伊人不卡,国产乱码一二三区精品,亚洲午夜综合,亚洲网站在线,亚洲国产二区三区,开心伊人网,tiantianri

 
 
 

Words and their stories: Pan

2012-08-03 16:16

 

Get Flash Player

Download

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. Today's word, pan, takes us back to the days of the gold rush in California.

Words and their stories: Pan

On January 24th, 1848, a man named James Wilson Marshall discovered gold in the territory of California. The news spread quickly. Thousands rushed west. They traveled on foot, by horseback and by boat to reach the gold fields. By 1849, the great gold rush was on.

Towns and cities grew overnight. Throughout the territory – in the mountains, along the streams and rivers—thousands of people searched for gold. They had food to eat and blankets to cover them. They also hadmules to ride, and picks and pans to search for gold.

Some found areas of mountain rock thick with gold. These men got rich. But such areas were few and quickly claimed by the first men to find them. Others searched for gold in the rivers coming down the mountains. They were after pieces of gold that the rains had washed down from above.

The only way to find this gold was by panning. First a gold miner put dirt in a metal pan and added water. Then he shook the pan so that the water would wash the dirt. Slowly, he poured the water out of the pan. If he was a lucky miner, pieces of gold would remain.

Across the nation, newspapers carried stories of the gold being found. One told how thousands of people climbed the mountains looking for gold. Some stories told how others followed the rivers and streams with pans. Each one hoped that the place he claimed panned out well – had some gold.

For many, gold mining did not pan out. For a few, it panned out well. But in time, huge machines were built that could wash many tons of dirt at a time. Panning died out.

The word, however, remained in the language. Today, Americans still say, "It panned out well," when something they have done pleases them. A business, a discovery, a simple event pans out well if it is successful. Unhappily, sometimes things do not pan out.

In recent years, the word pan has taken on another meaning. Today, it also means to criticize. How it got this meaning is hard to discover. But the job of a critic is to sometimes pan the work of a writer, artist or singer.

Sometimes, critics may pan a movie or play so severely that no one will go to see it. There are times, however, when a play became highly successful, even though most of the critics panned it without mercy. The pans should have washed out the play. But, as actors have pointed out, sometimes a critic's pan turns up gold.

mule: 騾;騾子

pan: (淘沙金等的)淘盤,用淘盤淘

pan out: (指砂礫、河流、地區(qū)等)產(chǎn)金或其他貴重礦物。這里的pan out well指的是“產(chǎn)金多”,后面第八段的It panned out well指的是“結(jié)果很不錯”。

Related stories:

美公司擬派機(jī)器人太空開礦 卡梅隆加入

US debt debate worries gold buyers, sellers in Asia

American history: US influence begins to extend far beyond its shores

A high school offers single-sex classes to top students

(來源:VOA 編輯:實(shí)習(xí)生朱眉霖)

 
中國日報網(wǎng)英語點(diǎn)津版權(quán)說明:凡注明來源為“中國日報網(wǎng)英語點(diǎn)津:XXX(署名)”的原創(chuàng)作品,除與中國日報網(wǎng)簽署英語點(diǎn)津內(nèi)容授權(quán)協(xié)議的網(wǎng)站外,其他任何網(wǎng)站或單位未經(jīng)允許不得非法盜鏈、轉(zhuǎn)載和使用,違者必究。如需使用,請與010-84883561聯(lián)系;凡本網(wǎng)注明“來源:XXX(非英語點(diǎn)津)”的作品,均轉(zhuǎn)載自其它媒體,目的在于傳播更多信息,其他媒體如需轉(zhuǎn)載,請與稿件來源方聯(lián)系,如產(chǎn)生任何問題與本網(wǎng)無關(guān);本網(wǎng)所發(fā)布的歌曲、電影片段,版權(quán)歸原作者所有,僅供學(xué)習(xí)與研究,如果侵權(quán),請?zhí)峁┌鏅?quán)證明,以便盡快刪除。

中國日報網(wǎng)雙語新聞

掃描左側(cè)二維碼

添加Chinadaily_Mobile
你想看的我們這兒都有!

中國日報雙語手機(jī)報

點(diǎn)擊左側(cè)圖標(biāo)查看訂閱方式

中國首份雙語手機(jī)報
學(xué)英語看資訊一個都不能少!

關(guān)注和訂閱

本文相關(guān)閱讀
人氣排行
搜熱詞
 
 
精華欄目
 

閱讀

詞匯

視聽

翻譯

口語

合作

 

關(guān)于我們 | 聯(lián)系方式 | 招聘信息

Copyright by chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved. None of this material may be used for any commercial or public use. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. 版權(quán)聲明:本網(wǎng)站所刊登的中國日報網(wǎng)英語點(diǎn)津內(nèi)容,版權(quán)屬中國日報網(wǎng)所有,未經(jīng)協(xié)議授權(quán),禁止下載使用。 歡迎愿意與本網(wǎng)站合作的單位或個人與我們聯(lián)系。

電話:8610-84883645

傳真:8610-84883500

Email: languagetips@chinadaily.com.cn