介绍:
Xiaohua: Hello and welcome to Word of the Week here in RoundTable. So the Tomb-sweeping Day is coming up and we feel that we should talk about something about ghost idioms and ways to describe that people are dead.
John: Or people will die. So there’s a lot of idioms around ghosts and around death and scary things. They all kind of overlap in a sense, especially if we look at this first one *pale as a ghost or *pale as death*, basically just means very, very pale. So pale is not just white, right? Pale just means that your face is kind of being drained of blood, very little blood actually in your face. It’s the opposite is getting a red face when you’re embarrassed.
Xiaohua: Right, 英语中有很多跟ghost 有关的短语，比如说 pale as a ghost就是形容一个人脸色煞白，pale是苍白，但当我们说pale as a ghost就是说脸色白的吓人。
John: And then kind of in a similar vein, *white as a sheet and not so much ghost or death, *white as snow; *white as the driven snow* this is usually referring to skin color again, so the skin on your face is very, very white, very pale.
Xiaohua: 嗯，white as a sheet，像床单一样白，也可以形容脸色煞白的意思。
John: Then *ghost of a chance* usually means that you don’t even the slightest chance. For example, “She can&`&t do it. She doesn&`&t have a ghost of a chance. Or there is just a ghost of a chance that I&`&ll be there on time” meaning I’ll probably won’t make it.
Xiaohua: *ghost of a chance*实际上是一点机会也没有，或者几乎没有任何机会的意思。
John: And then *giving up the ghost* this is basically euphemism to die but it’s usually used to refer to machines so for example “My poor old car finally gave up the ghost.”
Xiaohua: *give up the ghost* 是一种表示死亡委婉的说法。但是也可以用在一样东西坏了。
John: Then to *ghost someone* basically just means to kill someone. So I really hope that after the show Xiaohua doesn’t decide to ghost me.
Xiaohua: No, I’m not going to.
John: Then there is *a ghost town*, basically a town that has been abandoned and is no longer inhabited. Usually what happens is there a boom town, a lot of people go there because there’s some type of natural resource, for example gold. And then once the natural resource is completely tapped out, everyone leaves, and becomes a ghost town.
Xiaohua: 嗯， *ghost town* 鬼城，很多人在新闻里面可能听说过，因为房地产市场崩盘而造成了很多这样的鬼城，但是也可以指曾经繁华的都市，但是现在因为某种原因成为了废都。
John: Looking at some *witch and skeleton* idioms, here’s a *witch-hunt* so to go on a witch-hunt is to try and find and punish or harass people with unpopular opinions. This came about a lot during the middle-age in Europe where was believed that there were witches so villagers and people in Europe will go on witch-hunt.
Xiaohua: 在中世纪，欧洲有很多女性被当做女巫迫害致死，所以*witch-hunt*指的是政治迫害的意思，也就是说处罚异见分子的意思。
John: Then a *skeleton in the cupboard* is something that might bring shame or embarrassment to a family or person if other people knew about it. So basically, it’s a secret that you don’t want anyone else to know because it’s very embarrassing or it’s going to damage your character.
Xiaohua: 下面说说skeleton骷髅，*skeleton in the cupboard*是不可告人的秘密，通常是丑闻。
John: Look at some euphemisms To Die, so *to go to a better place* *to die with one&`&s boots on* rather than die in bed, so die while you’re doing some type of activity. *To answer the final summons*and to *assume room temperature* which is quiet morbid.
Xiaohua:嗯，再说说其他表示死亡的委婉说法，*to go to a better place*还有 *to die with one&`&s boots on*指的是在工作中或者说还好好的突然就死了，and then *assume room temperature* 恢复到了室温，that sounds like a bad joke.
John: It’s a little rude.
Xiaohua: You won’t want to use it on someone you like.
John: Probably not.
Xiaohua: And that’s all we have for RoundTable’s Word of the Week.
