[00:00.00] 作曲 : 黄大炜
[00:01.00] 作词 : SANDRA CHING, DAW GLOVER/黄大炜
[00:09.885]Now,the  VOA  Special  English  program  WORDS
[00:14.664]AND  THEIR  STORIES.
[00:18.129]Hot  is  a  simple,easily  understood  word.
[00:24.284]So  are  most  ofthe  expressions  made  with
[00:28.242]the  word  hot.
[00:29.666]But  not  always,
[00:31.597]as  we  shall  see.
[00:33.527]The  words  hot  potato,for  example,
[00:38.855]give  you  no  idea  at
[00:40.737]all  to  the  meaning  of  the  expression,
[00:43.224]hot  potato.
[00:45.306]The  potato  is  a  popular  vegetable  in
[00:48.909]the  United  States
[00:51.143].Many  people  like  baked  potatoes,
[00:53.178]cooked  in  an  oven
[00:55.108]or  fire.Imagine  trying  to  carry  a  hot,baked  potato
[00:59.583]in  your  hand.It  would  be  difficult,even  painful,
[01:03.445]to  do  so.
[01:05.530]Now  we  are  getting  close  to  the  meaning  of  hot  potato.
[01:10.103]Some  publicly  disputed  issues  are  highly  emotional.
[01:16.708]The  issues  must  be  treated  carefully,or  they  will
[01:22.193]be  difficult  and  painful  if  an  elected  official
[01:24.935]has  to  deal  with  them.As  difficult  and  painful
[01:29.726]as  holding  a  hot  potato.
[01:34.652]One  such  hot  potato  is  taxes.
[01:39.474]Calling  for  higher  taxes  can  mean  defeat  for
[01:43.86]a  politician.And  yet,if  taxes  are  not  raised,
[01:48.370]some  very  popular  government  programs  could  be  cut.
[01:53.244]And  that  also  can  make  a  politician  very  unpopular.
[01:56.240]So  the  questions  must  be  dealt  with  carefully,
[02:01.674]the  same  way  you  would  handle  any  other  hot  potato.
[02:06.392]Another  expression  is  not  so  hot.If  you  ask  someone
[02:14.822]how  she  feels,she  may  answer "not  so  hot.
[02:20.405]"What  she  means  is  she  does  not  feel  well.
[02:24.112]Not  so  hot  also  is  a  way  of  saying  that  you  do  not
[02:27.872]really  like  something.You  may  tell  a  friend  that
[02:32.695]the  new  play  you  saw  last  night  is  not  so  hot.
[02:37.60]That  means  you  did  not  consider  it  a  success.
[02:41.481]A  hot  shot  is  a  person,often  a  young  person,
[02:47.17]who  thinks  he  can  do  anything.At  least  he  wants  to
[02:51.180]try.He  is  very  sure  he  can  succeed.But  often
[02:55.904]he  fails.The  expression  was  born  in  the  military
[03:00.525]forces.
[03:01.235]A  hot  shot  was  a  soldier  who  fired  without
[03:05.701]aiming  carefully.
[03:07.72]Hot  is  a  word  that  is  often  used  to  talk  about  anger.
[03:13.933]A  person  who  becomes  angry  easily  is  called  a  hothead.
[03:20.88]An  angry  person's  neck  often  becomes  red.
[03:23.642]We  say  he  is  hot  under  the  collar.You  could
[03:28.220]say  that  your  friend  is  no  hothead.But  he
[03:32.432]got  hot  under  the  collar  when  someone  took  his  radio.
[03:37.55]In  nineteen  sixty-three,hot  line  appeared  as  a  new
[03:43.298]expression.
[03:45.481]The  hot  line  was  a  direct  communications  link  between
[03:49.898]the  leaders  of  the  Soviet  Union  and  the  United  States.
[03:54.371]The  hot  line  had  an  important  purpose:to  prevent
[03:57.974]accidental  war  between  the  two  competitors  during
[04:00.358]the  period  known  as  the  Cold  War.The  American  president
[04:06.406]and  the  Soviet  leader  were  able  to  communicate
[04:09.248]directly  and  immediately  on  the  hot  line.This  helped
[04:13.880]prevent  any  conflict  during  an  international  crisis.