VOA慢速英語(yǔ):詞匯：從電視迷到幽居病

[ti:From Couch Potato to Cabin Fever] [ar:Faith Lapidus] [al:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES] [by:www.chinavoa.com] [00:00.00]Go to chinavoa.com for more.. [00:10.00]Now, the VOA Special English program [00:13.89]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. [00:17.38]Some unusual words describe [00:20.78]how a person spends his or her time. [00:24.96]For example, someone who likes [00:28.35]to spend a lot of time sitting [00:31.23]or lying down while watching [00:33.67]television is sometimes [00:35.76]called a couch potato. [00:38.40]A couch is a piece of furniture [00:41.15]that people sit on [00:42.84]while watching television. [00:44.88]Robert Armstrong, [00:47.02]an artist from California, [00:49.36]developed the term couch potato [00:52.34]in nineteen seventy-six. [00:55.19]Several years later, he listed [00:59.07]the term as a trademark [01:01.36]with the United States government. [01:04.26]Mister Armstrong also helped [01:07.15]write a funny book about life [01:09.83]as a full-time television watcher. [01:13.17]It is called the "Official [01:14.91]Couch Potato Handbook." [01:18.30]Couch potatoes enjoy [01:20.65]watching television [01:22.04]just as mouse potatoes [01:24.98]enjoy working on computers. [01:28.03]A computer mouse is the device [01:31.11]that moves the pointer, [01:33.61]or cursor, on a computer screen. [01:36.40]The description of mouse potato [01:39.63]became popular in nineteen ninety-three. [01:43.63]American writer Alice Kahn is said [01:47.72]to have invented the term to [01:50.23]describe young people who spend [01:52.89]a lot of time using computers. [01:55.98]Too much time inside the house [01:59.71]using a computer or watching television [02:03.42]can cause someone to get cabin fever. [02:07.43]A cabin is a simple house usually [02:11.81]built far away from the city. [02:14.91]People go to a cabin to relax [02:18.10]and enjoy quiet time. [02:21.09]Cabin fever is not really a disease. [02:26.13]However, people can experience [02:29.04]boredom and restlessness if they [02:31.93]spend too much time inside their homes. [02:35.36]This is especially true during the winter [02:39.59]when it is too cold or snowy [02:42.39]to do things outside. [02:44.43]Often children get cabin fever [02:48.46]if they cannot go outside to play. [02:51.69]So do their parents. This happens [02:55.78]when there is so much snow that [02:59.17]schools and even offices [03:01.76]and stores are closed. [03:04.09]Some people enjoy spending [03:07.54]a lot of time in their homes [03:09.89]to make them nice places to live. [03:12.82]This is called nesting or cocooning. [03:17.36]Birds build nests out of sticks [03:20.71]to hold their eggs and baby birds. [03:24.15]Some insects build cocoons [03:26.99]around themselves for protection [03:29.60]while they grow and change. [03:32.14]Nests and cocoons provide [03:35.59]security for wildlife. [03:37.90]So people like the idea [03:40.40]of nests and cocoons, too. [03:43.64]The terms cocooning and nesting [03:47.67]became popular more than [03:49.76]twenty years ago. [03:51.51]They describe people [03:53.41]buying their first homes [03:55.40]and filling them with many things. [03:58.59]These people then had children. [04:01.97]Now these children are grown [04:05.11]and have left the nest. [04:07.99]They are in college. [04:09.78]Or they are married and starting [04:12.57]families of their own far away. [04:15.46]Now these parents are living alone [04:18.61]without children in their empty nest. [04:22.05]They have become empty nesters. [04:25.38](MUSIC) [04:36.53]This VOA Special English program [04:39.22]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES [04:41.52] was written by Jill Moss. [04:43.31]I'm Faith Lapidus.

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