asking questions, you decide to keep that information to yourself. You may feel you don’t want to rat on someone else.
假設你有關於罪犯的消息。當警察開始訊問時，你決定隱瞞這些信息。你可能是不想出賣別人。
However, nobody would blame you for sharing information with the police if it helps them catch a criminal. Well, another criminal might not approve. Most criminals have a different code of conduct among themselves: You don’t rat on fellow criminals to the police.
但是，如果你把你知道的犯罪信息告訴警察，幫助他們抓住罪犯，沒有人會責怪你的。好吧，另一個罪犯可能不會同意。在大多數罪犯間，他們都不約而同的達成了一個共識:你不會將其他的犯罪分子洩露給警察。
In old police television shows and movies, you may hear one criminal criticize another who snitched to the police. They may say, "You dirty rat!"
在以前的警匪電視劇和電影中，你可能聽到一個罪犯批評另一個向警察告密的人。他們可能會說:「你這骯髒的老鼠!」
You would not say that a hardened, possibly violent criminal tattled on another ... unless you were trying to be funny.
你不會說一個有暴力傾向的慣犯在向他人告密，除非你想搞笑。
So, when using the word 「rat」 in English know that the meaning is never a good one. But in life, maybe we should take another look at rats and give them a chance.
所以，在英語中使用「rat」這個詞時，要知道「rat」這個詞所代表的是不好的意思。但在生活中，也許我們應該再多看看老鼠，給它們一個機會。
And that brings us to the end of this Words and Their Stories.
今天詞彙及其故事到此結束。
Do rats have a good reputation in your country? Please tell us! It would be nice to know that there is a place on this planet where saying "Rats!" is a good thing.
老鼠在你們國家名聲很好嗎？請告訴我們！如果在這個星球上還有個地方說「Rats!」是件好事，那也挺不錯的。
I’m Anna Matteo.
安娜·馬特奧為您播報。