2016年12月大学英语四级考试听力(2016.12四级英语听力)

How Did Thanksgiving 'Turkey' Get its Name?

感恩节“火鸡”是如何得名?

The U.S. Thanksgiving holiday is symbolized by its traditional food, a large bird we call a turkey. But turkey is certainly not from Turkey.

In fact, its English name is based on one big mistake. We could say it is a case of mistaken identity.

Let’s set the record straight.

The word “Turkey” has meant “the land of the Turks” since ancient times. The word “turkey” as it refers to the bird first appeared in the English language in the mid-1500s.

The misunderstanding over the word happened because of two similar-looking kinds of birds.

There is an African bird called the guinea fowl. It has dark feathers with white spots and a patch of brown on the back of its neck. Portuguese traders brought the guinea fowl to Europe through North Africa.

This foreign bird came to Europe through Turkish lands. So, the English thought of the bird as a “Turkish chicken.”

When Europeans came to North America, they saw a bird that looked like the guinea fowl. This bird was native to the North American continent.

Orin Hargraves is a lexicographer, someone who writes dictionaries. Hargraves explains what happened.

“Some Europeans saw an American turkey, thought that it was the guinea fowl, which at that time was called the ‘turkey cock,’ and so gave it the same name."

Hundreds of years later, we continue to call this North American bird “turkey,” even though it has no connection at all with the country Turkey, or even with Europe.

But English is not the only language with interesting -- and even questionable -- names for this North American bird.

The Turkish, for their part, call turkey “hindi,” the Turkish name for India. The reference to India probably comes from the old, wrong idea that the New World was in Eastern Asia.

The French call it “dinde,” a name that also connects the bird to India. “D’Inde” means “from India” in the French language. “Turkey” has similar names in several other languages.

So, what do they call this North American bird in India? Well, in the Hindi language, “turkey” is “tarki.”

But wait, there’s more. In Portuguese, the same bird is called “Peru,” after the South American nation.

Thanks to our VOA Learning English Facebook friends, we have a few more names for “turkey” to share with you.

The Vietnamese word for the bird is “gà tay” or western chicken. Our Facebook friend Nguyen Duc explains that “local chicken is smaller than western chicken.”

A Facebook friend in Myanmar explained that the Burmese word for “turkey” is “kyat sin.” The name translates to “elephant chicken” in English.

“That animal looks like a big chicken,” Zaw Myo Win explained.

The Dari language name for the bird, "fel murgh" also translates to “elephant chicken.”

Abdulla Kawer explained to us that “here in Afghanistan this name represents the size of this delicious meal.” He adds that he thinks the descriptive name “elephant chicken” is “better than a country name.”

I’m Ashley Thompson.

_______________________________________________________

Words in This Story

symbolize - v. to represent or express a particular idea or quality

translate - v. to change words from one language into another language

  相关文章:

   大学四级考试对于我们大学生来说也是一场非常重要的考试，那么将要进行2020年上半年四级考试的小伙伴们一定要重视起来了。有的同学可能已经开始了复习，有的同学有可能还在为复习方法而烦恼。今天四六级为大家分享2020年上

   1.有很多人喜欢养宠物2.养宠物的利与弊3.你的建议TheAdvantagesandDisadvantagesofKeepingPets写作指南：这篇作文属于说明性作文，考生只需要将提纲中要求的内容组织起来便可。第1段提出很多人喜欢养宠物这种现象。第2段分析利弊，根据作文的标题可知此段是重点内容。养宠物的益处可以从很多方面说(比如消除孤独感、丰富日常生活、获得快乐等)，弊端

   AnnualCyclesoftheTrafficAccidentofaCity城市交通事故变换Trafficaccidentsareoneofthemostseriousproblemsinmoderncities.Manypeopleh

   fare=togo(走)welfaren.幸福，福利farewellint.再会n.告别faren.(车，船)费用，票价chargevt.费用，价钱;控告，指控;充电v.索价，要...支付;控告，指控;充电car,char=car(车)，torun(跑)dischargevt.允许...离开，释放

   今天是2018年11月17日，昨天大学英语四级口语考试也终于如期而至。口语考试的时候往往是许多考生最为紧张的时刻，不过口语考试并不是什么洪水猛兽，只要稍加练习，做到有话可说，就不会在考场上出现尴尬的场面。为了帮助大家顺利通过四级口语考试，四六级英语老师将会为各位考生提供最贴心的口语考试小提示，希望能够对各位同学有所帮助。本场对话的主题为“如何消除代沟”，这是一