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“宅男(女)”是时下最流行的词汇之一。作为“宅”的根据地,“家”在传统意义上是温暖的代名词。而如今,由“宅”或“家”引发的种种问题已引起了广泛关注,也由此衍生了一些相关词汇。本期我们就一起来分享这些词汇吧!
Some unusual words describe how a person spends his or her time. For example, someone who likes to spend a lot of time sitting or lying down while watching television is sometimes called a couch potato. A couch is a piece of furniture that people sit on while watching television.
Robert Armstrong, an artist from California, developed the term couch potato in 1976. Several years later, he listed the term as a trademark with the United States government. Mister Armstrong also helped write a funny book about life as a full-time television watcher. It is called The Official Couch Potato Handbook.
Couch potatoes enjoy watching television just as mouse potatoes enjoy working on computers. A computer mouse is the device that moves the pointer, or cursor, on a computer screen. The description of mouse potato became popular in 1993. American writer Alice Kahn is said to have invented the term to describe young people who spend a lot of time using computers.
Too much time inside the house using a computer or watching television can cause someone to get cabin fever. A cabin is a simple house usually built far away from the city. People go to a cabin to relax and enjoy quiet time.
Cabin fever is not really a disease. However, people can experience boredom and restlessness if they spend too much time inside their homes. This is especially true during the winter when it is too cold or snowy to do things outside. Often children get cabin fever if they cannot go outside to play. So do their parents. This happens when there is so much snow that schools and even offices and stores are closed.
Some people enjoy spending a lot of time in their homes to make them nice places to live. This is called nesting or cocooning. Birds build nests out of sticks to hold their eggs and baby birds. Some insects build cocoons around themselves for protection while they grow and change. Nests and cocoons provide security for wildlife. So people like the idea of nests and cocoons, too.
The terms cocooning and nesting became popular more than twenty years ago. They describe people buying their first homes and filling them with many things. These people then had children.
Now these children are grown and have left the nest. They are in college, or they are married and starting families of their own far away. Now these parents are living alone without children in their empty nest. They have become empty nesters.
● couch potato(沙发土豆)不是一个新词。随着有线电视深入到各家各户,它也随之诞生。时至今日,这个词仍充满了生命力。couch是指那种坐卧两用的长沙发,a couch potato就是指那种整天窝在沙发上、拿着电视遥控器、不停看电视的电视迷。
● mouse potato(鼠标土豆)与couch potato相似。如果说couch potato是随着电视网络的发展而出现的一个族群,那么mouse potato就是电脑、互联网产业发展的衍生品。mouse指电脑鼠标,mouse potato即指那些整天坐在电脑前上网或玩游戏的人。但是,对于鼠标土豆族来说,这种生活方式并非完美,毕竟网瘾已经被鉴定为精神病,对人的身心健康具有很大伤害。
● cabin fever(舱热症/幽闭症)不是一种生理疾病,它更多地表示一种心理状态,属于心理学范畴。cabin通常是指简单建造而成的小木屋,或者空间狭小的轮船或飞机座舱。长时间呆在这种封闭空间的人会产生不安、焦虑或易怒的情绪,这种症状就叫cabin fever。
● nesting or cocooning(筑巢或作茧)这两个词本来都是形容动物修筑藏身、庇护之处所用的词。鸟类筑巢于枝头,为雏鸟提供一个遮风挡雨的成长地方;虫类作茧自保,让自己不致受到外来侵袭。在过去的二三十年间,这两个词也逐渐被用来形容人们建筑、装饰自己的家,把自己的家打造成儿女的避风港。也因此,儿女长大离家,就自然用leave the nest来形容了。
● empty nest/empty nester(空巢/空巢者)这个外来词对于现代中国人来说一点儿不陌生。开放的社会环境、人才流动的规律和独生子女政策令现代的中国成了空巢现象的最佳范例。许多孩子离家读书、在外地工作结婚、落地生根,剩下父母在故乡相依为伴,这种现象相当普遍。没有了孩子的家庭成了空巢一个,而放飞了孩子的父母也自然而然地变成空巢者。
Some unusual words describe how a person spends his or her time. For example, someone who likes to spend a lot of time sitting or lying down while watching television is sometimes called a couch potato. A couch is a piece of furniture that people sit on while watching television.
Robert Armstrong, an artist from California, developed the term couch potato in 1976. Several years later, he listed the term as a trademark with the United States government. Mister Armstrong also helped write a funny book about life as a full-time television watcher. It is called The Official Couch Potato Handbook.
Couch potatoes enjoy watching television just as mouse potatoes enjoy working on computers. A computer mouse is the device that moves the pointer, or cursor, on a computer screen. The description of mouse potato became popular in 1993. American writer Alice Kahn is said to have invented the term to describe young people who spend a lot of time using computers.
Too much time inside the house using a computer or watching television can cause someone to get cabin fever. A cabin is a simple house usually built far away from the city. People go to a cabin to relax and enjoy quiet time.
Cabin fever is not really a disease. However, people can experience boredom and restlessness if they spend too much time inside their homes. This is especially true during the winter when it is too cold or snowy to do things outside. Often children get cabin fever if they cannot go outside to play. So do their parents. This happens when there is so much snow that schools and even offices and stores are closed.
Some people enjoy spending a lot of time in their homes to make them nice places to live. This is called nesting or cocooning. Birds build nests out of sticks to hold their eggs and baby birds. Some insects build cocoons around themselves for protection while they grow and change. Nests and cocoons provide security for wildlife. So people like the idea of nests and cocoons, too.
The terms cocooning and nesting became popular more than twenty years ago. They describe people buying their first homes and filling them with many things. These people then had children.
Now these children are grown and have left the nest. They are in college, or they are married and starting families of their own far away. Now these parents are living alone without children in their empty nest. They have become empty nesters.
● couch potato(沙发土豆)不是一个新词。随着有线电视深入到各家各户,它也随之诞生。时至今日,这个词仍充满了生命力。couch是指那种坐卧两用的长沙发,a couch potato就是指那种整天窝在沙发上、拿着电视遥控器、不停看电视的电视迷。
● mouse potato(鼠标土豆)与couch potato相似。如果说couch potato是随着电视网络的发展而出现的一个族群,那么mouse potato就是电脑、互联网产业发展的衍生品。mouse指电脑鼠标,mouse potato即指那些整天坐在电脑前上网或玩游戏的人。但是,对于鼠标土豆族来说,这种生活方式并非完美,毕竟网瘾已经被鉴定为精神病,对人的身心健康具有很大伤害。
● cabin fever(舱热症/幽闭症)不是一种生理疾病,它更多地表示一种心理状态,属于心理学范畴。cabin通常是指简单建造而成的小木屋,或者空间狭小的轮船或飞机座舱。长时间呆在这种封闭空间的人会产生不安、焦虑或易怒的情绪,这种症状就叫cabin fever。
● nesting or cocooning(筑巢或作茧)这两个词本来都是形容动物修筑藏身、庇护之处所用的词。鸟类筑巢于枝头,为雏鸟提供一个遮风挡雨的成长地方;虫类作茧自保,让自己不致受到外来侵袭。在过去的二三十年间,这两个词也逐渐被用来形容人们建筑、装饰自己的家,把自己的家打造成儿女的避风港。也因此,儿女长大离家,就自然用leave the nest来形容了。
● empty nest/empty nester(空巢/空巢者)这个外来词对于现代中国人来说一点儿不陌生。开放的社会环境、人才流动的规律和独生子女政策令现代的中国成了空巢现象的最佳范例。许多孩子离家读书、在外地工作结婚、落地生根,剩下父母在故乡相依为伴,这种现象相当普遍。没有了孩子的家庭成了空巢一个,而放飞了孩子的父母也自然而然地变成空巢者。