词汇掌故：风暴

Thunder storms. Rain storms. Snow storms. Electrical storms!
雷雨、暴雨、暴雪、雷电风暴。

If conditions get bad enough, almost any kind of weather can become a storm.
如果情况恶化到一定程度，几乎任何一种天气都可能会变成风暴。

Stormy weather can cause people to cancel their plans. It can cause major events to be postponed. And severe stormy weather can be dangerous to people, property and animals.
暴风雨天气可能会导致人们取消他们的计划。它会导致重大活动被推迟。而恶劣的暴风雨天气对人员、财产和动物来说都可能有危险。

"Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky, stormy weather
不知道为什么天空中不见太阳，暴风雨天 

since my man and I ain't together, keeps raining all the time."
自从我和他不在一起，雨就下个不停。“

Now, let's flip around the term "stormy weather."
现在让我们转回来继续讲暴风雨天气这个术语。

If you weather the storm, or ride out the storm, you survive and move on without harm or injury. For example, let's talk about Tornado Alley, the name for part of the central United States.
Weather the storm或者ride out the storm是指安全度过。例如，让我们来谈谈龙卷风走廊，这是指美国中部的部分地区。

During springtime, this area often has a large number of powerful tornadoes. People who live there are taught to hunker down in the safest place they can find and wait for the storm to pass. People who live in Tornado Alley are used to weathering many storms!
在春季，这个地方经常会发生很多次严重的龙卷风。居住于此的人们被教导要在他们能找到的最安全的地方蹲下，等待风暴过去。居住在龙卷风走廊的人们对战胜多次风暴早已习惯。

You can also weather a storm, they doesn't involve actual weather.
Weather a storm 也可能不涉及实际天气。

"To weather the storm" can also mean to make it through a difficult experience or trying times. So, if the stock market crashes, you might have to weather a financial storm. If you are a politician who gets discredited in public, you may have to lie low and weather the political storm.
To weather the storm可以指度过难关。所以，如果股市崩溃，你可能不得不度过一场金融风暴。如果你是一位受到公众质疑的政治家，那么你可能不得不低头并度过这场政治风暴。

Often before a big storm, conditions are calm.
通常在暴风雨前会很宁静。

The calm before the storm can happen anytime. It is the time before something bad happens. For example, at the beginning of a family reunion, the adults were all talking happily. But the older children knew it was just the calm before the storm. They've seen it happen before. The adults talk happily for about an hour. Then they start arguing about events from the past -- things that should really stay buried!
暴风雨前的宁静随时都会出现。它是指坏事发生前的时刻。例如，在家人团聚之初，大人们开心地聊着。但是年纪稍长的孩子们知道，这只是暴风雨前的宁静，他们以前经历过。大人们愉快地聊了个把小时，然后开始争论那些本该埋藏的往事。

But after the storm begins and you find yourself in the middle of it, you are in the eye of the storm.
但是在暴风雨来临之后，你发现自己身处风暴的中心位置，也就是说你身处暴风眼之中。

In the world of weather, the eye of the storm is the calmest part, in the center of a hurricane, for example.
在天气世界中，暴风眼是风暴中心最平静的地方。

However, in the English language, if you are in the eye of the storm, you are in the most intense part of a conflict. For example, she had no idea that walking into the meeting would put her in the eye of the storm.
然而，在英语语言中，如果你身处暴风眼之中，那么你就处于冲突最激烈的地方。例如，她不知道参加这次会议会让她置身于风暴之中。

Now, a storm can cause great destruction, but it can also cause excitement. It's something people talk about.
风暴能造成巨大破坏，但也能引起兴奋。它是指人们谈论的东西。

If you want to give people something to talk about, you might want to use the following "storm" phrasal verb. Combining a verb with "up" and then the words "a storm" gives you a very useful phrasal verb. It means doing something to a great extent or degree.
如果你想给人们一些谈资，你可能想要用到下面这些“storm”的动词短语。将动词与up以及a storm结合起来，就能组成一个非常有用的动词短语。它是指做某件事达到了一种非常严重的程度。

For example, if you danced all night, you can say you danced up a storm. If you spend the whole month writing a book, you can say you wrote up a storm. If you are at a party and meet someone who won't keep quiet, you can say they are talking up a storm.
例如，如果你整晚跳舞，你可以说你疯狂地跳舞。如果你整个月时间在写书，你可以说你疯狂地写作。如果你参加聚会并且遇到一位话多的人，你可以说他们说个不停。

I think you get the idea.
我想你应该明白了吧。

Let's look again at the verb "to storm." It can also mean to attack. If soldiers storm a military base, they are attacking it. Used another way, you could say one storms into a place. We only do this when we are angry and/or full of purpose.
让我们再来看看to storm 这个动词，它还能指代攻击。例如士兵们攻击（storm）一个军事基地。另一种用法，你可以说某人闯入（storm）某个地方。我们只有在非常生气或者目标明确的时候才会这么做。

For example, if you find out that someone at the place where you work is making twice as much as you do while doing less work -- you might storm into your supervisor's office and demand a raise. But I would suggest that you call, make an appointment and calmly walk into the meeting.
例如，如果你发现某位同事工资差不多是你两倍的同时却干得更少，你可能就会闯进主管的办公室要求加薪。但是我建议你打电话预约后平静地走进去。

There is another very useful expression involving the word "storm." But it has two very different meanings.
还有一句非常有用的短语用到了storm这个单词。但是它有两种完全不同的含义。

Taking something by storm can suggest a sudden, perhaps violent attack. For example, the police took the bank by storm and arrested the bank robbers.
Taking something by storm 可以指代突然的、也许是暴力的袭击。例如，警察突袭了这家银行，并逮捕了银行劫匪。

But this term can be used in another way. "To take something by storm" can mean to have great and sudden success in a certain field. And that field can be just about anything.
但是这句短语还有其它用法。To take something by storm 也可以指在某个特定领域取得巨大的、突然的成功。这个领域可以包罗万象。

Let's say you are a great cook and open a new restaurant. Everyone loves it and it quickly becomes a big success. You can then say you took the restaurant world by storm.
假设你是一位出色的厨师，你开了一家新的餐厅。大家都喜欢这家餐厅，它很快取得了巨大成功。你可以说，你在餐饮领域取得了巨大成功。

Or maybe you are a gifted violinist and perform in over 100 cities. Critics love you and they say you are taking the classical music world by storm.
或者你是一位天赋异禀的小提琴手，在100多个城市演出。评论家们喜欢你，他们说你会在古典音乐领域取得巨大成功。

So, taking something by storm is a good thing. But a perfect storm is not.
所以，taking something by storm 是一件好事，但是 a perfect storm 可不是。

In the world of weather, a perfect storm is a violent storm that results from a rare combination of severe weather events. We can use this expression in other situations, but the meaning is the same. It's when a particularly bad or critical situation arises from several bad and usually unpredictable events.
在天气领域， a perfect storm 是指一场由多种恶劣天气罕见组合形成的猛烈的暴风雨。我们可以把它用于其它情形，但是意思没有变化。它是指一些糟糕的、通常不可预测的事件造成特别严重的状况。

Let's hear this one in an example.
我们举个例子。

You are going on a trip and you are very excited! You have no idea that a perfect storm is building to ruin your vacation. First, the city where you're going has an unexpected electrical outage. Then when you arrive you find that the airline has lost your luggage. And finally you discover that a person you really don't like is staying in the same hotel and wants to hang out the whole time!
你要去旅行，你非常兴奋。你不知道一堆倒霉事（a perfect storm）会搞砸你的假期。首先，你要去的城市意外停电。然后，当你到了之后发现航空公司弄丢了你的行李。最后，你发现你非常不喜欢的一个人跟你住在同一家酒店。

There are other kinds of storms.
还有其它类型的风暴。

Firestorm is also another "storm" word that can used when talking about the weather and real life. An actual firestorm is a strong, damaging fire that often has tornado-like columns of fire.
Firestorm是另一种风暴，当我们谈到天气和现实生活时会用到它。真实层面上的firestorm（风暴性大火）是指一场猛烈的破坏性火灾，它通常会产生像龙卷风一样的火柱。

In conversation, a "firestorm" is a violent outburst or disagreement that causes damage. For example, the movie star created a firestorm when she made comments about the political situation in her home country.
在对话中，firestorm是指一场造成伤害的激烈争论。例如，这位电影明星对本国政治形势发表评论时引发了一场激烈的争论。

However, a brainstorm does not exist in the world of weather. To brainstorm means to try to solve a problem by talking with other people.
然而，头脑风暴（brainstorm）在天气领域并不存在。To brainstorm 是指尝试通过与他人交谈来解决问题。

And that's Words and Their Stories for this week. I'm Anna Matteo.
以上就是本周词汇掌故节目的全部内容。我是安娜·马特奥。

And I'm Bryan Lynn.
我是布莱恩·林恩。(51VOA.COM原创翻译，禁止转载，违者必究！)