J: And she"s still tap dancing. Well, here"s Emily. She explains how tap dancing saved her from severe shyness.
Y: 害羞？
J: 非常害羞。
Y: 哇，我很好奇，如果她是个害羞的人，那她怎么敢在很多人面前跳舞呢？
J: 我们让她解释。
实录4 Emily：I choose tap dancing because it is something I"ve always wanted to do since I was yay high but I was too frightened and too scared, and I was a very shy person, oh horribly shy person. But then when I became 52, I said "Uh oh, I think it"s time." 52 or not I was going to do this.
Y: Jody, 你知道吗，我听了Emily的话，真的很受鼓舞，因为我也是个很害羞的人，所以我也应该去学跳踢踏舞？
J: What?! You? Shy?! No way! But come on out and dance with us anyway. Young At Heart would love to have you.
Y: 好，各位听众，我们今天的节目就到这里结束。谢谢大家收听，我们下次节目再见。
(Sound of tap dancing)
J: Thanks for tuning into American Cafe! See you next time!
美语咖啡屋第18课声音
Y: 各位听众好，我是杨晨，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。
J: And I"m Jody. Welcome to American cafe, where you can meet everyday Americans at work and at play. So, come on in and grab a good seat by the window and join us for American Cafe.
Y: 说到这儿啊，我们今天要带您认识两位美国人。他们有一个共同的爱好。
J: That"s right. One"s a musician and one"s a dancer. And they have something in common - they both love bluegrass music!
(Enter "Orange Blossom Special")
J: Yang Chen, did you hear how fast they are playing? It is simply incredible!
Y: Wow, 你说的没错。虽然我看不见他们的手，可是我已经觉得眼花缭乱了。
J: Yang Chen, let"s first introduce Bob Carlin, a musician we met at a cultural festival and let him describe this very American type of music; bluegrass.
Y: 好吧。我们首先来认识一下Bob Carlin。他是一位音乐学者，让他给您介绍一下什么是Bluegrass Music， 兰草音乐。
实录1 Bob Carlin: Bluegrass is a form of music in its strictest definition. It"s a band of fiddle, or violin, mandolin, five-string banjo, which is an American invention from an African instrument, and, uh, the guitar and string base. And that"s the classic bluegrass band.
Y: Jody，Bob Carlin刚才提到了演奏bluegrass的几种基本乐器。我们解释一下这几种乐器好吗？
J: That"s a great idea. First he mentions the fiddle, or violin.
Y: 其实 fiddle就是小提琴，在演奏乡村音乐或兰草音乐的时候就称为fiddle。我给它起了个名字，叫“乡村小提琴”，好不好听啊？
J: Very clever. Then there"s the mandolin.
Y: 曼陀林琴。
J: Next is the five-string banjo. It is the most important instrument in bluegrass music. What you hear in the background, in fact, is an example of banjo music.
(Enter banjo music)
Y: Banjo就五弦琴或者叫班究琴。您现在听到的就是班究琴。Banjo在兰草音乐里是最重要的一种乐器。
J: Then there"s the guitar.
Y: 我想大家都很熟悉吉他。
J: Finally, Yang Chen, there"s the string bass.
Y: 最后还有低音琴。解了演奏 Bluegrass 的基本乐器，下面我们听听 Bob Carlin为我们介绍 Bluegrass 的起源和风格。
实录2 Bob Carlin: What separates this from other music groups is that they play in a style that was pioneered by Bill Monroe back in the 1940s. And, um, it"s a music that takes its cue or its roots from earlier forms of American string band music, country music and incorporates, uh, some ideas out of jazz, like soloing.
Y: Bob Carlin 刚才谈到的 Bill Monroe 就是兰草音乐之父。还有啊，他提到几个词，我们来解释一下，"jazz" 就是爵士乐。"Soloing" 我想就是某种乐器穿插在乐曲中间的独奏，对吧？
J: That"s a perfect definition of soloing.
Y: 谢谢你的夸奖，Jody。你来自西维吉尼亚，可以说你是听着bluegrass 长大的，那么对你来说，bluegrass有什么特别意义呢？
J: You"re right. I grew up in West Virginia listening to bluegrass music so it really is in my blood. When bluegrass music is playing, it"s very hard to keep my feet still.
Y: 好，那么我们下面就为大家介绍我们今天要认识的第二个美国人。她叫Lynn Masterson。我们听听她为什么喜欢bluegrass。
实录3 Lynn Masterson: Well, it always has a strong beat. For a dancer, a strong beat is very important. Um, it"s cheery. It"s happy music. It"s very, uh, familiar and comfortable music. It"s sort of part of who we are.
Y: 我觉得她刚才Masterson女士的这番话很有代表性。 Bluegrass的确很有感染力。她所说的strong beat，也就是节奏感很强，适合跳舞。Jody，bluegrass这个题目要讲的内容实在是太多了。
J: That"s true.
Y: 可惜我们没有足够的时间。 不过有一点我觉得非提一下不可，那就是bluegrass对大家熟悉的摇滚乐歌王，也就是猫王Elvis Presley的影响。
J: I knew you were going to bring up Elvis Presley.
Y: 好，下面我们还是听听音乐学者 Bob Carlin 是怎么说的吧。
实录4 Bob Carlin: Of course, Elvis is influenced by bluegrass. You know, Elvis did Bill Monroe"s "Blue Moon of Kentucky," and Bill Monroe just did it one speed through.
(Enter Bill Monroe singing "Blue Moon of Kentucky")
实录5 Bob Carlin: Elvis, he did it as a waltz like Monroe and then he sped it up.
(Enter Elvis Presley singing "Blue Moon of Kentucky")
J: Now that we heard both versions, Yang Chen, which one do you like better?
Y: 当然是Elvis Presley了。
J: I knew you were going to say that.
Y: 因为他的演唱速度比较快，而且有摇滚乐的味道。
J: Okay, okay we know how much you like rock-n-roll and Elvis Presley. But you know, I think Bill Monroe"s version better. But, I guess we"re going to have to talk about that over coffee because that"s all the time we have for today on American Cafe.
Y: 好，我们今天就聊到这儿。听众朋友们，我们下次见。
美国习惯用语第290讲
今天我们要讲的习惯用语有一个共同的词：push. 这个词的意思是“推”。我们要学的第一个习惯用语是：push around. Push somebody around这个短语从字面解释就是把一个人推得团团转。你在学校的操场上有时会看到大男孩把小个子男孩当胸一推。他是在寻衅打架。我们也可以说：He"s pushing him around. 不知有没有人也在把你push around? 你可能会说没这回事,因为你已经不小了，但是push around并不光是指肢体行动或者动武，有时办公室的上级不必动手也会把下级push around. 他的手段可能是高声喝令，或者为了鸡毛蒜皮的小事动不动就发脾气等等。我们接下来要看的就是这样一个例子：
例句-1： I"m sick of Mr. Jones pushing us around. I"m going to find another job, and when I do, I"ll go in and tell him what I think of him and then slam the door on my way out.
他说：我实在讨厌Jones先生这样摆布欺负我们。我要去找新工作，找到后，我会到他办公室去告诉他我对他的为人有什么看法，然后走出来的时候把他的房门重重地关上。
听了这段话里，你可以体会push around有仗势欺人的意思。
******
我们要学的第二个带有push这个词的习惯说法是：pushover. Pushover是复合词。Pushover是指容易接受他人影响或者听从劝告的人。有时pushover也可能是个软心肠又富有同情心的人。例如我们下面要说的Peter就是这样一个人：
例句2： My friend Peter is a pushover for anybody in trouble. Yesterday on our way back from lunch he saw an old man begging. And he immediately handed him a ten-dollar bill.
他说：我的朋友Peter对受苦的人心肠很软。昨天我们吃了中饭回来的路上看到一个老人在乞讨。他马上给了那老人十美元。
从这段话可以看出pushover也可以解释软心肠的人。
******
我们要学的第三个习惯用语是：when push comes to shove. Shove, 它的意思是使劲猛推，举动往往还带点粗暴。我们刚才说过push意思只是“推”，显然shove动作的强度要大得多，情况也来得严重。那么when push comes to shove是什么意思呢？我们要听有关美国政治生活的一段描述。当选议员们往往在对一些争议激烈的议案投票上举棋不定，因为他们不论投赞成票还是反对票都会招惹是非、得罪一大批选民。
下面这段话就是关于议员Blank对国会和新闻界正在激烈争辩的一个议案在投票前不明确表态：