[00:00.16]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:06.17]Now, the VOA Learning English program Words and Their Stories. [00:12.76]Today we take a look at the word "smart." [00:17.16]If someone says you are smart, [00:19.84]what do they mean? [00:23.52]Is it a good thing or something bad? [00:25.49]The answer is not as easy as you might think. [00:30.00]This is because the word smart has many meanings. [00:34.36]For example, someone could say you look smart or are dressed smartly. [00:42.08]That means they like what you are wearing and your physical appearance. [00:46.76]To use a slang expression, they could say, "You look really cool!" [00:52.52]But if something smarts, it can be unkind or hurtful, either physically or mentally. [01:00.04]If you accidentally trip over a chair and fall down, [01:04.88]you might shout, "Ow! That smarts!" [01:08.80]Or if a friend says something that hurts your feelings, [01:12.92]you can say you are smarting from the hurtful comments. [01:17.24]In fact, maybe that person is no longer your friend. [01:22.72]If you are standing too close to a campfire, [01:25.80]you could say your eyes are smarting from the smoke of the fire. [01:30.64]Here the word "smarting" means a sharp pain. [01:35.24]But the most common meaning of smart is to be intelligent. [01:40.48]If someone is smart as a whip, [01:44.04]they are able to think very quickly. [01:47.48]However, different people have different ways of being smart. [01:53.08]Some people are considered street smart. [01:57.70]They may not have a strong education. [02:00.84]But they are good at dealing with people and problems in the real world. [02:07.00]Other people might be book smart. [02:10.36]This means they have spent many years in school. [02:14.56]But they may not be so smart when dealing with people or real-world problems. [02:20.76]And then there is the definition of smart [02:24.52]that means to talk or behave disrespectfully. [02:29.08]If you say something disrespectful to your parents, [02:33.16]they might say, "Don't get smart with me!" [02:37.16]Here, "smart" means to show a lack of respect by saying something unkind. [02:43.04]In fact, a child who has a smart mouth makes rude comments, not smart ones. [02:50.44]This definition of smart can also be used as a verb. [02:54.96]If you smart off to the wrong people, they could hit you in the face. [03:00.96]And this leads to the term "Smart Aleck." [03:05.36]If someone calls you a "Smart Aleck," [03:07.96]it might sound like a good thing. But it's not. [03:11.84]Smart Alecks are people who think they are smarter than they really are. [03:17.36]"Aleck" is the short name for Alexander. [03:20.76]You might also see it written as "Alec" or "Alex." [03:28.84]For a long time, word historians thought Smart Aleck was a general term, not a specific person. [03:38.04]However, an American researcher argued in 1985 [03:42.76]that the expression "Smart Aleck" is actually based on a real man. [03:48.88]Gerald Cohen used newspaper stories and other research to support his findings. [03:55.76]He wrote that Alec Hoag and his wife, Melinda, [04:00.20]were thieves in New York City in the 1840s. [04:04.40]Melinda would bring men home with a promise of sex. [04:09.39]While she kept the men busy, [04:13.24]Alec would enter the room through a secret door and steal their money. [04:18.88]Sometimes the men who were robbed would go to the police. [04:23.80]But Alec Hoag reportedly paid police officers to help protect him and his wife. [04:31.04]But when he tried to cheat those officers of their money, they arrested him. [04:37.68]They also gave him the nickname "Smart Alec," [04:41.00]which means to be too smart for own good. [04:45.28]We leave you with the theme song from "Get Smart," [04:48.68]a popular spy show that ran on television from 1965 to 1970. [04:54.72]It was also made into a movie. [04:56.73]The spy, Maxwell Smart, was not-so-smart [05:01.04]but always seemed to beat the bad guys anyway. [05:04.69]I'm Anna Matteo. [05:06.24](the theme song from "Get Smart") [05:13.88]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM