Can of worms 一连串的复杂问题

收听与下载

• 下载音频
• 下载文字稿

The script of this programme 本节目台词

Finn: Hello and welcome to Authentic Real English. I'm Finn.

Feifei: And I'm Feifei.

Finn: Worms are great - don't you think they're really interesting?

Feifei: Erm, yeah? Kind of. But what's today's phrase?

Finn: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll come to that in a minute. But, did you know earthworms, the kind you normally find in the soil, are both male and female in one body?

What's in this can?

Feifei: 一只蚯蚓的身体既是公的也是母的 - that is quite interesting.

Finn: And if you cut a worm in half - only one part of the worm will die?

Feifei: 如果蚯蚓身体末端的一部分被切掉或断掉，剩下的一边一样能存活，而且在一段时间后它自己能复原，也就是说它们的再生能里很强。I knew that.

Finn: It's fascinating isn't it? And... earthworms can be really short - from only one millimetre - to a massive three metres! And, another one, worms can...

Feifei: Finn, Finn, hang on a second, why are we talking about worms so much?

Finn: Sorry, yes, I was doing some research for today's programme... The phrase, today, is - a can of worms!

Feifei: Well 'a can of worms' 这个短语用来表达当你开始解决一个问题时，这个问题会带出一连串的其它问题。

Finn: Yes, sometimes you want to deal with a problem, but you realise that by dealing with that problem it will open up a whole set of new problems.

Feifei: Like in these examples:

• A: Charles, have you finished writing that report about our fantastic sales figures this month?
• B: No, because actually I realised our sales figures are all wrong. Someone has been giving us false information for months...
• A: Oh no, what a can of worms.

• Well, when Frank asked why his brother arrived late to the party, his brother started telling Frank all about the problems in his life: why his car wasn't working and that he had to taking it to the garage on his way, after visiting the doctor because, yes, his foot was very painful, because he hurt it playing tennis, which he didn't want to play anyway but did because his friend loved playing it so much, even though he didn't like the friend anymore, because the friend still owed him money... Frank realised he'd opened a can of worms.

Feifei: That was possibly the longest example we've had on Authentic Real English.

Finn: Yes, well anyway - I hope everyone listening understands the phrase now. I think I'll get back to my reading. 34,000 different kinds of worm, wow... They can live for up to 10 years! Fascinating... They eat their own weight every day...

Feifei: OK, well I think we've lost Finn there. I think I've had enough of worms for one day. Do join us again for more Authentic Real English! Bye.

Finn: ...worms have existed for about 600 million years, and they breathe through their skin, cool!