【文稿】母亲节特辑

Xiaohua: Hello and welcome to Roundtable’s World of the Week. It’s Mother’s Day today. Heyang: WOW! It’s Mother’s Day! Happy Mother’s Day! It’s a really important day for all those ladies out there. Xiaohua: Yes. 今天是母亲节，那我们就来讨论一些跟母亲有关的词汇吧。 There are quite a lot of them. Let’s just go from the start. But this one is not very complimenting- a face that only a mother could love. Basically someone is so ugly, or not blessed with his or her looks, that only their mother could love their faces. Heyang: Oh, that really hurts. 只有你妈妈才会欣赏喜爱的脸庞，那是多么的难看啊。我觉得这个太伤人了。 The next one is a mother hen and it means a woman who’s protective and caring for those she loves. Xiaohua: 母鸡都是会想要把小鸡都罩在自己的羽翼下面，非常protective。但是being a mother hen可以是好，也可以是不好。比如说一个过于关心自己孩子的妈妈也会被人叫做mother hen。 Heyang: A mother hen. OK, it completely depends on the tone, I suppose. Xiaohua: Exactly. So a mummy’s boy, basically a boy or a grown-up man who allows his mother to have too much influence on him. Heyang: Yeah, actually I think it’s kinda used in a derogatory fashion especially when it’s describing a grown man. Xiaohua: 就是离不开妈妈的男人或男孩。 At your mother’s knee. OK, you say this about something that you learned to do as a young child.你在很小很小的时候还在妈妈的膝盖边玩耍的时候就已经学会的一项技能。 By the way, did you learn your fashion sense at your mother’s knee? Heyang: Eh...kinda. And also I think we can use the term “like mother like daughter” here. So it’s like, you know, when daughters resemble their mothers in appearances or habits, then I really do think what your mom’s preferences are has an influence on you. Xiaohua: 有其父必有其子，那有其母必有其女。 The next one is quite easy-mother nature, the force that controls the weather and all living things. 大自然母亲, this is a simple one. Heyang: And here’s the one that I have troubled feelings for. SHALL I BE MOTHER? (what’s that tone?) It is a hilarious way to ask if the speaker should serve food or drink; mostly associated with pouring tea. And that’s why I said in a fake English accent. And somehow I find it a little sexist. Why is the mama, the lady that has to pour tea or do all these things for everyone? Xiaohua:对啊，所以当有人说“shall I be mother?”的时候，可不是想要和你玩过家家的游戏，而是基本上在英式的茶会上TA想要当倒茶，给别人来布茶点的那个人。大家可以在腐国电影里经常看到这个场景。 Heyang: And there is the mother of all something-it is an extreme example of something, such as the mother of all headaches. So that’s not really a good use of the word “mother” either. Xiaohua: Right. The mother of all something好像后面那个something经常跟的是一个不太好的词。但是也有比较无害的情况出现，比如说 “Hebrew is the mother of all languages” or “Arabic is the mother of all languages”。 Heyang: OK. Another phrase here is-tied to your mother’s apron strings. And that means, someone, usually a man, who can’t think or act independently of their mother. Xiaohua:这个有点像mommy’s boy，系在妈妈围裙上的人，就是完全无法自己思考，必须要所有事情都听妈妈的。 Also in English there are some kind of phobia that has to do with mother. Heyang: Yeah, a little bit to do with mother. But the first one is the one that I certainly have phobia towards, that’s metrophobia and it simply means the fear of motherhood. Xiaohua: 所以metrophobia就用来描述赫扬这类对于有可能当妈妈的未来表示（有一点害怕）对。 Heyang: Eventually hopeful someday it will happen...And there is also pentheraphobia. It is the fear of your mother-in-law. So it applies for both the husband and the wife. And when it comes to mother-in-law, I think it’s a very tricky business. I can totally understand why some people find it is a little scary, too. Xiaohua: 嗯。Pentheraphobia是婆婆恐惧症。 Heyang: The last phrase we are gonna introduce today is tokophobia, not TOKYOphobia. And it simply means the fear of pregnancy and childbirth. So this one sort of applies to me as well. Xiaohua: Tokophobia是不想生孩子，不敢生孩子的女性。 It’s a little bit similar with metrophobia, but not completely the same, because you know being a mother involves a lot of other things but the image of childbirth scares... (a lot of people) Yes....That’s tokophobia, all the reason to say “thank you” to your mom. Heyang: Yes, love your mom! Xiaohua: That’s all the time we have for this week’s Roundtable’s World of the Week.