VOA慢速英語:Words and Their Stories: Pan

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. Today's word, pan, takes us back to the days of the gold rush in California.

這里是美國之音慢速英語詞匯掌故。今天的詞語pan把我們帶回了加利福尼亞淘金熱的時代。

On January twenty-fourth, eighteen forty-eight, a man named James Wilson Marshall discovered gold in the territory of California. The news spread quickly. Thousands rushed west. They traveled on foot, by horseback and by boat to reach the gold fields. By eighteen forty-nine, the great gold rush was on.

1848年1月24日，一個名叫詹姆斯·威爾遜•馬歇爾(James Wilson Marshall)的人在加利福尼亞境內(nèi)發(fā)現(xiàn)了黃金。這個消息很快傳開了，成千上萬的人徒步，騎馬或乘船奔向加州西部的黃金地帶。到1849年，淘金熱開始了。

Towns and cities grew overnight. Throughout the territory – in the mountains, along the streams and rivers – thousands of people searched for gold. They had food to eat and blankets to cover them. They also had mules to ride, and picks and pans to search for gold.

加利福尼亞大大小小的城鎮(zhèn)一夜之間人海茫茫。成千上萬的人在山上，沿河流溪流尋找金子。他們餓了就吃隨身攜帶的食物，冷了就用隨身攜帶的毛毯蓋上。他們騎著騾子帶著鍋、桶尋找金子。

Some found areas of mountain rock thick with gold. These men got rich. But such areas were few and quickly claimed by the first men to find them. Others searched for gold in the rivers coming down the mountains. They were after pieces of gold that the rains had washed down from above.

一些人在巖石山發(fā)現(xiàn)了很多金子，后來這些人變得很富有。但這樣的地方很少，而且很快就被第一批爬上山的人發(fā)現(xiàn)了。因此就被第一個發(fā)現(xiàn)的人占領(lǐng)了。其他人到山腳下的河流里尋找從山上被雨沖下來的黃金。

The only way to find this gold was by panning. First a gold miner put dirt in a metal pan and added water. Then he shook the pan so that the water would wash the dirt. Slowly, he poured the water out of the pan. If he was a lucky miner, pieces of gold would remain.

尋找這種金子的唯一辦法是用淘金盆淘金。首先，一個礦工把帶泥土的金子放在金屬鍋里然后加入水。然后晃動著鍋，將泥土洗掉。再慢慢地把水從鍋里倒出來。如果幸運，金子就留下來了。

Across the nation, newspapers carried stories of the gold being found. One told how thousands of people climbed the mountains looking for gold. Some stories told how others followed the rivers and streams with pans. Each one hoped that the place he claimed panned out well – had some gold.

全國各大報紙都報道了淘金熱的故事。有的報道人們是怎樣在山上尋找金子的，有的報道人們是怎樣拿著淘金盆沿河尋找金子的。每個人都希望他們占領(lǐng)的地方都能淘到金子。

For many, gold mining did not pan out. For a few, it panned out well. But in time, huge machines were built that could wash many tons of dirt at a time. Panning died out.

對大多數(shù)人來說，用淘金盆淘金并沒有收獲。只有少數(shù)人有所收獲(pan out well)。隨著時代的發(fā)展，一種一次可以洗掉幾噸泥的機器誕生了，人們就不再用淘金盆淘金了。

The word, however, remained in the language. Today, Americans still say, "It panned out well," when something they have done pleases them. A business, a discovery, a simple event pans out well if it is successful. Unhappily, sometimes things do not pan out.

但是，這個詞語還在語言中保留著。現(xiàn)在美國人還用它來表達(dá)“結(jié)果很好”。當(dāng)他們所做的事情成功了，事業(yè)、發(fā)現(xiàn)或簡單的事情成功了就可以用pans out well這個短語表達(dá)。相反，若沒成功就用things do not pan out表達(dá)。

In recent years, the word pan has taken on another meaning. Today, it also means to criticize. How it got this meaning is hard to discover. But the job of a critic is to sometimes pan the work of a writer, artist or singer.

最近幾年，pan又有了另一個意思?，F(xiàn)在，它也有批評的意思。這個意思的來源很難取證。有時，一個批評家批評作家、藝術(shù)家和歌唱家的作品用pan來表達(dá)。

Sometimes, critics may pan a movie or play so severely that no one will go to see it. There are times, however, when a play became highly successful, even though most of the critics panned it without mercy. The pans should have washed out the play. But, as actors have pointed out, sometimes a critic's pan turns up gold.

有時，批評家把一部電影或話劇批評的體無完膚，以至于沒人去看。而有時，盡管批評家批評的毫不留情，那部話劇還是會非常成功。批評能把該劇推向成功，因此演員們說有時候批評家的批評會有好的結(jié)果。