VOA: 《 "Going South" 用法详解 》
And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.
现在是美国之音慢速英语《词汇掌故》节目。
Today, we talk about those times when things do not go as planned. All the planning in the world does not guarantee that your plans will happen the way you had planned.
今天，我们来谈谈那些事与愿违的时候。即使你做足了计划，也不能保证一切都会按你的计划进行。
Things can happen that are outside of your control. To talk about those times when things go awry, American English has two directional expressions: go south and go sideways.
有些事情是你无法控制的。美式英语中，有两个表达方向的习语可以用来描述事情出错的时候：go south 和 go sideways。
To go south
走向低谷
Let’s start with go south. If something goes south, it stops working or falls apart. It can also mean that something decreases in value or loses quality. We often use it to describe a situation where everything has gone wrong.
我们先从 go south 说起。如果某件事 goes south，这意味着它停止运作或崩溃了。它也可以表示某件事的价值下降或质量变差。我们经常用它来描述一切都很糟糕的情况。
If your career goes south, you need to look for a new job. If your new computer goes south, it stops working. If a relationship goes south, the two people are heading toward a breakup.
如果你的事业 goes south，你就需要另谋高就。如果你的新电脑 goes south，它就停止工作了。如果一段感情 goes south，那么这两个人就快分手了。
And if a trip goes south, one bad thing after another happens. You miss your plane, your passport gets stolen, and the hotel loses your reservation. That makes for a vacation that has gone south.
如果一次旅行 goes south，那就意味着会发生一连串的倒霉事。你错过了飞机，护照被偷了，酒店还把你的预订弄丢了。这就成了一次糟糕透顶的旅行。
Now, let’s hear two friends use this expression.
现在，让我们来听听两个朋友是如何使用这个表达的。
A: So, how is your friend’s new bakery doing? She opened it earlier this year, right?
A：你朋友新开的烘焙店怎么样了？她今年早些时候开的，对吧？
B: She did. But then she ran into trouble. Her investor pulled out. And then her head baker quit. So, her business went south pretty quickly after that.
B：是的。但她后来遇到了麻烦。她的投资者撤资了。然后她的主面包师辞职了。所以，在那之后，她的生意很快就一落千丈了。
A: Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. But I’m not surprised. You need a lot of money up front to start a business. And for a bakery … you definitely need a baker.
A：哦，听到这个消息我很难过。但这并不奇怪。创业需要很多前期资金。而对于一家烘焙店来说……你肯定需要一个面包师。
B: Well it didn’t help that another bakery with lower prices opened down the street. Her business was bound to go south after that.
B：街对面又开了一家价格更低的烘焙店，这对她的生意也没什么帮助。在那之后，她的生意注定要一落千丈了。
To go sidesways
横生枝节
Sideways is another direction you don’t want your projects or efforts to go. As a direction word, sideways means to go to either side – not forward or backward.
Sideways 是另一个你不希望你的项目或努力的方向。作为一个方向词，sideways 的意思是向任何一边走——不是向前也不是向后。
As an idiomatic expression, to go sideways also means things do not go as planned. But this expression can be used a little differently from going south. Often when things go sideways, they go wrong in strange ways. In other words, things get weird.
作为一个习语，to go sideways 也意味着事情没有按计划进行。但这个表达的使用方式与 going south 略有不同。通常情况下，当事情 goes sideways 时，它们会以奇怪的方式出错。换句话说，事情变得很奇怪。
Sometimes you want things to go sideways. For example, a good story often goes sideways. You think it’s going to go in one direction but then there is a plot twist. Situations change and the story goes in an unexpected direction. Used this way, going sideways is a good thing.
有时候你希望事情 goes sideways。例如，一个好故事经常会 goes sideways。你以为它会朝着一个方向发展，但后来剧情发生了反转。情况发生了变化，故事朝着意想不到的方向发展。这样一来，going sideways 就是一件好事。
But what about on a family camping trip? Let’s hear this expression used in that situation.
但是在家庭野营旅行中呢？让我们来听听这个表达在这种情况下是如何使用的。
A: How was your family camping trip?
A：你的家庭野营旅行怎么样？
B: It was okay. But some really strange things happened. Nature things...
B：还不错。但是发生了一些非常奇怪的事情。大自然的事情……
A: Tell me more. What happened?
A：告诉我更多。发生了什么事？
B: Well, the first night a raccoon stole all my food. The second night while I slept, spiders spun webs all over my tent while I slept. And then on the third day while I was swimming in the lake, a fish bit me!
B：嗯，第一天晚上，一只浣熊偷走了我所有的食物。第二天晚上我睡觉的时候，蜘蛛在我的帐篷里结满了网。然后在第三天，当我在湖里游泳的时候，一条鱼咬了我！
A: That IS a lot of weird nature stuff. I didn’t even know fish could bite.
A：那可真是很多奇怪的大自然现象。我甚至不知道鱼会咬人。
B: Me neither! But I guess on a camping trip that’s gone sideways … anything is possible!
B：我也不知道！但我想在一次横生枝节的野营旅行中……一切皆有可能！
And that’s the end of this Words and Their Stories.
以上就是本期《词汇掌故》节目的全部内容。
Until next time, I’m Anna Matteo.
我是安娜·马特奥，我们下期节目再见。
awry -adv. off the correct or expected course
breakup -n. to end a romance
reservation -n. an arrangement to have something (as a motel room or a seat on a plane) held for one's use
sideways -adj. or -adv. from one side viewed the stage sideways : with one side forward turn sideways : to one side
idiomatic -adj. of, relating to, or conforming to idiom -n. an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its separate words but must be learned as a whole
weird -adj. very unusual or strange
