实录2 Jason: Comedy has always been dear to my heart. Um, I grew up with a heart condition. I had open-heart surgery. Um, I found that comedy was the unique thing that would bring people together. And it was always something I could do to make them laugh and help them enjoy their life and actually take their pain and sorrow of their life, identify it with me ... and actually get some sort of ... maybe a closure or some sort of ending to their saga or their story.
Y: 其实我们每个人在生活中都有这样的经历。 你越是在困难的时候就越想看喜剧片或者听听笑话。
J: Oh, I think so too.
Y: 说到这里，我很好奇，Jason的学生都是些什么人呢？
J: Most of the students in the class were older women. There was only one man. Here"s Jason again talking about one of his students.
实录3 Jason: One of my students had brain surgery and she wanted to use it as some sort of healing. Bring out her pain into the public and actually to resolve that and turn her pain into someone else"s happiness. And, um, it"s a way of putting closure on events.
Y: Jason刚才讲的这个学生做过脑部手术。她想借助喜剧来恢复健康。对这个学生来说，"putting closure on events" 就意味着要忘掉过去的痛苦，开始新的生活。说起来美国的这种 "stand-up comedy" 是一种很特殊的喜剧表演方式，有点类似中国的单口相声。
J: Stand-up comedy is one of the hardest types of performing. It literally means that you stand up in front of people and make them laugh.
Y: 我有个很严肃的问题：要是没有人笑该怎么办？
J: You know that"s a good question. You feel vulnerable. You feel exposed. You feel embarrassed. You feel naked.
Y: 还是广播好，我们可以用音响效果来掩饰你的尴尬。
J: That"s right!
Y: 对，要是没人笑，你按一下按钮用音响效果就可以了。
J: Let me tell my joke again and see if it"s any better.
Y: 好阿，效果一定很好。
J: We"ll finish with my joke. Thanks for joining us on American Cafe.
Y: 好，我们今天的时间到了。谢谢您到美语咖啡屋。我们下次节目再见。
J: So a mushroom walks into a bar ...
(laughter)
J: ... and the bartender says, "Hey get out of here! We don"t serve your kind.
美语咖啡屋第14课声音
Y:各位听众好，欢迎大家到美语咖啡屋。我是杨晨。
J: Hello and welcome to American Cafe. My name is Jody! Hey, Yang Chen, who"s going to join us today on American Cafe?
Y: 明克胜先生。你知道吗，现在中国有学英语热，但是他们不知道其实在美国也有很多人在学中文。所以我们今天请明克胜先生来给我们谈谈他为什么要学中文，还有他在学中文的过程中遇到什么困难。我们今天还有一位神秘的嘉宾。你知道是谁吗？
J: I have no idea.
Y: 就是你。
J: Oh, my gosh!
Y: 好，我们就请明克胜先生谈谈他为什么要学中文，他是怎么开始的。
实录1: Carl: Well, I started a long time ago. First learned a little bit when I was in college. But I probably picked up most of it when I was overseas in Taiwan and also Mainland China for about three years total. Started learning, really learning, when I was in Taiwan.
Y: 那么，Jody你呢， 你是怎么开始学中文的呢？
实录2: Jody: Actually I started studying Chinese when I arrived in China. I don"t have Chinese under my belt before that time, Yang Chen. So I arrived in Shanghai when I was 21 years old, not speaking any Chinese. And I arrived at the train station at 3 o"clock in the morning surrounded by people who did not speak my language. And I can tell you it was a little frightening. So, I did the only thing I knew what to do ... I sang a song, "Rain drops keep falling on my head." And everyone started laughing and it made the situation better. Actually, Carl said that he began studying in college while he was in the United States. I did not do that. I got a scholarship to leave the country and go to China and study and I took advantage of it. I really wanted to go abroad to study and China seemed like the most foreign place on the planet.
Y: 我们可以想象美国人学中文一定有很多困难，因为这两个语言实在是相差的太远了。那么下面请你们谈谈你们在学习中遇到过什么困难，首先我们让明克胜先生谈一谈。
实录3: Carl: Two of the most challenging things when you study Chinese, in particular, are the tones and the characters. I think that"s just extremely difficult. And it was frustrating to be teaching ... teaching kindergarten students and realizing that their reading was much better than mine.
Y: Jody， 你觉得明克胜谈的这些困难是不是每个学中文的学生都会遇到的困难呢？
实录4: Jody: Oh, most definitely. The tones and the characters, Yang Chen, they"re so difficult. We"re just not used to it. We"re not used to the strict tonal aspect of Chinese. 妈、麻、马、骂。
Y: 没错， 我听到过很多外国人说中文的时候因为四声没有掌握对，所以闹出很多笑话。 比如把一个东西讲成另一个东西。我想学中文也和学其他语言一样，每个人都有一些小的诀窍。那么你们两谈一谈你们在学习的过程中有些什么样的诀窍，或者是技巧啊，或者有什么好的经验介绍给大家。
实录5: Carl: The best thing to do when you"re learning Chinese is to be around a lot of four-year olds. And the reason I say that is because their level of Chinese and yours are at the very beginning quite similar. You can have these great conversations like "I"m hungry!" "I like blue." "I want the ball!" And so, I thought it was great to be able do that ... very simple Chinese expressions with four and five-year olds.
实录6: Jody: Yeah. I didn"t teach small children. I taught university students and we mostly used English. But I did have the opportunity to make friends with students in the music department and I learned several Chinese pop songs and I was able to perform with them and sing Chinese songs at concerts. And when you"re a foreigner living in China you get asked to do television commercials and acting shows.
Y: 所以这个语言环境是很重要的，你和不同行业的人交谈也可以学到很多东西。
J: Not only the language but most importantly, the culture and how people live their lives and make a living and have fun.
Y: 好，我们今天的时间快到了，我想最后请你们二位一人用中文讲一句中国的成语啊， 俗语啊，或者是俏皮话，讲什么都可以。
C：天下无难事，只怕有心人。
J：I like this idiom. I heard it and it stuck with me and here it is 好马不吃回头草。
Y：哇，你们两都说得非常好。好，我们今天的时间到了。谢谢大家收听。我们下次节目再见。
J: See you later!
美国习惯用语第286讲
今天要讲的习惯用语都有一个主要的词Lie。我想大家都知道lie有好多不同的意思，但是在我们今天要介绍的两个习惯用语, lie都和“撒谎”这个意思无关。我们今天要学的第一个习惯用语是：lie low。Lie low这个习惯用语大约从十九世纪开始流行的。想象一下：一个猎人低低地伏在树丛草堆中，屏息静待一头大意的鹿走到他枪支的射程范围内。这个猎人是在“打埋伏”或者“潜伏”，也就是lie low。
让我们通过一个例子来体会lie low这个习惯用语的含义。这段话讲的是真人真事。二十多年前美国一名女学生在越战期间参与了反战运动，后来她帮助一个地下组织抢劫银行并杀死了一名警卫，然后她销声匿迹几十年，但是最近她突然向警方自首了。我们待会儿要听她主动投案的道理是什么。在听之前先来学一个生词：guilt。Guilt解释“罪恶”，所以sense of guilt意思就是“罪恶感”。好，我们来听这段话吧。
例句-1: She changed her name and moved across the country. It would have been easy for her to lie low the rest of her life. Except for one thing - she couldn"t get over her sense of guilt over the killing.
大家都听明白了吗？这段话说：她隐姓埋名又远走他乡。原来也许一辈子都可以蒙混过关了。然而瞒得过他人却瞒不过自己；她一直都摆脱不了沉重的罪恶感。
从这段话里我们看出lie low意思是隐蔽，不露形迹。
******
但是lie low这个习惯用语除了表示隐蔽你的身体之类有形的东西之外，也可以表示隐藏某种无形的东西。让我们再听一个例子。你来猜测一下这里lie low是什么意思。先得学一个生词：announce。 Announce解释“宣布”。好，我们一起来听关于某一位参议员参选的事。
例句2: I know Senator Blank wants to run for president. Right now he"s lying low, not saying anything, but he"s waiting for the right moment to announce he"s in the race.