The english we speak(BBC教學)第128期:To jump the gun 搶先行動
Feifei: Hello, and welcome to The English We Speak. My name is Feifei.
菲菲：大家好，歡迎收看地道英語節目。我是菲菲。William: And I'm William.
威廉：我是威廉。Feifei: William, how much do you know about China?
菲菲：威廉，你對中國瞭解多少？
William: Er... Not much. Why are you asking?
威廉：呃……知道得不多。你爲什麼這麼問？Feifei: Well, I was flicking through the papers and I came across this quiz.
菲菲：嗯，我剛剛在翻看報紙的時候，碰到了這個測驗。William: Oh no, not quizzes, I'm rubbish at them.
威廉：哦，不，測驗，我完全不擅長這個。Feifei: Oh, well. Let's see. Here is the first one–name the capital city of China.
菲菲：哦，好吧。我們來看一下。第一個問題是，中國首都的名字。William: That's easy, Beijing.
威廉：這個很簡單，北京。Feifei: Yes. Which province is famous for its hot and spicy cuisine?
菲菲：對。中國哪個省以辛辣食物著稱？William: Em, I think Sichuan food is quite spicy.
威廉：嗯，我想四川菜餚非常辣。Feifei: See, you are doing well! How about this one–roughly how many characters are there in the Chinese language?
菲菲：看，你做得很好！那這個呢，中國大約有多少個漢字？William: Oh, loads. 5,000?
威廉：哦，很多。5000個？Feifei: No. Try again.
菲菲：不對，再試一次。William: 7,000?
威廉：7000個？Feifei: Well, actually, roughly 42,000.
菲菲：實際上大約有4.2萬個。William: Wow, that's amazing. I didn't know it was that many. How can people possibly learn them all? It's totally mind-boggling!
威廉：哇，那太不可思議了。我不知道有那麼多。人們怎麼可能把那些都學了呢？那簡直多得令人無法想象！Feifei: What is mind-boggling?
菲菲：mind-boggling是什麼意思？William: Mind-boggling describes something overwhelming and amazing, like really impressive numbers or facts. It's made up of two words: mind and to boggle. Let's hear an example.
威廉：這個詞有來描述某東西多得讓人驚歎，比如令人印象深刻的數字或事實。它有兩個詞組成：mind和boggle。我們來聽個例子。Woman 1: I took my son to the Science Museum on Sunday.
女1：週日我帶我兒子去科學博物館了。Woman 2: Did you go to the space mission area?
女2：你們去太空任務區了嗎？Woman 1: Oh yes. There were rockets, space suits, even parts from a satellite-so many mind-boggling things to see.
女1：去了。那裏有火箭，太空服，甚至衛星的部件，好多讓人難以想象的東西呀！Feifei: I really want to learn more about the universe. It's a fascinating subject.
菲菲：我真的很想更多地瞭解宇宙。這真是門讓人着迷的學校。William: Well, astronomy, the study of stars, has lots of mind-boggling theories.
威廉：嗯，天文學，這個專門研究恆星的學科真的有很多讓人不可思議的理論。Man: I was at a physics workshop last month in Munich. There were seminars on black holes and antimatter. It was totally mind-boggling stuff; I think I might have understood about five percent of what was discussed.
男：上個月我去慕尼黑參加了一個研討會。 會上討論了宇宙黑洞和反物質。那完全是些常人不可理解的東西。我想研討會上討論的話題我可能只聽懂了5%。Feifei: Well, I think I now know what mind-boggling means and how to use this phrase. And here is one final mind-boggling question–How many stars are there in the Milky Way?
菲菲：嗯，現在我知道mind-boggling的意思和用法了。 最後再來一道讓你意想不到的問題吧：請問銀河有多少顆星星？William: Er, is it 42,000 again?
威廉：額，不會又是4.2萬吧？Feifei: No, no! Some people say there are over 200 billion stars in the Milky Way but no one knows for sure. That's all from us on The English We Speak. See you next time.
菲菲：不，當然不是！有些人說銀河有超過2千億顆星星，但是沒有人知道準確的答案。以上就是本期地道英語節目的全部內容。下期節目再見。William: Bye.
威廉：再見。重點講解：
1. flick through
快速翻閱；瀏覽；不停地轉換（電視頻道）；
eg. She was flicking through some magazines on a table.
她正翻看着桌上的幾本雜誌。
eg. He switched on the television, flicking through the channels in a search for something to hold his interest.
他打開電視機，不停地換臺，想找個感興趣的節目。
2. come across
偶然發現；偶然遇見；
eg. We must hang in whenever we come across difficulties.
我們遇到困難時一定要堅持不懈。
eg. I never remember having come across a man like that.
我怎麼也記不起碰到過這樣一個人。
3. be rubbish at
極不擅長的；非常差勁的；
eg. He was rubbish at his job.
他的工作做得差勁極了。
eg. I was rubbish at maths at school, " Mr Welch says.
我讀書時數學很爛。
4. mind-boggling
adj. （巨大、複雜、極端得）令人難以想象的；
eg. The amount of paperwork involved is mind-boggling.
相關的書面工作量大得令人難以想象。
eg. The potential of this business is absolutely mind - boggling.
這筆交易的潛力大得讓入瞠目結舌。
5. make up
組成；構成；
eg. Insects are made up of tens of thousands of proteins.
昆蟲由數萬種蛋白質構成。
eg. Women officers make up 13 per cent of the police force.
女警佔警力的13%。
