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Shortcut to Friendship-空中英語教室
2025/02/04 15:46
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Shortcut to Friendship
A bad hair day 友誼有捷徑(上)
空中英語教室 20250203
修正英文文法，保留中文部分，同時將簡體中文修改為繁體中文
Hey friends,
Welcome back! I’m John, and today is a great day to learn something new.
It certainly is, so let’s do that together!
My name is Ann Marie, and this is Studio Classroom. We’re so happy you’re joining us today for our language lesson.
There’s a little word in English we use all the time: cut.
We use it in all kinds of sentences. That’s right!
For example, you could say, Every night I cut up vegetables for dinner.
But that’s not the only way you can use this useful English word.
We’ll have to find out more,
but first, Emory, are you ready for our talk about it?
Question:
What is something you can boast about? Ah, boast means to brag or to be proud of. Well,
I like to boast about my kids.
I’m very proud of them, and I’m happy they’re in my life.
That’s great! Well, friends, why are we talking about boasting?
You’ll find out.
This is a shortcut to friendship.
A shortcut to friendship. A bad hair day.
The little lambs played in the fields.
“Come and play,” Lamb Chop called to another lamb.
“We’re cutting up and having fun.”
But Fluff tossed the curls on her head and turned away.
“Don’t be shy,” Lamb Chop called.
“I’m not shy,” Fluff replied,
“but why play with you?
You’re plain and ordinary. As you can see,
I’m cut out for something special, not like you.”
Welcome to Language Lab. I’m Jack.
我們首先來看名詞 curl，意思是卷曲。
例如， The cat was asleep on its favorite rug with its tail in a perfect curl.
這隻貓在最喜歡的墊子上睡著了，尾巴完美的卷曲著。
Curl 也可以當動詞，意思是“捲曲”。
例如， Instead of wearing my hair straight, I’d like to curl it and put flowers in it for my sister’s wedding.
在我妹妹的婚禮上，我不想把頭髮吹直，想要卷髮，然後在上面放幾朵花。
另外，在健身時，有一種動作叫做“彎舉”，它的英文就是 curl。
來看個例句：
Rick regularly does curls with twenty-pound weights, which is why his arm muscles have gotten so big.
Rick經常用20磅的哑鈴做彎舉，這就是他手臂肌肉變得這麼大的原因。
We see the word shortcut right in the title of our lesson.
What is a shortcut, you ask? Well, a shortcut
is a way that is shorter or quicker than the usual way.
Isn’t it? That’s right!
So usually we use this word shortcut
when we’re talking about going somewhere.
For example,
you could say, It usually takes about an hour to get there by car,
but I know a shortcut. If we take the shortcut,
it will only take us 45 minutes.
So,
it’s good to take a shortcut when you don’t have a lot of time.
There’s also a phrase here: a bad hair day. We see
right in the title. What’s a bad hair day? Well,
a bad hair day is
when your hair isn’t doing what it usually does
or it’s not doing what you want it to do.
So sometimes I’ll find that I have something important
going on in a day,
and I wake up, Oh no,
I’m having a bad hair day.
My hair is maybe sticking up on one side, or I try to curl it,
and it goes straight.
That’s a bad hair day.
It is! There are some fun expressions with hair.
One of them is a cowlick, when your hair sticks up right
in the middle.
We’ll talk about hair in a later lesson,
but today we’re talking about the hair of lambs.
We’re reading about these little sheep.
We read: The little lambs played in the field.
“Come and play,” Lamb Chop called to another lamb.
What is a lamb, by the way?
A lamb is just a baby sheep, so these are young sheep here.
And we read on:
We’re cutting up and having fun now.
Cutting up is a really interesting phrase
for you to know, friends. In this context,
it means to behave in an active and silly way
in order to make someone laugh. So the idea here
is that these lambs are all playing together
and having a lot of fun.
That’s right!
You could say, The teenagers were cutting up in the parking lot
and trying to impress each other.
So these lambs are cutting up, but
there’s one lamb named Fluff
who tossed the curls on her head and turned away.
Toss is a verb
that normally
means to throw something kind of casually.
You could toss your socks into a box,
but toss here
means to cause something to move from side to side. Yeah,
if you toss your hair,
you kind of do a motion like this.
You could also toss a salad.
That means that you’re mixing the salad up together,
and you’re moving the leaves back
and forth in a way to get all the ingredients mixed together
or to get the dressing spread out evenly on the salad.
I love tossed salad!
We have one little lamb named Fluff who’s tossing her curls—
that means her hair—and we have another little lamb named
Lamb Chop. What does Lamb Chop say?
Lamb Chop says, Don’t be shy, and Fluff replied, I’m not shy,
but why play with you?
You’re plain and ordinary. As you can see,
I’m cut out for something special, not like you.
Wow,
that was so mean! What does it mean to be cut out for something?
Well, if you’re cut out for something,
it means that you’re the right one
or the right choice for a particular thing or job.
So what Fluff is saying here
is that she is better than the other lamb,
she’s cut out for something special. Interesting!
It’s kind of like cutting out a piece of paper or something.
I hear this phrase a lot,
but I hear it the opposite way a lot: to not be cut out for something.
You could say, I’m not cut out for roller coasters.
They make me feel sick and scared.
So what you’re saying is that you
and roller coasters are not compatible in some way. Here,
what we’re seeing
is that Fluff is compatible with being something special,
and she’s saying the other lambs are not. Hmm…
She is boasting here.
We’ll see what happens when you boast too much,
but let’s go to the next section of our reading together.
Shortcut to friendship.
Lamb Chop was cut to the quick,
but he tried not to show it. Don’t feel bad,
said a nearby lamb. Fluff is always cutting others down.
She thinks she’s a cut above
everyone else.
Suddenly their conversation was cut short.
Shh, cried another lamb. Listen.
接下來來看 a cut above 這個片語，它的意思是“高人一等，略勝一籌”。
來看幾個例句：
All the students projects were excellent, but Sam’s was a cut above the rest.
所有學生的作品都很優秀，但Sam的作品更勝一籌。
或者是：
The artist’s last painting was a cut above his earlier work, which is why it is the most famous.
這位藝術家的最後一幅畫比他之前的作品更勝一籌，這也是為什麼他最有名。
或者是：
I would try to get an appointment with Doctor Wang, because he really is a cut above.
我會盡量預約王醫生的門診，因為他確實高人一等。
Alright, remember Fluff said some mean words.
How did those mean words make Lamb Chop feel?
Well, we read here: Lamb Chop was cut to the quick,
but he tried not to show it.
Now, cut to the quick is a really great phrase
for you to know, friends.
What does it mean, John?
It’s a great one!
It means to feel distressed or upset
because of a hurtful remark someone says.
For example,
you could say, She was cut to the quick when she heard
what her friend had said about her behind her back.
Yeah, this is an old expression. The quick—
sometimes we talk about a deep cut,
like going right
down to the very middle of your bone.
It’s to the quick.
We don’t really use that part of the English anymore,
but we still can say, I was cut to the quick in my feelings.
We also have some helpful advice from another lamb here:
Don’t feel bad, said a nearby lamb.
Fluff is always cutting others down.
There’s another cut expression: cutting people down.
What does that mean? Well,
to cut someone down is to show someone by what you say
or what you do that
they are not as important or clever
as they think they are.
Oh, okay!
So this could be a bad thing or a good thing.
You could say my friend is always cutting people down with his mean words, but sometimes people need to be cut down to size. You’ve heard that expression before, yeah?
So if you cut someone down to size, it means that they really do think too much of themselves. You do something to show them that they are on the same level as everyone else, or at least you show them the reality of who they really are—pow! They’re cut down to size.
But the lamb continues about fluff. She thinks she’s a cut above everyone else. That was our language lab, and it means like a higher quality—a cut above.
But what happens to these little lambs as they’re talking? Well, we read here that suddenly their conversation was cut short. Now, if something is cut short, it means that you stop doing something or it ends before it was supposed to end or before you wanted it to end.
That’s right! You could say our conversation was cut short because the loud music started playing. As you can see, there are a lot of expressions that use the word "cut" again. We are using that word "cut" just like the original word, where it means to make a break in something. So, it’s a very active word and gets used a lot in English.
Yeah, so in that last phrase "cut short," what you’re making an end to is the time. The time was supposed to be longer, but you’re making a cut in the time and making it shorter. Well, this section ends by saying, “Shh, quite another lamb—listen!”
I see, so the lamb is cutting their conversation short by telling them to listen. We really want you to use this expression "cut short" because it’s great for ending a conversation.
Let’s say you’re running out of time and you’re talking to your friend. You could say something like, “Sorry to cut our time short, I have to run to another appointment. Thank you for talking with me.”
This is a really polite thing to say because you’re showing the other person, even though you’re having a conversation and you need to go, you wish the conversation could go on longer. In your mind, the conversation is shorter than what you want it to be.
That’s right, Emory! I’m sorry for cutting this conversation short, but it is time for our Info Cloud.
Hello, everyone!
Welcome to InfoCloud.
Rex: I’m competing in a speech competition tomorrow.
I can’t wait!
That’s great!
Garrett: I know. You’ve been practicing your public speaking skills.
I have! I think I’m getting pretty good at it. I’ll definitely win tomorrow.
Okay, alright. Well, see, don’t get too confident. Remember that pride goes before the fall.
Hmm, that’s a good point, Rex, and a good phrase.
It’s probably not a good idea to be overly confident about something that isn’t a sure thing.
Exactly! The saying "pride goes" or "goeth" before the fall is a warning that overconfidence or arrogance can lead to a person’s downfall. When someone is too proud or sure of themselves, they might not see potential problems coming and could end up failing.
The saying is quite old. That’s why you might hear the older term "goeth" instead of "goes." Sometimes you also hear people say "comes" instead of "goes."
So, it’s like when someone is winning a race and starts celebrating too early, only to trip and lose at the last moment. It’s a reminder to stay humble.
I’ll keep preparing for the competition and see what happens. After all, I may or may not win.

pride goes before the fall 驕兵必敗
當你看到一個人有過度自信，甚至驕傲的問題，你可以對他說 "pride goes before the fall"。
pride 是驕傲，fall 是倒下，也就是失敗的意思。
"pride goes before the fall" 就是說驕傲會在失敗之前出現。
這句話是在提醒人們保持謙卑的心，不要因為一時的勝利，失去了原本的初心。
因為一個人不可能一直在順境當中，一定會遇到困難與挑戰。
同樣的，當我們遇到逆境，那也是暫時的。
最重要的是保持一個不卑不亢的態度，面對人生中的所有挑戰。
這就是今天的 InfoCloud，我們下次雲端見！

Shortcut to Friendship
Just then, the young farmer came whistling up the lane.
"Marvelous news!" he said, as though the lambs understood him.
"My wife and I are expecting a baby! Since we don’t have much money, we need to cut down on expenses. We’re cutting corners, so I need your help."
"A baby?" sighed Lamb Chop. "How can we be of assistance?"
"The baby will need a warm wool blanket. Since they’re expensive, we’ll make one ourselves, so I’m looking for some wool," said the farmer.
今天的 Usage Tip 是 "as though" 的用法，它跟 "as if" 的意思相同，意思都是 "仿佛" 或 "好像"。
"As though" 後面所接的子句，是對前面主要子句所做的假定。如果這個假設接近事實，那麼前後的動詞要使用同一時態。
譬如課文中的 "marvelous news" 他說 "as though the lambs understood him"，"said" 和 "understood" 都是用過去式。
但如果這個假設不是事實，"as though" 後面接的詞句，動詞就要使用假設語氣的過去式或過去完成式來表示與事實相反。
來看個例句：
"The clerk behaves as if he were the owner of the shop."
那位店員的舉止，仿佛他是商店老板一樣。
Marie, I’m wondering, can you whistle?
Can I whistle? I can whistle a little bit but not very well, yeah.
It took me a long time to learn how to whistle. Whistling, by the way, is a high-pitched sound made by blowing through a partially closed mouth and teeth. It’s just this, right?
Maybe you can whistle, but it’s pretty weak.
That was okay! That was a pretty good whistle.
But the farmer is coming, whistling up the lane in our story, so he’s probably kind of happy. Normally, you whistle when you’re happy.
Exactly! So, when you are reading something, friends, and you see that someone is saying or doing an action while they are whistling, the writer is trying to tell you that they are very happy or excited about something, which happens to be the case for our farmer.
That’s right! He says "Marvelous news!" He said as though the lambs understood him.
What is his marvelous news?
Well, we read on here and find out that he says, "My wife and I are expecting a baby!" But there’s a problem here: we read, "Since we don’t have much money, we need to cut down on expenses."
There’s another "cut" phrase: "to cut down on something" means that you need to save money or use something less.
Definitely! Sometimes, I try to cut down on snacks if I feel like I’m not eating in a healthy way.
He also uses another really interesting expression with the word "cut," doesn’t he?
He does! The next sentence reads: "We’re cutting corners, so I need your help."
Now, what does it mean to "cut corners"?
Well, it means that you’re doing something in the fastest, easiest, or cheapest way possible. Usually, cutting corners isn’t seen as a good thing.
It means that the quality might be less, or something might not be as good as if you get the whole thing or do it the right way.
Definitely! You could say, "The bakery started cutting corners on their food, and the quality went down."
When I hear this expression, I think about people racing around a square, and then someone kind of cheats by cutting across the corner, so they’re not going the full distance, yeah.
So, you don’t get the full quality or the full effect of a product when the corners are cut.
But we read here, "A baby sighed, Lamb Chop. How can we be of assistance?"
Okay, this word "sigh" is a verb that we’ve seen before. "To sigh" means to let out your breath, like this.
But normally, when we talk about someone sighing, we’re talking about an emotional response where you are letting out your breath.
That’s right! And sometimes this can be a positive or a negative thing. If you’re sighing in frustration, it might sound like this:
"Ugh..." But if you’re sighing because you’re excited, that would be how you would sigh.
And I think that’s what’s going on here in our story, definitely. Sometimes, when you hear about a cute baby, you might sigh.
And Lamb Chop also says, "How can we be of assistance?" She wants to help, or he wants to help.
Excuse me, assistance does the farmer request?
Well, the farmer says, "The baby needs a warm wool blanket." Now, what is wool?
I bet you already know, friends, but let’s review together: wool is fine, soft, curly hair that forms the coat of a sheep or a goat.
And this is the word we use specifically when we’re talking about taking that hair off the sheep or the goat and using it to make a textile.
One of my favorite gifts during Christmas time is nice wool socks. Those are really warm! A pair of nice wool socks is a good present.
Now, the farmer also says something else. He says, "So, I’m looking for some wool."
I wonder what will happen when this farmer comes to the sheep looking for wool. We’ll have to find out more about this very serious story.
But for now, let’s go to our fun fact!
Hello, fact friends!
I am Detective Ernest Finder, and I have a fun fact for you today. Did you know that a baby sheep is called a lamb?
A female sheep is a ewe, and a male sheep is a ram! Ha!
That’s right!
But now, do you know what sheep say in English?
Well, in English, sheep say "baa"!
That’s right, "baa!"
Ha! I don’t know if sheep can spell, but that is today’s fun sheep fact!
Baa!
And Marie, I have a very serious question after that fun fact:
Okay, if sheep say "baa" in English, when sheep leave each other, do they say "baa"?
Baa!
What do you think, friends?
Who knows, but I do have a more serious question for you, and that is this one:
How do you respond when someone cuts you to the quick?
Emory: When someone cuts me to the quick, I usually need time to think about what the person has said to decide if it’s something that’s true or not true, so I can decide the best way to respond.
Yeah, me too. I normally feel like cutting them down when someone cuts me to the quick.
But I think that’s really smart to take some time and think about it.
What do you do, friends? We’d love to hear your response in English.
Well, friends, that’s all the time we have for today. My name is Ann Marie.
And I’m John. Friends, I hope you will join us next time right here on Studio Classroom!


Shortcut to Friendship
A bad hair day 友誼有捷徑(下)
空中英語教室 20250204
修正英文文法，保留中文部分，同時將簡體中文修改為繁體中文
Welcome back!
I’m John, and today is a great day to learn something new.
So let’s do that together. My name is Ann Marie.
This is Studio Classroom. We’re happy you have joined us for the second day of our language lesson.
We’re learning all about this great word “to cut” and how it’s used in many different ways. That’s right!
We are using a story about some little lambs to learn how to use this phrase.
We met several lambs in our story yesterday.
We met Lamb Chop and a lamb that isn’t very nice, Fluff.
Yeah, Fluff is pretty mean. She’s always cutting others down.
Because one lamb said, "Fluff thinks she’s a cut above everyone else."
What do her words do to Lamb Chop?
Well, they cut him to the quick. There’s another character in our story too, that we met at the end of our lesson, and that is the farmer.
He has some news.
He is going to have a baby, and he needs some assistance.
He does because he’s cutting down on expenses.
He needs some wool.
What does it mean when a farmer needs wool? Well, let’s find out together in the next section of today’s conversation:
Shortcut to Friendship
"I have wool!" cried Lamb Chop.
"We all do!" the others added.
Then Fluff stepped forward. "My wool is outstanding," she said, tossing her curly head.
"It’s white, it’s soft, and perfect."
The farmer cut in and he put his arms around her.
Hello, everyone! Welcome to Language Lab. I’m Jack.
首先來看形容詞 outstanding。它的意思是“優秀的”、“傑出的”。
例如：
Ben’s essay about the nation’s history was so outstanding that the teacher sent a copy to the principal.
Ben寫的關於國家歷史的文章非常傑出，老師把副本寄給了校長。
Outstanding 也有顯著的意思，譬如：
The most outstanding part of that house is the large round window above the front door.
那棟房子最顯著的部分是前門上方的大圓窗。
Outstanding 也指未解決或未支付的，例如：
When the man died, he had so much outstanding debt that his children had to sell all the land.
這名男子去世時，留下大筆的債務，他的子女們不得不賣掉所有的土地。
All right, Lamb Chop is very eager.
Lamb Chop says, "I have wool!" and the verb we see is "cried." "Cried" Lamb Chop.
So if you cry, it’s not like “cool” or shedding tears here.
It means to shout something out with feeling.
Yeah, so he’s probably saying this line like this: "I have wool!" cried Lamb Chop.
He’s very excited, and he wants to help.
But the other lambs also have wool, and they tell the farmer. They say,
"We all do," the others added.
Yes, and then Fluff steps forward. What does it mean to step forward?
Well, usually in this situation, when you step forward, you are offering your help or your services.
You’re kind of acting as a volunteer to do a job.
I see.
So you could step forward and give the answer to a question, maybe if the teacher calls on different students.
Or you could step forward to volunteer for anything.
So, there’s another phrase that we use: “to step up and do something.”
A coach could say, "Does anyone want to step up and lead the activity today?"
And it kind of has a similar idea, where someone moves into a position where they’re doing something that’s right now.
When we use “step up,” the difference between "step up" and "step forward" is that when you step up, it means you’re taking on a responsibility that other people aren’t willing to do.
So in this situation, we want to use "step up" because it sounds like all of the lambs are willing to help.
No, Fluff is the one who steps forward.
That’s right. She says, "My wool is outstanding."
We learned about that word, and she tosses her curly head.
Okay, we learned about curls, those rings of hair that sheep, goats, and other animals have.
But curly is the adjective for having lots of curls.
And if you remember, friends, yesterday we learned what it means to toss your head or toss your curls.
I think that Fluff is very proud of her curls, and that is why she is tossing them.
She says, "It’s white, it’s soft."
And now, John, there’s a line there at the end of it. Why is that?
Well, because she is interrupted.
Perfect! The farmer cut in, and he put his arms around her.
Okay, so "to cut in" here means what?
It means to interrupt somebody when they are speaking.
This is different from the phrase we learned yesterday, "to cut short."
Now, Fluff was cut short because she didn’t finish her sentence.
But "cut in" is different in that someone is intentionally getting into the conversation and making whatever someone is saying stop.
So the farmer is cutting in.
That’s right. You could use it in a kind of polite way.
If two friends are talking and you need to say something, you could say, "I’m so sorry to cut in for a second, but can I ask a question?"
This is a polite thing to do because you’re acknowledging the fact that you are interrupting someone.
So you can say, "Sorry for cutting in."
That’s right.
But in most cases, to cut in is not a good thing. There’s an expression we use with queues or lines, like at a 7-Eleven.
You wouldn’t want to cut in line if people are waiting.
That’s right. So if you cut in line, it means that there are already people lined up, and you stand in front of someone who’s already been waiting.
That is not a polite thing to do.
Well, this sounds very nice.
The farmer puts his arms around Fluff.
Is he giving her a hug here?
I guess we’ll have to find out in the next section of our conversation.
Shortcut to Friendship
“See,” she boasted, “I’m cut out for… ouch!”
Suddenly, the farmer shoved her down to the ground.
“What are you doing?” she screamed.
“Cut it out!”
Taking his scissors, the farmer cut away at Fluff’s coat.
He clipped and clipped.
"Thanks," he said with a smile and carried the sack of wool down the lane.
Fluff tossed her head, but there were no curls. She looked dreadful and felt even worse.
“I’m no more special than anyone else,” she said tearfully.
今天的 usage tip 是 “no more + 形容詞 + than”的用法。
這個句型是用於比較前後兩個主詞的狀態。
課文裡 “I’m no more special than anyone else,” she said tearfully，
中的“no more”後面加形容詞“special”是表示主詞 one 並沒有比主詞 two 更特別。
但是如果把 "no more" 改成 "no less"，意思則是主詞 one 並不比主詞 two 來得差，也就是兩者都一樣好。
來看個例句：
"The development of social science is no less important than that of physical science."
社會科學的發展跟自然科學的發展同樣重要。
Okay, Fluff begins talking again.
She says, “See,” she boasted, “I’m cut out for... ouch.”
Okay, what’s happening?
Let’s review first.
"Cut out for something" means you’re destined or you’re ready for something, right?
That’s right, and we found out yesterday that Fluff believes that she is cut out for something special.
Looks like she is trying to remind everybody of that here.
And then she says “out” to it means that she has gotten hurt in some way.
That’s right.
And that is because suddenly, the farmer shoved her down to the ground.
Remember, “shove” is to push someone suddenly and kind of impolitely.
She asks a question, "What are you doing?"
She screamed, “Cut it out!”
Okay, “cut it out” is a really common American expression.
What does it mean?
Okay, so “cut it out” can mean two different things.
If you are in school and the teacher gives you homework or something, and you’re doing an art project, and you need to cut something out,
that means to literally take scissors and cut something out.
That’s not what it means here.
Here, the phrase means to stop doing that.
So when you see "cut it out" with an exclamation point, it’s usually read like this:
"Hey, cut it out!"
That means, "Stop doing that!"
Anybody who has brothers or sisters has probably used this expression, “Cut it out!”
"Big brother, I don’t want you to do that, I’m playing with that toy," right?
So, she screams “cut it out.” What is the farmer doing?
Well, we read on here:
Taking his scissors, the farmer cut away at Fluff’s coat.
What does that mean, "to cut away at something"?
Okay, "to cut away at" means to remove something by cutting piece by piece.
You can cut away at something physically.
You could also cut away at something emotionally.
Oh, that’s true.
That means to take little parts of it, bit by bit, away.
But we read here, he clipped and clipped.
So he keeps cutting and he keeps cutting. “Thanks,” he said with a smile. He’s thankful for Fluff’s wool, excuse me, Fluffs wool, and carried the sack of wool down the lane. Now, we see this word here: "sack," or a "sack of something." A sack is a large bag, and it’s usually made of strong cloth or paper. It could also be made of plastic. We use this as a measure word for an amount of something.
That’s right. In an American supermarket, you often buy a sack of potatoes or a sack of apples, dont we? That’s right. And here, we’re talking about a full sack of Fluffs wool.
Fluff tossed her head. Now, we’ve seen that word tossed many times in this article, and before, she wasn’t just tossing her head. She was tossing her curls. That’s right. But now, Fluff tossed her head, but there were no curls. Oh, we read, "she looked dreadful and felt even worse."
So that’s a great sentence pattern: to do one verb and then to do another verb even more. But what does she say? Well, I think that Fluff has been cut down to size here. “I’m no more special than anyone else,” she said tearfully. Through this situation, through losing the thing that she was so proud of, she has realized that she’s really just the same as all the other lambs.
And tearfully is an adverb. The noun in there is a tear, right? That’s a drop of water that comes out of your eye when you’re sad. So, if you do something or say something tearfully, it means while you are crying. That’s right.
Alright, friends, right now it’s time for us to go to today’s infocloud.
Hello, friends. Welcome to Infocloud.
Hey Garrett, I heard about your debate with James last week. How did it go?
Hey Rex, yeah, it didn’t go as expected. I ended up being wrong about something important, so I had to eat humble pie afterwards.
Eat humble pie—what does that mean?
It means having to admit that you were wrong and apologize, especially when you were confident you were right. It’s a humbling experience.
Oh, I get it. So, when someone eats humble pie, they’re acknowledging their mistake, even though it might be embarrassing.
Exactly. For example, if someone brags about how well they’ll do on a test but then they fail, they’ll have to eat humble pie when admitting their mistake.
I see. So, where does this phrase come from? The phrase has its roots in medieval England. The original humble pie was a dish made from the less desirable parts of animals. It was food for poorer people. So eating humble pie became associated with being humbled or embarrassed.
That’s really interesting. So, the phrase started as a literal description of being poor or living humbly and evolved into a metaphor for admitting you’re wrong.
Exactly. It’s a great way to describe those moments when you have to swallow your pride and apologize. Thanks for the explanation, Garrett. I’ll try to avoid situations where I have to eat humble pie.
Good luck with that, Rex! It happens to the best of us.

eat humble pie
我們都知道人不是完美的，一定會犯錯。當一個人謙卑地認錯，你可以用 eat humble pie 來形容。
eat humble pie 字面上是吃謙卑的 pie。在中世紀的英國，原本的派是窮人用動物的內臟做出來的食物。eat humble pie 在今天就有謙卑下來的含義。
John had to eat humble pie after he failed the test.
John 考試不及格，之後就不得不謙卑下來。
除了謙卑下來，通常 eat humble pie 也代表那個人承認自己失敗或是犯錯了。這就是今天的 Infocloud，我們下次雲端見。

Shortcut to Friendship
Fluff’s finally been cut down to size. The others joked. “Don’t feel bad,” Lamb Chop told her. “I liked you better this way.”
But she said, “I look really bad.”
“Don’t worry,” Lamb Chop said.
“It’s not the fluff on the outside that’s important. It’s the stuff on the inside.”
And now, I can tell you really are cut out for something special, just like you.
She said ashamed of herself, “Let’s go play.”
接下來看 ashamed 這個形容詞意思是羞愧的。
例如：
The son was deeply ashamed about running away and wasting his father’s money, but his father welcomed him home with love.
這個兒子很羞愧，自己離家出走並揮霍父親的錢，但父親卻以愛迎接他回家。
The poor boy would not go to school because he felt ashamed of the holes in his shoes.
這個可憐的男孩因為鞋子上有破洞，感到難為情而不願意去上學。
Eddie was ashamed to admit that he hadn’t finished his math homework.
Eddie 不好意思承認自己沒做完數學作業。
Poor Fluff. Her wool has been clipped off, and what do the other lambs say to her? Well, they say, “Fluff’s finally been cut down to size.”
They even said this in a joking way. It says they joked. Now, we learned about this phrase to be cut down to size yesterday. Let’s review it again.
This means that you’re showing someone that they are not as important or as clever as they think.
I see. So, you could say, “I thought I was good at basketball, but I was really cut down to size when I played with those guys from the other town.”
Well, Lamb Chop has something kind to say. He says, “Don’t feel bad.” Now, if you say to someone, “Don’t feel bad,” what does that exactly mean?
Well, it’s a comforting phrase. It’s pretty simple. It means don’t keep thinking that in that same bad way, but it’s really useful.
You could say to your friend if they’re sad, “Don’t feel bad.” And normally, you add something else to that sentence.
I like to say this to people after they’ve made a mistake or done something wrong. I’ll say, “Hey, don’t feel bad. We all make mistakes.” Or, “Don’t feel bad. We can easily fix this.”
And Lamb Chop here says something interesting as well. He says, “I like you better this way.”
Fluff was so proud of her beautiful curls, and she thought everybody else liked them too. But it turns out, Lamb Chop didn’t. Yeah, and Fluff doesn’t like the way she looks. She says, “But I look really bad.” Have you ever felt that way? Your friend is trying to comfort you, but you just don’t like the way you look?
Well, Lamb Chop tells her, “Don’t worry.” And then he gives her some good advice. He does, and this I would say, friends, is the moral of our story.
Lamb Chop says, “It’s not the fluff on the outside that’s important. It’s the stuff on the inside.”
Let’s talk a little bit about what this means, John.
Oh, this is great. Finally, we learn what Fluff’s name means. Are you ready?
Fluff is or fluff means the soft hairs from materials like wool or cotton that stick together in bunches or clumps.
So sometimes we describe things as fluffy, but the fluff is actually the fiber inside something that’s fluffy, like a stuffed animal. That’s right. But fluff also has another meaning as well.
If something has a lot of fluff, it means it doesn’t have a lot of substance or things that are important.
So, for example, you could say, “I thought the movie was going to be good, but most of the plot was just fluff. There was nothing important or really interesting.”
So what Lamb Chop is saying here is, what’s on the outside is just extra. It’s just fluff. That’s not what really matters. It’s not what’s really important. And that’s really good advice, friends.
It’s not really what people say that like the fluff. It’s what they really think in their heart that’s important.
He also says, “And now I can tell you really are cut out for something special.”
That’s very sweet. It is very sweet.
And just to review, friends, to be cut out for something special means that you are the right one for the job in a particular situation.
So he’s saying, even though you don’t have your beautiful wool, you can still do great things.
And Fluff says something nice in return, doesn’t she?
She does. She compliments her friend Lamb Chop. She says, “Just like you.”
She said ashamed of herself, “Let’s go play.”
Okay, when you’re ashamed of yourself, it means you wish you hadn’t acted the way you did in the past. You want to make a change. Sometimes, it’s good to feel ashamed of ourselves, but there’s always hope, friends. And they go play together.
That’s right. All right, friends, it’s time for us to go play together with today’s fun fact.
Hello, fact friends. I am Detective Ernest Finder, and I have a fun fact for you today. Did you know that a haircut for a sheep is called shearing?
That’s right. S-H-E-A-R-I-N-G, shearing. Where does it get that name? Well, the giant scissors for shearing are called shears. Ha ha!
You know, they say sharing is caring, but I don’t know if shearing is caring... It might be uncomfortable.
And that is today’s fun sheep fact.
All right, Ann Marie, we’ve been talking together about sheep shearing and wool curls, but I have a more practical question for us. This is our talk about it question, okay?
Ann Marie, how can you cut corners to save money?
Ah, just like the farmer from the first day of our lesson, he was trying to cut corners by using the wool of one of his lambs. Well, recently I’ve been cutting corners with my daily coffee. I bought some instant coffee that’s a lot cheaper than buying my coffee at 7-11 every day. And sometimes I’ll drink that to cut corners.
Great idea! I’ve cut corners on my clothes by buying some sheep and using their wool.
Okay, well, friends, that’s all the time we have for today.
My name is Ann Marie.
And my name is John, friends.
We hope you’ll join us next time right here on Studio Classroom.

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