Colors: I'm Feeling Very Blue Today

Many everyday American expressions are based on colors.

Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories.

(MUSIC)

Every people has its own way of saying things, its own special expressions.
Many everyday American expressions are based on colors.

Red is a hot color. Americans often use it to express heat.
They may say they are red hot about something unfair. When they are red hot
they are very angry about something. The small hot tasting peppers found in many
Mexican foods are called red hots for their color and their fiery taste.
Fast loud music is popular with many people.
They may say the music is red hot, especially the kind called Dixieland jazz.

Pink is a lighter kind of red.
People sometimes say they are in the pink when they are in good health.
The expression was first used in America at the beginning of the twentieth century. 
It probably comes from the fact that many babies are born with a nice pink color
that shows that they are in good health.

Blue is a cool color. The traditional blues music in the United States is the opposite
of red hot music. Blues is slow, sad and soulful. 
Duke Ellington and his orchestra recorded a famous song – Mood Indigo –
about the deep blue color, indigo. In the words of the song:
“You ain’t been blue till you’ve had that Mood Indigo.” 
Someone who is blue is very sad.

The color green is natural for trees and grass. But it is an unnatural color for humans.
A person who has a sick feeling stomach may say she feels a little green. 
A passenger on a boat who is feeling very sick from high waves may look very green.

Sometimes a person may be upset because he does not have something
as nice as a friend has, like a fast new car.
That person may say he is green with envy.
Some people are green with envy because a friend has more dollars or greenbacks.
Dollars are called greenbacks because that is the color of the back side of the
paper money.

The color black is used often in expressions.
People describe a day in which everything goes wrong as a black day.
The date of a major tragedy is remembered as a black day. 
A blacklist is illegal now.  But at one time, some businesses refused to employ
people who were on a blacklist for belonging to unpopular organizations.

In some cases, colors describe a situation. A brown out is an expression for
a reduction in electric power.  Brown outs happen when there is too much
demand for electricity.  The electric system is unable to offer all the power
needed in an area. Black outs were common during World War Two.
Officials would order all lights in a city turned off to make it difficult for
enemy planes to find a target in the dark of night.

(MUSIC)

I’m Warren Scheer. 
Listen again next week for another Words and Their Stories program in
Special English on the Voice of America.


http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2007-04/2007-04-01-voa1.cfm

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색깔 관련된 여러 영어 표현을 정리해놓은 글이에요.
알아두면 도움이 될만한 표현들만 정리해놨네요. ^^

영어 표현 공부도 하고,
MP3파일도 들으면서 직접 영어 Pronunciation과 Intonation도 연습해보세요.^^

Dog Talk: Every Dog Has His Day
A look at dog-related expressions.

Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories.

Americans use many expressions with the word dog.
People in the United States love their dogs and treat them well.
They take their dogs for walks, let them play outside and give them good food and
medical care. However, dogs without owners to care for them lead a different kind of life.
The expression, to lead a dog's life, describes a person who has an
unhappy existence.

Some people say we live in a dog-eat-dog world.
That means many people are competing for the same things, like good jobs.
They say that to be successful, a person has to work like a dog.
This means they have to work very, very hard.
Such hard work can make people dog-tired.
And, the situation would be even worse if they became sick as a dog.

Still, people say every dog has its day.
This means that every person enjoys a successful period during his or her life.
To be successful, people often have to learn new skills.
Yet, some people say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks.
They believe that older people do not like to learn new things
and will not change the way they do things.

Some people are compared to dogs in bad ways.
People who are unkind or uncaring can be described as
meaner than a junkyard dog. Junkyard dogs live in places where people
throw away things they do not want. Mean dogs are often used to guard this property.
They bark or attack people who try to enter the property.
However, sometimes a person who appears to be mean and threatening is
really not so bad. We say his bark is worse than his bite.

A junkyard is not a fun place for a dog.
Many dogs in the United States sleep in safe little houses near their owners' home.
These doghouses provide shelter. Yet they can be cold and lonely in the winter.

Husbands and wives use this doghouse term when they are angry at each other.
For example, a woman might get angry at her husband for coming home late or
forgetting their wedding anniversary. She might tell him that he is in the doghouse.
She may not treat him nicely until he apologizes. However, the husband may decide
that it is best to leave things alone and not create more problems.
He might decide to let sleeping dogs lie.

Dog expressions also are used to describe the weather. The dog days of summer
are the hottest days of the year. A rainstorm may cool the weather.
But we do not want it to rain too hard. We do not want it to rain cats and dogs.

This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written
by Jill Moss. I'm Faith Lapidus.

http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2008-12/2008-12-06-voa4.cfm

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강아지와 관련된 여러 영어 표현을 정리해놓은 글이에요.
참 재미있으면서 신기한 내용이 많네요. ^^

영어 표현 공부도 하고,
MP3파일도 들으면서 직접 영어 Pronunciation과 Intonation도 연습해보세요.^^