2022年11月13日 VOA慢速英語：“背上一只猴子”不是笑事

And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.
現(xiàn)在，來自美國之音學(xué)習(xí)英語的單詞和他們的故事。

Today we talk about an expression, or idiom, involving an animal – a monkey to be exact.
今天我們談?wù)撘粋€表達，或者成語，涉及動物——確切地說是猴子。

Monkeys are intelligent animals, and they often do funny things. So, the English language has some monkey expressions that describe a fun situation.
猴子是聰明的動物，他們經(jīng)常做有趣的事情。所以，英語中有一些猴子的表達方式來描述有趣的情況。

For example, to monkey around means to do things that are not useful or serious. And if something is more fun than a barrel of monkeys, it is very fun!
例如，monkey around 意味著做一些無用或不嚴(yán)肅的事情。如果有什么東西比一桶猴子更有趣，那就太有趣了！
 
But what if you had to carry a monkey around with you every minute of every day ... on your back? That may not be so fun.
但是，如果您必須每天每時每刻都背著一只猴子……背著怎么辦？那可能沒那么有趣。

And that brings us to today's expression – to have a monkey on your back.
這讓我們想到了今天的表達方式——背上有一只猴子。

If you have a monkey on your back, you have a problem that cannot be easily solved. And you possibly have had that problem for a long time.
如果你背上有一只猴子，你就有了一個不容易解決的問題。你可能已經(jīng)有這個問題很長時間了。

To have a monkey on your back can also mean to carry a great emotional weight. This weight comes from a bad decision or perhaps a feeling that you have done something wrong.
背上有一只猴子也意味著要承受很大的情感負擔(dān)。這種重量來自一個錯誤的決定，或者可能是你做錯了什么的感覺。
 
But the expression is used in more situations than that.
但這個表達用在更多的情況下。

It is often used to describe a serious problem, worry, or concern that makes life difficult or unpleasant. Sometimes we use this idiom to describe a situation that is not our fault. It could be a hardship or condition from which we suffer.
它通常用于描述一個嚴(yán)重的問題、擔(dān)憂或使生活變得困難或不愉快的擔(dān)憂。有時我們用這個成語來描述不是我們的錯的情況。這可能是我們遭受的困難或狀況。

Here are some examples.
這里有一些例子。

A man grew up in extreme poverty. For a time, it was a monkey on his back. But getting a good education was the first step to getting the monkey off his back.
一個人在極度貧困中長大。一時間，他的背上是一只猴子。但接受良好的教育是讓猴子擺脫困境的第一步。
 
If a woman has a gambling, alcohol, or drug addiction, we could say she has a monkey on her back. It could last for many years or even a lifetime. However, if she could solve or end the problem, we could say she finally got the monkey off her back!
如果一個女人有賭博、酗酒或毒癮，我們可以說她背上有只猴子。它可以持續(xù)很多年甚至一生。但是，如果她能解決或結(jié)束這個問題，我們可以說她終于把猴子從背上拿下來了！

There is another expression that also means having a monkey on your back.
還有另一種表達方式，也意味著背上有只猴子。

That expression is a millstone around someone's neck.
< br/>這個表達是某人脖子上的磨石。

A millstone is a very large, heavy stone used for grinding things such as grain or corn. It crushes things easily. So, we also use the word millstone to describe a serious responsibility, problem, or concern.
磨石是一種非常大、很重的石頭，用于研磨谷物或玉米等東西。它很容易壓碎東西。所以，我們也用磨石這個詞來形容嚴(yán)重的責(zé)任、問題或擔(dān)憂。

For example, student debt is a millstone for many young people. We could also say the debt is a millstone around their necks or a monkey on their backs.
例如，學(xué)生債務(wù)是許多年輕人的磨石。我們也可以說債務(wù)是脖子上的磨石或背上的猴子。
 
And that's all the time we have for this Words and Their Stories!
這就是我們?yōu)檫@個詞和他們的故事所擁有的所有時間！