English Fun Facts | 英语趣事听说堂

The Invention of Sunglasses

Intro:

Welcome to daily fun facts where we discuss fun facts about this crazy world. Use these newfound facts to break the ice and start an interesting conversation.  Happy learning everyone!

Dialogue:

Brie: Hey, Andrea, why are you wearing sunglasses?  The room is dark and we can barely see each other as it is.

Andrea:  I’m trying to protect myself from your aura.  It’s glowing so bright that it’s nearly 

blinding me!

Brie: Oh, come on, I’m not going to fall for that.  I wasn’t born yesterday.

Andrea: Alright, in all honesty, these are my props for today’s fun fact.  Are you ready for it?

Brie: Today’s fun fact?  Sure, bring it on! 

Andrea: We all know that wearing sunglasses can protect our eyes from sunlight and other bright lights.  However, tinted lenses were originally invented for a whole other purpose.  In ancient China, court judges were not supposed to show their emotions while listening to legal testimony. They wore tinted lenses to help them hide their 

facial expressions.

Brie: 你是说太阳眼镜最初是由中国人发明的吗？中国古代的法官审理案子的时候就会戴上太阳眼镜来隐藏他们的面部表情？

Andrea: Yes, the first tinted lenses were originally made out of smoky quartz and worn in the 12th century by Chinese judges. 

Brie: 早在12世纪，中国人就能想出用戴太阳眼镜的方法来掩饰法官的真实情感，从而达到明察秋毫，秉公办案的目的，真是太聪明啦！The Bible says, “Eyes are the window to the soul”, meaning that our eyes reveal a lot about our hidden emotions and thoughts. I guess the Chinese are the first practitioners of this wisdom. 

Andrea: Either that, or they believed that justice is blind. Through hiding their emotions behind tinted lenses, they could carry out justice more objectively - less based on bias and emotion and more based on fact!   

Brie: Okay, now you are just speculating.  How do you know it was for such a 

principled reason?

Andrea:  You’re right, I do tend to like to view the world “through rose-tinted glasses!”

Brie: 乐观地看待问题很好呀，只是不要过于乐观就可以了。

Close:

So, everyone, there’s your fun fact of the day!  Let’s go over some of the vocabulary and phrases from this dialogue.

Vocabulary:

Aura  / ˈɔr ə /  光环

Blinding  / ˈblaɪn dɪŋ /  夺目的

Props   / prɒp /  道具

Testimony  / ˈtɛs təˌmoʊ ni /  证词 

Facial expressions / ˈfeɪ ʃəl ɪkˈsprɛʃ əns /  面部表情

Smoky Quartz  / ˈsmoʊ ki  kwɔrts /  烟熏石英

Practitioners / prækˈtɪʃ ə nərs /实践者

Objectively  / əbˈdʒɛk tɪv li /  客观地

Bias  / ˈbaɪ əs /  偏见

Speculating  / ˈspɛk yəˌleɪtiŋ / 推测/推断

Principled  / ˈprɪn sə pəld /  有原则的

Phrases:

In all honesty 老实地说

I’m not going to fall for that 我才不信呢

I wasn’t born yesterday 我不是三岁小孩了

Bring it on 来吧/放马过来吧

Carry out justice 执法

Justice is blind 司法面前人人平等/司法是一视同仁的

Through rose-tinted glasses 用过于乐观积极的态度去看待

Alright, join us next time for another fun fact to help break the ice! 好了，这就是我们今天的有趣常识分享，如果喜欢我们的话，别忘了点击订阅支持我们！如果有什么疑问，想法，或者建议，请给我们留言，我们会在第一时间给你答复！拜拜，咱们下期再见！

The Frisbee Surprise

Intro:

Welcome to daily fun facts where we discuss fun facts about this crazy world. Use these newfound facts to break the ice and start an interesting conversation.  Happy learning everyone!

Dialogue:

Andrea: Hey Brie, have you ever heard of a game called Frisbee Golf?

Brie: Do you mean Disc Golf? 飞盘高尔夫吗？

Andrea:  Exactly. Frisbee Golf is a game that uses an aerodynamic plastic toy disk that is today called a Frisbee.   It’s a game similar to golf, but rather than hitting balls into holes in the ground, the players throw Frisbees into metal baskets attached to poles.

Brie: I played that game with my friends this summer. It’s pretty fun. 就像普通的高尔夫球场一样，飞盘高尔夫场通常有 9 个或 18个目标篮架。获胜的玩家是将飞盘投入篮架，所用投掷次数最少的人。 I wonder who came up with this game?

Andrea: It was invented in 1979 by American toy inventor Ed “Steady” Headrick.  He was so proud of his invention that before he died, he asked his family to put his cremated remains into a set of Frisbees.  He hoped that these could be sold to the public as special “limited edition” Frisbees and wanted the proceeds of the sales to be used to fund a Frisbee museum dedicated in his honor.

Brie:  你是说飞盘高尔夫的发明人曾嘱咐他的家人，在他死后将他火化，然后用火化的骨灰制成“限量版”飞盘出售给公众，并期望将出售飞盘的收入开一个飞盘博物馆来纪念他吗？Wow, Andrea, would you buy a frisbee with a stranger’s ashes inside of it? I definitely wouldn’t.

Andrea: I wouldn’t either. But, I can see where it might appeal to hardcore Frisbee golf players and collectors.  Since it is “limited edition”, the Frisbee is considered special and only sold in limited quantities.  After all, he only had so many ashes he could distribute.  Not everyone could get a piece of him.

Brie: Okay, okay, Andrea, no need to be so morbid. 不过对于一个铁杆飞盘高尔夫玩家或者飞盘收藏家，这样的一个“限量版”飞盘应该还是挺有购买意义的.

Close:

So, everyone, there’s your fun fact of the day!  Let’s go over some of the vocabulary from this dialogue.

Vocabulary:

Aerodynamic  / ˌeəroʊdaɪ'næmɪk /  空气动力的

Frisbee  / ˈfrɪz bi /  飞盘

Inventor  / ɪnˈvɛn tər /  发明者/发明家

Cremated Remains  / ˈkri meɪtid rɪˈmeɪnz /  火化的骨灰

Limited Edition  / ˈlɪm ɪ tɪd  ɪˈdɪʃ ən /  限量版

Proceeds  / ˈproʊ sids /  收益

Dedicated  / ˈdɛd ɪˌkeɪ tɪd /  专用的

Appeal to  / əˈpil  tu / 有吸引力的

Hardcore  / hɑrd kɔr /  铁杆

Distribute / dɪˈstrɪb yut /  分发

Morbid  / ˈmɔr bɪd /  病态的

Alright, join us next time for another fun fact to help break the ice! 好了，这就是我们今天的有趣常识分享，如果喜欢我们的话，请别忘了点击订阅哟，有问题也可以给我们留言。拜拜，咱们下期再见！

Photo Credit: Tuomas Harkonen on Unsplash

Little Guinea Pig Loves Some Company

Intro:

Welcome to daily fun facts where we discuss fun facts about this crazy world. Use these newfound facts to break the ice and start an interesting conversation.  Happy learning everyone!

Dialogue:

Andrea:  Alright, Brie, our first fun fact of the day is that in Switzerland you’re not 

allowed to own just one guinea pig as a pet.  This means you can own 2 guinea pigs, but not one.

Brie:  That doesn’t make sense 那是不是说，瑞士人可以同时养两只荷兰猪，但只养一只就不行呢？– Why is that, Andrea?

Andrea:  I guess it’s because in Switzerland, guinea pigs are considered a social species. 

Brie: Social Species是指喜欢社交群居的物种吗？ 

Andrea:  Exactly.  A social species is an animal species that likes to interact with 

each other. In Switzerland, it is considered a form of animal abuse if you do not allow guinea pigs to engage with others of their same species. It turns out Sweden has 

similar legislation in place.

Brie:  I see. 因为荷兰猪是社交动物，所以只养一只的话呢，其实是对它们的虐待。So what happens if you own two guinea pigs and then one dies.  Do you have to get rid of the other one?

Andrea:  Guinea pigs hardly ever die at the same time, even if they are exactly the 

same age, so people who lose one of their two animals need to find some way to get another animal quickly or find some other solution.

Brie:  所以你是说如果其中一只荷兰猪先走了，宠物的主人需要赶紧领养另一只荷兰猪作伴或者把剩下的那一只送走吗？I wouldn’t want to own a Guinea pig if I lived there 

then.  It sounds like a hassle.

Andrea:   Yes, I guess that’s how it’s done, though. Well, actually, for this reason 

Switzerland has matchmaking agencies for guinea pigs that can help solve this 

problem.  These are in high demand.  Guinea pigs are also picky about who they are willing to live with and can get very lonely.

Brie:  这真是太有意思了。瑞士竟然会有荷兰猪配对公司，来帮忙解决这个棘手的问题。So you mean I could get a Guinea pig mate for my lonely guinea pig? Could I rent one too?

Andrea:  I guess so!

Brie: 原来在瑞典养荷兰猪是不允许只养一只的。如果两只荷兰猪中有一只先走了，主人需要赶紧到配对公司领养一只新的或者租赁一个荷兰猪作伴。

Close:

So everyone, there’s your fun fact of the day!  Join us next time for another fun fact to help break the ice! 好了，这就是我们今天的有趣常识分享，如果喜欢我们的话，请别忘了点击订阅→哟，有问题也给我们留言。拜拜，咱们下期再见！

Episode Photo by Bonnie Kittle @ bonniekdesign on Unsplash