[ti:Green Means Spring and Other Things] [ar:Warren Scheer] [al:Words and Their Stories] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories. [00:19.42]Green is an important color in nature. [00:25.95]It is the color of grass and the leaves on trees. [00:31.39]It is also the color of most growing plants. [00:36.35]Sometimes, the word green means young, fresh and growing. [00:44.68]Sometimes, it describes something that is not yet ripe or finished. [00:52.34]For example, a greenhorn is someone who has no experience, [01:00.23]who is new to a situation. [01:03.09]In the fifteenth century, [01:06.25]a greenhorn was a young cow or ox whose horns had not yet developed. [01:13.11]A century or so later, a greenhorn was a soldier [01:19.20]who had not yet had any experience in battle. [01:23.28]By the eighteenth century, [01:26.66]a greenhorn had the meaning it has today - a person who is new in a job. [01:34.25]About one hundred years ago, [01:38.50]greenhorn was a popular expression in the American west. [01:44.22]Old-timers used it to describe a man [01:48.57]who had just arrived from one of the big cities back east. [01:53.39]The greenhorn lacked the skills [01:57.80]he would need to live in the hard, rough country. [02:01.52]Someone who has the ability to grow plants well [02:07.32]is said to have a green thumb. [02:10.76]The expression comes from the early nineteen hundreds. [02:15.97]A person with agreen thumb seems to have a magic touch [02:22.62]that makes plants grow quickly and well. [02:25.91]You might say that the woman next door has a green thumb [02:31.49]if her garden continues to grow long after your plants have died. [02:37.26]The Green Revolution is the name given some years ago [02:44.07]to the development of new kinds of rice and other grains. [02:49.57]The new plants produced much larger crops. [02:54.07]The Green Revolution was the result of hard work [02:58.91]by agricultural scientists who had green thumbs. [03:03.57]Green is also the color used to describe the powerful emotion, jealousy. [03:12.12]The green-eyed monster is not a frightening creature from outer space. [03:18.34]It is an expression used about four hundred years ago [03:22.87]by British writer William Shakespeare in his play "Othello." [03:28.88]It describes the unplesant feeling a person has [03:34.38]when someone has something he wants. [03:37.59]A young man may suffer from the green-eyed monster [03:42.50]if his girlfriend begins going out with someone else. [03:46.69]Or, that green-eyed monster may affect your friend [03:51.84]if you get a pay raise and she does not. [03:55.77]In most places in the world, [03:59.89]a green light is a sign to move ahead. [04:04.12]A green light on a traffic signal means your car can continue on. [04:11.31]In everyday speech, a green light means approval to continue with a project. [04:17.82]We want you to know we have a green light to continue this series next week. [04:25.55]This VOA Special English program, [04:40.78]"Words and Their Stories," was written by Marilyn Christiano. [04:46.10]I'm Warren Scheer. [04:48.81]¸ü¶àÌýÁ¦Çë·ÃÎÊ51voa.com