IDIOMS | WEATHER IDIOMS | LEARNING ENGLISH CONVERSATION | RACHEL’S ENGLISH

Hey guys! Today, I’m sitting down with my husband David and we're going to go over some weather idioms.

大家好！今天，我和先生 David坐在這裡， 要來複習一些與「天氣」有關的成語

So today, you can expect to learn some brand new idioms that you've never heard before.

今天，你可以預期會學到一些全新， 而且以前從未聽過的成語

David, let's start with the idiom 'out of the blue'.

David，我們就從這句成語「突然」開始

Yup.

好

Now, a little pronunciation thing here, out- uh, you can hear, I’m taking out of,

這裡有個發音「out- uh」，你可以聽到，我把「out of」

I’m putting those together into one word, out-uh, out of the blue, with a flap t.

我把這些字合併成一個字，out-uh，out of the blue，閃音 t 的發音

When something happens out of the blue,

當某事「突然」發生

that's relating to weather in that it comes from the idea of a clear blue sky, nothing in it, and then out of the blue,

這句成語與天氣有關，它源自於這個概念： 晴朗的藍天，萬里無雲，然後突然間，

a storm comes in or something like that rather quickly.

一個風暴疾速逼近，或諸如此類的事

So what it means is something unexpected.

它的意思是：出乎意料的事

Right, and the thing that I thought of as an example was that

對，我想到可當作例子的事情是這樣：

a former colleague of mine reached out to me recently.

我的一位前同事，最近跟我聯絡

I had actually been thinking about her,` she was on my mind, and she reached out out of the clear blue.

我之前一直對她惦念，為她掛心，她「突然」跟我聯絡

It had been more than a year since I had heard from her and she reached out out of the clear blue.

我一年多沒她的消息，而她卻突然跟我聯絡

'Reach out' what's that mean?

「Reach out」，這什麼意思？

Was she like "ah! I’m reaching out!"

難道她是說：我正在伸手（抓）

She sent an email.

她寄了一封信

She made contact.

她主動聯繫

Okay, yeah.

To reach out means to initiate contact with someone.

好的，了解

「Reach out」的意思是：主動聯繫某人

So you heard from her out of the blue,

所以，你突然有她的消息

>> Yep. >> Mm-hmm.

>> 對。 >> 嗯，了解。

The calm before the storm.

暴風雨前的平靜

So sometimes when a storm is coming in, there's this sort of eerie quiet before it really hits.

有時山雨欲來，還沒真的侵襲前，有種詭異的平靜

It's actually a really neat moment, I think, when the skies are dark,

那段時刻真的相當平靜，我覺得，天空一片漆黑

before like hail starts pounding down from the sky or something.

就像冰雹開始從空中猛烈降下或什麼的之前那情景

So 'the calm before the storm' means idiomatically,

「the calm before the storm」慣用的意思是：

a period of relative calm right before something major and chaotic is happening.

就在大事及亂事即將發生之前，相對平靜的一段時間

Mm-hmm.

嗯，對

Do you have an example of this?

你有例子嗎？

I think that right now you and I are in a calm before the storm.

我認為此刻，妳跟我都處在「暴風雨前的平靜」

Yeah. We are.

對，我們是這樣

The second baby is on the way.

第 2 個小孩即將出生

It's going to be supposed to be in six weeks, but it could be anytime.

應該在 6 周內，但還是有可能隨時會出生

Yeah.

對

And so our lives feel somewhat calm right now, but we know that a storm is coming.

我們此刻的生活是有些平靜，但我們知道風暴將至

Mm-hmm.

嗯，對

It's going to get really crazy.

這真的會令人抓狂

Another thing I thought about is we got married on a Sunday.

我想到另一件事是：我們是在星期天結婚的

And remember how the venue was closed on Saturday?

還記得吧，結婚場地周六不開放

So we did all of this work on Friday and then Saturday

所以我們在周五就搞定所有事，然後周六

was just this empty calm day before the big event on Sunday and that was sort of the calm before the storm.

就是這種空閒平靜的一天，接著就是在星期天的大事， 這有點像是「暴風雨前的平靜」

The calm before the chaos hosting and having a party of 120 people, feeding them all, and all that.

在招待賓客、舉辦120人聚會、滿足所有人用餐等 事務亂成一團之前的平靜

Right.

沒錯

Another great idiom 'head in the clouds'.

另一個很棒的成語「心不在焉」

This is somebody who's not focused on what's happening, who's sort of thinking about other things,

這句話是指某個人沒有專注在當前的事，而在想其他的事

not really paying attention.

真的不專心

Do you have an example of this?

你有例子嗎？

My example is that again, this is going back to birth but this is our son Stoney’s birth.

我的例子是再提一下出生， 但這次是我們兒子 Stoney 的出生

I was working in a nine-to-five job and it was really hard to concentrate.

我當時做的是朝九晚五的工作， 那時實在很難專心

I was so excited for Stoney to get here, and then he was ten days late.

我當時因 Stoney 的出生而興奮莫名， 而他晚了 10 天才出生

And those ten days my head, my head was in the clouds.

那 10 天我都「心不在焉」

I was excited, and I was having a really hard time concentrating on anything at work.

我很興奮，我實在很難專心在工作上面

Mmm-hmm.

嗯，了解

Now you said a nine-to-five.

你剛才說到「nine-to-five」

And that means a job that follows what in the us would be a regular work schedule, Monday through Friday,

這是指一份工作，遵照美國一套固定的工時制度 從周一到周五，

8:00 or 9:00 in the morning until 5:00 or so in the afternoon.

早上 8 點或 9 點，一直到下午 5 點左右

More and more people don't have regular nine-to-five schedules.

越來越多人不是固定朝九晚五的工作時間

They have schedules where they work evenings or weekends or whatever,

他們的工作時間是在晚上，或在周末，或其他的時間

but a nine-to-five is that typical traditional work schedule in the us.

但「朝九晚五制」是美國長久以來典型的工時制度

I thought of one other example for 'head in the clouds', when I was in college, I was singing in a choir.

我想到另外一個「心不在焉」的例子 我念大學時，在合唱團唱歌

And I remember the director after concert yelling at this kid because during the concert,

我還記得團長在音樂會結束後，大罵這個小子， 因為音樂會期間

the kid was like so focused on the architecture of the building we were singing in,

這小子的目光好像放在我們唱歌地點的建築風格上

he was just taking it all in, looking around,

他只是耳聽八方、眼觀四面

and the director was you know trying to lead the choir in this cohesive sound, and he totally, this guy in general,

你知道團長一直努力指揮合唱團以凝聚各個聲部， 而他完全地，這小子，基本上，

has his heads his head in the clouds.

就是心不在焉

So this is another perfect example.

這是另一個很棒的例子

He's supposed to be singing in this group of people and he's just sort of "oh, wow! Look at that!"

他應該在這群人中唱歌，而他竟只是「哦，哇！你看！」

So that's another great example of someone who has their head in the clouds.

這是另一個說某人「心不在焉」的好例子

In a fog, also called 'in a haze', so when it's foggy or hazy, it's hard to see.

「精神恍惚」，也可以說「頭腦糊塗」。 當霧濛濛時，難以視物

And when you're in a fog or in haze, it's sort of hard to think, hard to concentrate.

當你精神恍惚，或頭腦糊塗時，很難想事情，很難專心

And an example of this, the most in a fog I've ever been in my life was after Stoney was born,

有個例子是：我至今精神最恍惚的時候， 就是 Stoney 出生後

when I was having very interrupted sleep.

當時我的睡眠一直被打斷

I was getting up three or four times a night, was having problems falling back asleep,

一個晚上起來 3 或 4 次，又很難再入睡

I definitely had sleep deprivation.

我真的睡眠不足

And my god, I just remember thinking, my mind doesn't work that well anymore.

天哪！我只記得思緒（混亂），我的腦筋不再那麼清楚

It was hard to see a task through to the end. I was worried about making mistakes at work,

我很難把一項工作從頭到尾看完。我一直擔心工作會出錯

at Rachel's English, this kind of thing.

像 Rachel 英文這類的事

I just knew that my brain was not working at its normal sharpness.

我只知道我的腦筋不像平常那麼犀利

I was definitely in a fog.

我的腦筋一定打結了

To break the ice.

破冰 打破冷場，化解生疏

Now ice relates to weather, in the video last week, I talked about black ice,

冰與天氣有關，在上週的影片中， 我有談到「透明薄冰（黑冰）」

where ice might cover a street and it's hard to see.

薄冰可能會覆蓋整條街，而且難以察覺

Black ice is hard to see, you might slip and fall.

透明薄冰難以察覺，你有可能會滑倒

So if you break the ice, this is, this means to start conversation with somebody you haven't met before.

如果你「破冰」，這表示與你素昧平生的人開始交談

It's like that first social interaction with somebody is called breaking the ice.

可這麼說，與某人的首次社交就稱為「破冰」

It's the first time you're getting starting to get to know somebody.

這是你第一次開始要好好地認識某個人

And I was thinking about how in a class, or your first year at college, the first week, your orientation,

我想到在一個班上，或你大一時，第一周的新生訓練

might be made up of some icebreakers, there's a noun

也許是由一些破冰活動所組成，這是個名詞

where there exercises where you're interacting with other people in a structured way,

這些練習活動可讓你有條理地與其他人互動

in order to get to know them a little bit.

為了可以多認識他們一點

Or at a conference maybe in a small meeting.

或者在一場研討會，也許是在小型會議中

You might have some icebreakers, little exercises.

你可以安排一些破冰活動，小型練習

Or you could just say, you know, I want to go meet that cute guy at the bar, I’m going to go break the ice,

或者，你只要說：我想去認識吧台旁邊那位可愛的男生，我要去破冰一下

I’m going to go say something, and it could be more casual like that too.

我要過去講些話，而開場白可以像那般更為隨興一點

Tip of the iceberg, now notice when I say this, I’m reducing the word 'of' I’m just saying tip-uh.

冰山一角。注意到沒，我說這句時， 我把此字「of」省音，我只說 tip-uh

Tip of iceberg.

冰山一角

You might not do that, you can just use an "of" reduction, tip of, tip of, tip of.

你可以不這樣念，可以只念「of」的省音， tip of, tip of, tip of

But I think in a phrase like this, it's pretty common to drop that v sound.

但我認為此類的片語，把 V 消音是相當常見的

Tip of the iceberg.

冰山一角

This means what you're seeing is just the very beginning of a much bigger problem.

它是指：你眼下所見僅是更大問題的開端

I think it's usually negative, right?

我認為這通常帶有負面含意，對吧？

Like a problem, an issue.

像是一個難題，一個議題

Do you have an example of this?

你有例子嗎？

So back in 2008 when the us economy was about to really go down,

回到 2008 年，美國經濟正要走下坡

one of the most famous wall street firms Lehman Brothers went bankrupt,

其中一間最著名的華爾街公司-雷曼兄弟破產了

and it was kind of shocking to a lot of people.

此事震驚了很多人

And then it turned out that that was just the tip of the iceberg.

最後發現這只是冰山一角

A lot more of our financial institutions needed to be bailed out, and it led to a huge recession and a major,

更多的金融機構需要紓困，而此事造成經濟不景氣，以及

major downturn in the American economy.

美國經濟低迷不振

So it was the tip of the iceberg.

所以此事為冰山之一角

Yeah, when that happened, it was just the tip, there was much more to come.

對，當事件發生時，它只是個小尖角，還有更多的東西會出現

You could also say the financial crisis snowballed from there.

你也可以說：金融危機從此處如滾雪球般擴大

That's true.

確實如此

Right? It's something that starts and then picks up speed,

對吧？事情開頭後，就一路加速

gets much bigger, becomes a much bigger problem.

越變越大，形成一個更大的問題

The idea here is a snowball rolling down a hill of snow.

這概念是一顆雪球滾下覆雪的山坡

As you roll a snowball in the snow, it collects other snow and gets much bigger.

當你在雪中滾動一顆雪球時，它會因積雪而變大

So that's the idea of something snowballing.

這就是事情如滾雪球般擴大的概念

Things get added to it, it picks up, it becomes bigger just like tip of the iceberg,

添加東西給它，它就一併帶走， 於是越變越大，如同冰山一角

you know there's more there underneath the surface.

你知道在表面下還有更多的東西

So the next one is once in a blue moon,

下一個成語是：幾乎沒有；極少

and a blue moon is the second full moon that happens within the same calendar month,

「藍月」是指在同一個月份裡，第 2 次出現的滿月

which makes it pretty rare.

這情形極為罕見

Like how rare are we talking? Do you have any idea?

我們談的有多罕見？你知道嗎？

I don't know, I have to look it up.

我不知道，這我要查一下

But it doesn't happen, doesn't happen very often?

這情形極不常發生，對吧？

>> Right. >> Okay.

>>對。 >>好。

And an example of this that I was thinking about, since I stopped working at my job,

我想到一個例子是：自從我不做朝九晚五的工作後

people have asked me, do you miss it?

一直有人問我，你會懷念那工作嗎？

Do you miss your work?

你會懷念你之前的工作嗎？

And I’ll say, every once in a blue moon, I’ll miss it.

而我會說，我「幾乎不會」懷念那工作

And I’ll talk about missing my colleagues and things like that, but how I really, you know don't miss it very often.

我會談到懷念我的同事，及諸如此類的事， 但我真的不太懷念那工作

I’m glad that I made the change that I made.

我很高興我做了我要做的改變

So once in a blue moon, I might miss it but not very often.

所以「極少」，我也許懷念它，但極不常

Yeah, so that means hardly ever.

對，就是指：幾乎沒有

It happens, but hardly ever.

事情會發生，但極少發生

Raining cats and dogs.

傾盆大雨

I read something about where this comes from and one theory is that when it would rain so hard,

我看過這句成語的典故，有一個版本是說：下豪雨時，

small animals like cats and dogs would go up into thatched roofs.

像貓、狗之類的小動物會爬上茅草屋頂

Mmm, interesting.

嗯，有趣

Or was it that they would leave thatched roofs?

或者是牠們要離開茅草屋頂？

Why would they be in thatched roofs in the beginning?

牠們為什麼一開始會在茅草屋頂呢？

Anyway, I heard that it's related to that.

不管怎樣，我聽說此成語與那有關

Thatched roofs and small animals.

茅草屋頂與小動物

Which when it's raining really, really hard, that's when we might use the idiom 'it's raining cats and dogs'.

當雨下得非常、非常大時，我們就可以用 「it's raining cats and dogs」這句成語

Speaking of rain, there's another idiom 'to rain on your parade'

講到雨，還有另一句成語「潑你冷水」

and this means to diminish something that someone's excited about.

它的意思是：貶抑某人感到興奮的事

Someone could be really energized about something, happy about it,

某人可能因某事而活力充沛、高興

you happen to know some negative information.

你剛好知道一些負面的消息

You might say, 'i don't want to rain on your parade but...'

你也許會說：我不想潑你冷水，但....

So here's an example, a former intern of mine

有個例子是：我的一位前實習生

was now applying for jobs and told me about something that they were excited about.

當時正在申請工作，並告訴我他們感到興奮的事

This position looked great, and I said I don't want to rain on your parade but that agency,

那個職位看起來很棒，而我說：我不想潑你冷水，但那家代理公司

the place where that job is, is really they're kind of not doing very well.

工作環境，真的是，有點不太好

It's a place where there's a lot of turnover and that's actually not a great spot for you.

那個地方，人員異動率很高，對你來說，真的不是一個好場所

So they have been really excited about it and I had to rain on their parade.

他們真的對此事一直很興奮，但我必須「潑他們冷水」

Yeah, you had to give him the whole truth.

是的，你必須告訴他全部實情

Yeah.

沒錯

The phrase 'to steal someone's thunder', this is like when someone has something big to share, big news,

片語「搶走某人的功勞或風頭」。 像是某人有大事要分享時，如重大消息

but someone shares something even bigger before you get to do yours,

但別人卻早你一步，分享更大的事

or they actually tell your story when you wanted to share it.

或是他們居然把你想要分享的事講了出來

Right.

對

That's when someone steals your thunder.

那就是「搶走你功勞」的時候

And an example of this is my older sister, when my mom was pregnant with me, my older sister was so excited

有個例子是：我姐姐，當我媽懷我時，我姐非常興奮

that she ran to the neighbor's house and actually stole my mom's thunder.

所以她跑去鄰居家裡，竟然搶先我媽一步

She gave the news that my mom was pregnant, and my mom had wanted to be the one to tell her friend that.

說了我媽懷孕的消息，而我媽一直想親自告訴她的朋友

>> That stuff. >> Yeah.

>> 那件事 >> 對

Maybe you've heard the phrase 'under the weather'.

也許你已聽過這句片語「身體不適」

This just means you're not feeling well, you're kind of sick.

它的意思是：你身體不適，或有點生病

Maybe you're not all the way sick, although I think it can mean that,

也許你不是一直在生病，雖然我認為它也可以有此意

but I think we use it often for when we're not totally sick but we don't feel great.

但我認為我們使用此句時，通常不是真的生病， 而是身體欠安

We're just a little under the weather.

我們只是身體有一點不適

And Stoney, our son, just had an example of this where he had been really sick for one day,

我們兒子 Stoney 剛好拿來做例子，他真正生病只有一天

but then the whole rest of that week he just wasn't himself he was under the weather.

而那周其他時間，他只是不像往常健康，僅有些不舒服

Yeah.

沒錯

He wasn't acutely sick but he just wasn't feeling well.

他不是急症，只是身體不適

Mmm-hmm.

嗯，對

The phrase 'to know which way the wind blows', this is talking about future events.

片語「預料事情可能走向」，這是講未來的事情

You either do or do not know which way the wind is going to blow.

你或者預料到，或預料不到事情可能的走向

Do you have an example?

你有例子嗎？

I do, yeah. A former colleague called me recently and wanted to do some networking,

我有，沒問題。一位前同事最近打電話給我， 想要做些網路相關工作

wanted to know about if I had heard of any

想跟我打聽，是否聽說有任何的

positions that were open and I was a little bit surprised

職位在徵人，而我則有些驚訝

because they have a job and, and the last that I had heard they were pretty happy.

因為他們都有份工作，而且上次我聽說他們做得還蠻愉快的

But they said actually some people got laid off recently and I kind of know which way the wind is blowing.

但他們竟然說，有些人最近要被資遣， 而我大概「猜得到事情可能的走向」

Meaning that they thought that they might get laid off

意味著他們認為他們可能也會被資遣

too or that the agency itself was maybe going to collapse.

或是代理公司本身可能要垮了

And so they were getting ahead of that and doing some networking and trying to find a new position.

所以，他們想在那之前，做些網路相關工作， 努力找到一個新的職位

Mm-hmm.

嗯，了解

So she felt like she knew what direction this thing was going to end up in.

所以她像是已料到事情最終的走向

Right.

對

And finally, the last idiom for today is to 'take the wind out of your sails'.

最後，今天最後一句成語是「讓人洩氣」

This is when you have momentum going for something or excitement,

這是當你對某事有全力以赴的動力，或高昂的興致時

and then something happens that just kills that momentum or that excitement.

然後發生了某事，讓那股動力或興致消失全無

And for me, recently, I’m training for a half marathon, and I had been doing pretty well.

以我來說，最近，我為了半馬一直在訓練， 而且練得還相當不錯

I was running six miles pretty consistently and then I played in a soccer game,

我一直持續地慢跑 6 英里，之後我參加了一場足球賽

a team that I used to play on needed me to sub in for them, and I got hurt pretty bad,

我過去常踢球的一支球隊需要我當他們的替補球員， 結果受傷了，還不輕

and I really lost momentum on my training.

我完全失去訓練的動力

It just, it really took the wind out of my sails.

那真是，真的「讓我很洩氣」

That's too bad and you've had a hard time kind of getting back into it now since then.

太糟了，而且從那之後到現在，你很難再恢復訓練了

I have.

It's time.

是很難

其實年紀到了

Okay guys, thanks so much for joining us here while we discuss weather idioms.

好的各位，在我們談論「天氣成語」的時候， 非常感謝加入我們

If you missed the weather vocabulary video from last week, be sure to check it out.

如果你錯過上周「天氣字彙」的影片，請務必去查看一下

I’ll link it here and in the description below.

我會在此處及下面的「影片說明」中，放上連結

David, thanks for joining me.

David，謝謝你的加入

That's it guys and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.

就這樣，各位，非常感謝使用 Rachel 的英文