J: Hello, everyone, I"m Jody! Welcome to American Cafe! And Happy New Year everyone! Happy New Year, Yang Chen! You know what January brings, don"t you?
Y: 一月份是新年的开始，人们当然要快快乐乐地迎接新年。比如说打扮得漂漂亮亮地参加舞会，走亲访友，还有逛街买东西等等。
J: Of course, but after all that is over that"s when the New Year"s Resolutions kick in. You know when they start.
Y: New Year"s Resolutions，新年的决心。哎呀，我还没想好呢！
J: You know, maybe we should talk about New Year"s Resolutions a little bit to find out, you know, what we should give up for the New Year.
Y: 对。我们还是给大家解释一下什么叫New Year"s Resolution。
J: Good idea. Here"s Chuck from Washington DC with a definition of New Year"s Resolutions...
实录1 Chuck： Well, a New Year"s Resolution is something that an individual chooses to do on the occasion of the new calendar year. They are starting off with a clean slate. They are sort of having a fresh beginning and are going to take the occasion of the new year to introduce a new behavior or set some goals or, to the contrary, they are going to eliminate some behavior, perhaps a vice or a bad habit, and do their very best through the new year to improve their behavior.
Y: Chuck 刚才说的clean slate是一个很有用的说法，你给大家解释一下它的意思好吗？
J: Sure. A clean slate. And it just means a fresh beginning. You know adding a good habit or giving up a vice or bad habit. But I"m still not sure of anything I should give up for the New Year"s. What about you?
Y: 嗯，我想想看。A clean slate可以解释成从头开始。可是说到要放弃什么坏习惯，我还真想不出来。你看我这么老实，遵纪守法，根本没什么坏习惯啊。
J: What, no bad habits?! Are you sure?! I can think of a couple bad habits you may have.
Y: 可别告诉别人！
J: Okay we"ll keep that between us. Let"s introduce some of the people we met on New Year"s Eve and hear what they were giving up for the new year. The first one is Jen, from Boston.
Y: 我们听听Jen有什么打算。
实录2 Jen： My name is Jen and I"m from Boston and for 2004 I hope to be healthier, eat healthy, go out running and relax and find a balance in my life between work and relaxation, take some time for myself.
Y: Jen说她要多跑步。这个主意倒是不错。
J: Oh, are you kidding!? No thanks. I hate running. Jen can do all the running she wants. What else did Jen have to say?
Y: 她还说她要在工作和休闲之间找到更好的平衡。
J: Now that sounds like a good idea: finding a balance between work and play. Here"s another person. His name"s John and he has a New Year"s resolution too.
Y: 好。那我们听听John有什么打算。
实录3 John： My name"s John and I"m from Boston. And New Year"s Resolutions would be to go to the gym more. Um
Y: Gym? 不行。我最不喜欢到健身房和一大堆人一块儿锻炼了。
J: Oh, I"m with you! You know since we don"t like working out or dieting maybe we could change a part of our behavior, like Corby, a visitor to Washington D.C., had many New Year"s Resolutions.
Y: 这个Corby够贪心的。她说她有好几个New Year"s Resolutions。我们听听她是怎么说的。
实录4 Corby： Resolutions for next year is to control my temper, and not judge people and to quit smoking. I will probably focus on those. They"re a handful.
Y: Corby 真有意思。他不只有一个，而是有好几个新年的决心。她坏毛病还真不少：喜欢批评别人，坏脾气，还抽烟。哎呀，我们又没有这些坏毛病，所以我们也不用去想什么新年决心了。
J: Maybe you"re right. You know, we"re both pretty easygoing and neither of us smoke.
Y: 就是，就是，我们都快成了道德典范了。
J: Here"s a woman named Terry who explains why she gave up giving up stuff for New Year.
Y: 我们听听Terry是怎么说的。
实录5 Terry： Most of the times it"s because when I make them they are very difficult to follow through on and complete. So I don"t feel successful and nobody likes to do failure sorts of things. So, I guess I just don"t do New Year"s Resolutions.
Y: 还是Terry看得开。她知道自己没有毅力坚持下去，所以也就不去强求自己了。
J: We"ll just keep on doing what we"re doing.
Y: 没错。不用改变什么。喜欢作什么就作什么。太好了。这就是我的New Year"s Resolution! 只要高兴，我们做什么都可以。
J: But good luck with your New Year"s resolutions and Happy New Year.
Y: 好。我们今天的时间就到了。下次再见。
J: See you later.
美国习惯用语第278讲
今天我们来讲两个以wing这个词为主的习惯用语。我想你们都很熟悉这个词。它的意思是翅膀。自古以来，鸟的翅膀激发了人们不少美丽的幻想，而wing这个词也构成了许多习惯用语。今天要讲的第一个习惯用语是：wing it。我们刚才说过wing意思是翅膀。人们有时会梦想自己能长上一对翅膀，为了学wing it这个习惯用语就请你也假想一下你的双臂成了一对翅膀。这样你就能海阔天空、自由自在地四处飞翔，并且随着风云变幻而改变方向。
那么wing it究竟是什么意思呢？你也许已经注意到wing这个词在这儿不是名词，而是动词。另外我得告诉你的是这个短语是用来作比喻的，并不真是说长着翅膀在飞。为了让你领会wing it这个短语的意思我们要听两个例子。第一个例子。这是一个专门为华盛顿的政客撰写演讲稿的人在发牢骚。原因是他的上司演讲并不按照他精心撰写的稿子念。
例句-1: I don"t like my job. No matter how much time I spend on a speech for my boss, he wings it instead of reading it the way I wrote it.
Wing it是指不按照事先准备的讲稿而现场即兴发言。难怪这位专门为上司准备讲稿的人要抱怨说他不喜欢他的工作，因为不论他花了多少时间准备讲稿，他的上级都不照着他煞费苦心写成的稿子念，而是现场发挥。
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这位讲演撰稿人觉得自己白费了精力，因为他的上级脱离讲稿，自由发挥。但是对某些人说来这却是一种必要的技能。比方说电视或者广播现场问答节目的主持人就必须能随机应变地就某一专题侃侃而谈。他们得现场采访各行各业知名人士、学术权威，和这些人谈论各种各样的专题。他能拿着事先准备的讲稿照本宣读吗？当然不行。他对节目所讨论的每一个专题都精通在行吗？那也不可能，因为题目范围包罗万象。那么这个节目主持人该如何是好呢？这就是下面这段话要告诉你的。
在听之前我们先来学几个词组和生词：talk show, 我们知道talk是“交谈”，而show可以解释为“节目”，talk show就是现场问答节目。Host是主持人，所以talk show host就是现场问答节目主持人。Interview解释“采访”。Review意思是“评论”。好，我们来听听现场问答节目的主持人是怎样做好一个节目的。请你特别注意这段话里的习惯用语wing it。
例句2: A good talk show host will interview a writer without reading his books. He"ll read some reviews so he can wing it when he talks to the writer on his show.
它说的是一个好的问答节目主持人在采访一位作家的时候，可能并没有读过他的作品，然而他却会去读一些评论文章。这样在节目上他就能和这位作家海阔天空地进行讨论了。
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好，现在我们来给大家讲解第二个以wing这个词为主的习惯用语。 Take someone under your wing,和刚才说的习惯用语wing it一样，也是比喻的用法。只是在这个习惯用语里 wing不再当动词，而是名词。你一定看到过老母鸡把小鸡藏在翅膀底下保护它们的情景。这个习惯用语就出自这儿。其实在中文里我们也有类似的说法。把某人置于你的羽翼之下，意思就是你要保护这个人。
接下来我们要听一个例子。它说的是一个孤儿，在海外长大之后对祖国作出贡献。在听之前我们先学几个生词：missionary. Missionary是传教士。Educate. Educate解释“教育”。好，我们仔细听听下面这段话。请你注意里面的习惯用语take someone under your wing。
例句3: Foreign missionaries took her under their wing and gave her food and clothes. But they also educated her to be a teacher for women in her country.
这段话说：外国传教士收养了她，为她提供衣食，更让她受了教育，使她成为她本国妇女的教师。
从这段话里可以看出习惯用语take someone under your wing含有“收养、养育”的意思。
美国习惯用语第279讲