VOA慢速英語：詞匯掌故：捆干草的鐵絲

What Does It Mean to Go 'Haywire?'

詞匯掌故：捆干草的鐵絲

Welcome to Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English!

歡迎來到美國之音慢速英語詞匯掌故節(jié)目。

Today, we are going on a make-believe trip to the countryside to learn about a word that comes from something used on a farm – haywire.

今天我們將要進行一場虛幻的鄉(xiāng)村之旅，來學習一個農(nóng)場中用到的單詞：haywire。

Like it sounds, haywire is a strong, thin wire. Farm workers often use it to tie up hay grown in the fields. They roll up the long, cut grass and store it in large bundles.

就像它聽起來那樣，haywire是一種堅固的細鐵絲。農(nóng)場工人經(jīng)常用它來捆扎田地里的干草。他們把割下來的長長的草卷起來然后堆放到一起。

Later, when farm animals need to be fed, the wire is cut. You need to use a hatchet or something else with a very sharp edge to cut the wire. Haywire does not break easily. But it can get easily twisted together by accident.

然后，當需要喂食家畜時，就把這根捆干草的鐵絲剪斷。你需要使用短柄小斧或者其它有著銳利邊緣的東西來剪斷這個鐵絲。捆干草的鐵絲不容易被剪斷，但是它很容易就會纏在一起。

So, that is the farm material called haywire. But what does it mean to go haywire? The expression "to go haywire" has several meanings.

所以，這就是它被叫做haywire的原因。但是to go haywire是什么意思呢?它有幾種含義。

"To go haywire" can mean to turn crazy, unreasonable or wild, as in this example: "If I don't take a break from work soon, I am going to go haywire!" Here, the expressions flip out or freak out have a similar meaning. These are all informal or for everyday use. If you want to be more formal, you could use the word berserk.

To g haywire可以指變得瘋狂、不合道理。例如在這個例子中：“如果我不盡快休息一下，我就要瘋掉了。”在這句話中，也可以使用flip out和freak out來表達相同的意思，它們都是非正式用語或是口頭用語。如果你想表達得更為正式，可以使用berserk這個單詞。

"To go haywire" also means to start malfunctioning or failing to operate normally. We often use this expression for machines that don't work as they should.

To go haywire也可以指出現(xiàn)故障或是不能正常運行。我們經(jīng)常使用這個表達式來描述一些無法照常工作的機器。

For example, let's say we are visiting a peanut butter factory. A machine used to pump peanut butter into jars suddenly goes haywire. It squirts peanut butter everywhere – on the floor, on walls and on factory workers. Soon the whole area is covered with the tasty, but sticky food! So, the machine is not only broken, it made a huge mess.

例如，假設我們正在參觀一家花生醬工廠。一臺用于罐裝花生醬的機器突然出現(xiàn)了故障。它把花生醬噴得到處都是，噴到了地板上、墻上以及工人身上。很快整個區(qū)域都被這種美味但是粘稠的食物所覆蓋。所以，這臺機器不但壞了，還制造了巨大的混亂。

"Haywire" can also mean to become out of control. When a process fails to work as planned, you can also say it ran amok. This expression is more formal. Here is an example of this meaning of "haywire."

Haywire還可以指失控。當一項進程未能按計劃進行時，你也可以說它亂了套，這種表達更為正式。以下是haywire用作這種含義的一個例子。

"Urgh. Plans for my outdoor party just went haywire! The supermarket can't bring the birthday cake. The musicians refuse to play. There's no place to leave a car because of unannounced street repairs in front of my house. Oh ... great. And it's going to rain. It's going to rain hard!"

“哦，我的戶外派對計劃剛才失控了。超市提供不了生日蛋糕，音樂家們拒絕表演。因為我家門口沒發(fā)通知就在維修街道，導致沒有地方停車。哦，真是太糟糕了，馬上就要下雨了，要下雨了。”

But how did this simple farm word come to mean "go wild"? Language experts say there are two stories that help explain where this meaning came from.

但是這個簡單的農(nóng)場單詞怎么就成了變瘋的意思呢?語言專家說，有兩個故事可以幫助解釋這種含義的出處。

As we said earlier, Americans use haywire to describe a state of disorder, extreme messiness – in other words, a situation where everything seems to be going wrong.

正如我們前面所說的，美國人使用haywire來描述一種無序和極度混亂的狀態(tài)。換句話說，這是一種處處出錯的場面。

Years ago, farmers used haywire to temporarily fix a damaged fence, gate or barrier. But the wire was never a good choice for permanent repairs because it breaks down easily. The metal iron turns reddish brown and wears down when attacked by oxygen in the air or water. It other words, it rusts!

幾年前，農(nóng)民們用捆干草的鐵絲臨時修復了一道損壞的柵欄和柵欄門。但是這種鐵絲從來不是永久性修理的好選擇，因為它很容易損壞。當它遇到空氣或水中的氧氣就會變成紅褐色并且慢慢消蝕。換句話說，它生銹了。

This fact, however, did not stop people from using it for repairs. As a result, many fences and buildings where lots of wire were used for repairs look messy. They have gone haywire.

然而這個事實并未阻止人們用它來維修。結果，使用大量鐵絲修復的很多籬笆看起來亂七八糟，因為它們亂套了。

Another story about "haywire" comes from the material itself. When you cut tightly wound wire, you should do so carefully. It can suddenly spring back at you like a snake. It can circle your body and then stab you with its sharp ends. This can happen quickly, often catching a person off guard.

另一個關于haywire的故事來自于這種材料本身。當你剪斷緊緊纏繞的鐵絲時要小心，它們會像蛇一樣突然彈回你身上，然后用銳利的尖端刺傷你。這一切發(fā)生得很快，經(jīng)常會把人弄得措手不及。

Word experts may not agree on the origin. But they can agree that anything that has "gone haywire," has gone crazy or is a big, hot mess!

詞匯專家可能不認同這種原始含義。但是他們認同，任何亂套的事情都是一團糟。

And that's the end of this Words and Their Stories.

以上就是本期詞匯掌故節(jié)目的全部內(nèi)容。

I'm Anna Matteo.

安娜·馬特奧報道。