VOA慢速英語(yǔ)：詞匯掌故：捆干草的鐵絲

What Does It Mean to Go 'Haywire?'

詞匯掌故：捆干草的鐵絲

Welcome to Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English!

歡迎來(lái)到美國(guó)之音慢速英語(yǔ)詞匯掌故節(jié)目。

Today, we are going on a make-believe trip to the countryside to learn about a word that comes from something used on a farm – haywire.

今天我們將要進(jìn)行一場(chǎng)虛幻的鄉(xiāng)村之旅，來(lái)學(xué)習(xí)一個(gè)農(nóng)場(chǎng)中用到的單詞：haywire。

Like it sounds, haywire is a strong, thin wire. Farm workers often use it to tie up hay grown in the fields. They roll up the long, cut grass and store it in large bundles.

就像它聽(tīng)起來(lái)那樣，haywire是一種堅(jiān)固的細(xì)鐵絲。農(nóng)場(chǎng)工人經(jīng)常用它來(lái)捆扎田地里的干草。他們把割下來(lái)的長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的草卷起來(lái)然后堆放到一起。

Later, when farm animals need to be fed, the wire is cut. You need to use a hatchet or something else with a very sharp edge to cut the wire. Haywire does not break easily. But it can get easily twisted together by accident.

然后，當(dāng)需要喂食家畜時(shí)，就把這根捆干草的鐵絲剪斷。你需要使用短柄小斧或者其它有著銳利邊緣的東西來(lái)剪斷這個(gè)鐵絲。捆干草的鐵絲不容易被剪斷，但是它很容易就會(huì)纏在一起。

So, that is the farm material called haywire. But what does it mean to go haywire? The expression "to go haywire" has several meanings.

所以，這就是它被叫做haywire的原因。但是to go haywire是什么意思呢?它有幾種含義。

"To go haywire" can mean to turn crazy, unreasonable or wild, as in this example: "If I don't take a break from work soon, I am going to go haywire!" Here, the expressions flip out or freak out have a similar meaning. These are all informal or for everyday use. If you want to be more formal, you could use the word berserk.

To g haywire可以指變得瘋狂、不合道理。例如在這個(gè)例子中：“如果我不盡快休息一下，我就要瘋掉了。”在這句話(huà)中，也可以使用flip out和freak out來(lái)表達(dá)相同的意思，它們都是非正式用語(yǔ)或是口頭用語(yǔ)。如果你想表達(dá)得更為正式，可以使用berserk這個(gè)單詞。

"To go haywire" also means to start malfunctioning or failing to operate normally. We often use this expression for machines that don't work as they should.

To go haywire也可以指出現(xiàn)故障或是不能正常運(yùn)行。我們經(jīng)常使用這個(gè)表達(dá)式來(lái)描述一些無(wú)法照常工作的機(jī)器。

For example, let's say we are visiting a peanut butter factory. A machine used to pump peanut butter into jars suddenly goes haywire. It squirts peanut butter everywhere – on the floor, on walls and on factory workers. Soon the whole area is covered with the tasty, but sticky food! So, the machine is not only broken, it made a huge mess.

例如，假設(shè)我們正在參觀一家花生醬工廠(chǎng)。一臺(tái)用于罐裝花生醬的機(jī)器突然出現(xiàn)了故障。它把花生醬噴得到處都是，噴到了地板上、墻上以及工人身上。很快整個(gè)區(qū)域都被這種美味但是粘稠的食物所覆蓋。所以，這臺(tái)機(jī)器不但壞了，還制造了巨大的混亂。

"Haywire" can also mean to become out of control. When a process fails to work as planned, you can also say it ran amok. This expression is more formal. Here is an example of this meaning of "haywire."

Haywire還可以指失控。當(dāng)一項(xiàng)進(jìn)程未能按計(jì)劃進(jìn)行時(shí)，你也可以說(shuō)它亂了套，這種表達(dá)更為正式。以下是haywire用作這種含義的一個(gè)例子。

"Urgh. Plans for my outdoor party just went haywire! The supermarket can't bring the birthday cake. The musicians refuse to play. There's no place to leave a car because of unannounced street repairs in front of my house. Oh ... great. And it's going to rain. It's going to rain hard!"

“哦，我的戶(hù)外派對(duì)計(jì)劃剛才失控了。超市提供不了生日蛋糕，音樂(lè)家們拒絕表演。因?yàn)槲壹议T(mén)口沒(méi)發(fā)通知就在維修街道，導(dǎo)致沒(méi)有地方停車(chē)。哦，真是太糟糕了，馬上就要下雨了，要下雨了。”

But how did this simple farm word come to mean "go wild"? Language experts say there are two stories that help explain where this meaning came from.

但是這個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的農(nóng)場(chǎng)單詞怎么就成了變瘋的意思呢?語(yǔ)言專(zhuān)家說(shuō)，有兩個(gè)故事可以幫助解釋這種含義的出處。

As we said earlier, Americans use haywire to describe a state of disorder, extreme messiness – in other words, a situation where everything seems to be going wrong.

正如我們前面所說(shuō)的，美國(guó)人使用haywire來(lái)描述一種無(wú)序和極度混亂的狀態(tài)。換句話(huà)說(shuō)，這是一種處處出錯(cuò)的場(chǎng)面。

Years ago, farmers used haywire to temporarily fix a damaged fence, gate or barrier. But the wire was never a good choice for permanent repairs because it breaks down easily. The metal iron turns reddish brown and wears down when attacked by oxygen in the air or water. It other words, it rusts!

幾年前，農(nóng)民們用捆干草的鐵絲臨時(shí)修復(fù)了一道損壞的柵欄和柵欄門(mén)。但是這種鐵絲從來(lái)不是永久性修理的好選擇，因?yàn)樗苋菀讚p壞。當(dāng)它遇到空氣或水中的氧氣就會(huì)變成紅褐色并且慢慢消蝕。換句話(huà)說(shuō)，它生銹了。

This fact, however, did not stop people from using it for repairs. As a result, many fences and buildings where lots of wire were used for repairs look messy. They have gone haywire.

然而這個(gè)事實(shí)并未阻止人們用它來(lái)維修。結(jié)果，使用大量鐵絲修復(fù)的很多籬笆看起來(lái)亂七八糟，因?yàn)樗鼈儊y套了。

Another story about "haywire" comes from the material itself. When you cut tightly wound wire, you should do so carefully. It can suddenly spring back at you like a snake. It can circle your body and then stab you with its sharp ends. This can happen quickly, often catching a person off guard.

另一個(gè)關(guān)于haywire的故事來(lái)自于這種材料本身。當(dāng)你剪斷緊緊纏繞的鐵絲時(shí)要小心，它們會(huì)像蛇一樣突然彈回你身上，然后用銳利的尖端刺傷你。這一切發(fā)生得很快，經(jīng)常會(huì)把人弄得措手不及。

Word experts may not agree on the origin. But they can agree that anything that has "gone haywire," has gone crazy or is a big, hot mess!

詞匯專(zhuān)家可能不認(rèn)同這種原始含義。但是他們認(rèn)同，任何亂套的事情都是一團(tuán)糟。

And that's the end of this Words and Their Stories.

以上就是本期詞匯掌故節(jié)目的全部?jī)?nèi)容。

I'm Anna Matteo.

安娜·馬特奧報(bào)道。