單詞背后的故事

Every people has its own way of saying things， its own special expressions. Many everyday American expressions are based on colors.

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Red is a hot color. Americans often use it to express “heat.” They may say they 1)are redhot about something unfair. When they are redhot they are very angry about something. The small hot tasting peppers found in many Mexican foods are called “redhots” for their color and their fiery taste. Fast loud music is popular with many people. They may say the music is redhot， especially the kind called Dixieland jazz.

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Pink is a lighter kind of red. People sometimes say they 2)are in the pink when they are in good health. The expression was first used in America at the beginning of the 20th century. It probably comes from the fact that many babies are born with a nice pink color that shows that they are in good health.

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Blue is a cool color. The traditional blues music in the United States is the opposite of red hot music. Blues is slow， sad and soulful. Duke Ellington注

and his orchestra recorded a famous song Mood Indigo[靛青色] about the deep blue color， indigo. In the words of the song: “You ain’t been 3)blue till you’ve had that Mood Indigo.” Someone who is blue is very sad.

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The color green is natural for trees and grass. But it is an unnatural color for humans. A person who has a sick feeling stomach may say she feels a little 4)green. A passenger on a boat who is feeling very sick from high waves may look very green.

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Sometimes a person may be upset because he does not have something as nice as a friend has， like a fast new car. That person may say he 5)is green with envy. Some people are green with envy because a friend has more dollars or 6)greenbacks.

Dollars are called greenbacks because that is the color of the back side of the paper money.

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The color black is used often in expressions. People describe a day in which everything goes wrong as a 7)black day. The date of a major tragedy is remembered as a black day. A 8)blacklist is illegal now. But at one time， some businesses refused to employ people who were on a blacklist for belonging to unpopular organizations.

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In some cases， colors describe a situation. A 9)brown out is an expression for a reduction in electric power. Brown outs happen when there is too much demand for electricity. The electric system is unable to offer all the power needed in an area. 10)Black outs were common during World War II.

Officials would order all lights in a city turned off to make it difficult for enemy planes to find a target in the dark of night.

注：埃靈頓 (1899-1974)，美國(guó)爵士樂作曲家、鋼琴家和樂隊(duì)領(lǐng)隊(duì)，其作品有《藍(lán)調(diào)》（Mood Indigo，1930年），《精明女子》（1933年）及音樂會(huì)作品。

Notes

1) be redhot about sth. 對(duì)……感到非常憤怒 （redhot: 熾熱的，非常惱怒的，最新的，感情強(qiáng)烈的）

2) be in the pink 非常健康

3) blue 憂郁的，沮喪的

4) green 臉色蒼白的

5) be green with envy 非常嫉妒

6) greenbacks 美鈔

7) black day 倒霉日，類似用法如Black Friday（黑色星期五）

8) blacklist 黑名單

9) brown out 把燈火轉(zhuǎn)暗以節(jié)約能源，（俚）明白，領(lǐng)會(huì)

10) black out 燈火管制，熄燈，昏厥，中斷