BBC地道英语｜A thing 一种潮流

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Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Feifei.

欢迎来到地道英语，我是菲菲。

And I’m Neil.

我是尼尔。

Where’s… your beard?

你的胡子呢？

I, uh, shaved it off. I fancied a change. Beards are such a thing these days.

啊，我把它刮了。我想做出点改变。蓄胡子最近成为一种流行趋势了。

Yup, ever since beards became a thing, I’ve found them a bit boring.

是的。自从胡子变成一种潮流趋势，我就觉得有些无聊。

’A thing’. Of course, we know what the word ’thing’ normally means,but what does ’a thing’ mean here?

‘一种潮流’。当然大家都知道‘thing’这个单词的常用含义，但是这里的‘a thing’意味着什么呢？

Our phrase for today means ’a trend’ or ’something recognisable in popular culture’.If beards are ’a thing’, it means they’ve become fashionable: lots of people have them.

这个词今天在这里的含义是‘一种趋势’或者‘在流行文化中很有辨识度的东西’。如果胡子是‘a thing’，意思就是它已经成为一种时尚：很多人都留胡子。

Yes. Cats on the internet – they’re a thing.

是的。云养猫已经成为一种趋势。

Oh, fidget spinners. They’re definitely a thing.

啊，还有指尖陀螺。这绝对是一种潮流趋势了。

Fidget spinners?

指尖陀螺？

Yes, those little metal or plastic toys that you spin on your finger. Know them?

对，就是金属或塑料制作的小玩具，可以在指尖旋转，听说过吗？

Oh, those things that kids everywhere are playing with.

哦，那个各处小孩都子在玩的东西。

Not just kids. Anyway. What else is a thing? Listen to these examples.

不止小孩。总之还有什么潮流呢？来听听这些例子吧。

Using funny GIFs in your message is such a thing.

发消息时使用GIF动图是一种流行趋势。

You know parkour: the sport of running and jumping across buildings? Why is that such a thing?

你知道跑酷吗？一种奔跑或跳跃过障碍物的运动项目。为什么它能这么流行？

Organic powdered food. Since when has that been a thing?

有机营养粉是从什么时候成为一种流行趋势的？

A well-known use of this phrase was after American personality Kim Kardashian posted a picture of herself pregnant, with the words "pregnancy lips".

美国名人金·卡戴珊晒出一张自己的照片，并配文“孕唇”之后，这个短语开始被人们广泛使用。

It’s not a term that many people had heard of, and prompted responses like this: "Pregnancy lips? Is that even a thing?"

这个词不经常出现，人们对此的反应都是-“孕唇？这也算潮流吗？”

Yes, when someone refers to a trend you haven’t heard of, or that you doubt exists, feel free to respond with ’is that even a thing?’

是的，当有人提到你没听过或你怀疑其是否存在的东西时。你可以用这句‘is that even a thing?’作为回应。

But there’s little doubt the phrase ’a thing’ is itself ’a thing’ – it’s now been included in major dictionaries.

毫无疑问的是，‘a thing’本身也是一种潮流，如今已经被收录到许多重要词典当中了。

There we are. A thing. No plans to grow the beard back, then?

瞧，一种潮流。不打算再把胡子留起来吗？

Only when being clean-shaven becomes too much of a thing!

除非不蓄胡子变成一种潮流！

Bye.

拜！

往期听力