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And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语《词汇掌故》节目。
Spring is a time of the year when many people take time to clean.
春天是一年中许多人花时间打扫卫生的时候。
They straighten up messy areas of their homes. They tidy up!
他们把家里脏乱的地方收拾干净。他们打扫卫生！
Spring cleaning is a popular activity for many people.
对许多人来说，春季大扫除是一项受欢迎的活动。
It is a chance to get rid of unnecessary items and get their homes clean and organized.
这是一个丢弃不必要物品，让他们的家变得干净整洁的机会。
Spring cleaning usually involves big projects, such as taking down and washing curtains, shaking out rugs and cleaning carpets, perhaps clearing out and cleaning up cabinets and closets.
春季大扫除通常包括一些大项目，比如拆卸和清洗窗帘，抖干净地毯和清洁地毯，也许还会清理橱柜和壁橱。
Spring cleaning is a thorough cleaning inside and out.
春季大扫除是一次彻底的大扫除。
So, on today's program we are going to clean house, too!
所以，在今天的节目中，我们也要“打扫房子”！
Daily cleaning tasks like doing the laundry or dishes are not considered spring cleaning.
诸如洗衣服或洗碗之类的日常清洁任务不被认为是春季大扫除。
That is often called housekeeping or cleaning house.
这通常被称为家务。
We use both of these terms in idiomatic ways.
我们习惯上使用这两个术语。
First, let's talk about cleaning house.
首先，我们来谈谈cleaning house。
When an organization, business or other group clean house, it gets rid of people or policies that make trouble or that do not work.
当一个组织、企业或其他团体clean house时，意思是摆脱那些制造麻烦或不起作用的人或政策。
Here's an example.
下面举一个例子。
My friend has a company that is suffering from troublemaking and non-productive employees.
我朋友的公司正饱受制造麻烦和效率低下员工的困扰。
If the owner wants the company to succeed, she may need to clean house and fire anyone not contributing.
如果老板希望公司成功，她可能需要裁减人员，解雇任何没有贡献的人。
Cleaning house can also mean to wipe out corruption or inefficiency.
Cleaning house也可以指清除腐败或低效。
When we use it this way, we are often talking about a political party or a governmental office.
我们经常会在谈论政党或政府办公室的时候使用它的这层含义。
Here's an example for that situation:
下面举一个例子：
The city official in charge of education reform made cleaning house on corruption and waste the first item on his to-do list.
负责教育改革的市政府官员将清理腐败和浪费作为他的首要任务。
Sometimes we put words in between "clean" and "house" to make the expression more specific, as in this example:
有时我们会在“clean”和“house”之间加词，使表达更具体，如下例所示：
To help their company succeed, the business partners needed to clean their financial house.
为了帮助他们的公司取得成功，商业伙伴需要清算他们的财务状况。
And that meant hiring a new financial manager – one that wouldn't steal from them.
意思是雇佣一个新的财务经理——一个不会从他们那里偷钱的人。
If you research the expression online, you may find another meaning for "cleaning house" – to punish or to give a beating.
如果你在网上搜索这个短语，你可能会发现“cleaning house”的另一个意思——惩罚或殴打。
For example, the bully threatened to clean house on anyone who disagreed with him.
例如，恶霸威胁说，如果有人不同意他的观点，他就殴打他。
But this usage is not as common as getting rid of ineffectual, troublesome or wasteful elements in a group.
但这种用法并不像摆脱团体中无效、麻烦或浪费的元素那样常见。
Now let's talk about housekeeping.
现在我们来谈谈housekeeping。
Housekeeping defines the act of managing a household.
housekeeping定义了管理家庭的行为。
Cleaning, organizing, paying the bills, and keeping food stocked can all be called housekeeping.
打扫卫生、整理、支付账单、储存食物都可以称为家务。
Sometimes we call this putting our house in order.
有时我们也说把我们的房子收拾整齐。
When we put our house in order we make sure it is running smoothly.
当我们把我们的房子收拾整齐，我们确保它运转得很顺利。
It can also mean to organize your finances and other responsibilities, especially when preparing for a life-changing event.
这个短语也表示整理好你的财务和其他责任，尤其是在为改变生活的事件作准备时。
Used as a noun, housekeeping is also the department at a hotel in charge of keeping your room clean and stocked with necessary items like towels and soap.
用作名词时，housekeeping（客房部）也指酒店里负责保持房间整洁并备有毛巾和肥皂等必需品的部门。
Housekeeping also describes any repeated tasks that keep a business or organization running smoothly.
Housekeeping也指保持企业或组织平稳运行的任何重复任务。
So, housekeeping issues for a business could be managing and scheduling resources.
因此，企业的内务管理问题可能是管理和调度资源。
It could also be tasks like keeping your computer up and running or updating staff on events or policy changes.
它也可以是保持你的计算机正常运行或者向员工通报事件或政策变化的任务。
So, think of it this way. Housekeeping issues are the day-to-day, ongoing tasks and responsibilities that keep a business, home, or organization running smoothly.
所以，这样想吧。内务问题是指保持企业、家庭或组织平稳运行的日常、持续的任务和责任。
And cleaning house is to get rid of anything that is not working or is creating a mess – either literally or figuratively.
而cleaning house就是清理任何不起作用或制造混乱的东西——无论是字面意思还是比喻意义。
As for usage, both of these expressions can be used in formal and informal situations.
至于用法，这两个短语都可用于正式和非正式场合。
That's all the time we have for this Words and Their Stories. Until next time ... I'm Anna Matteo!
以上就是本期《词汇掌故》节目的全部内容。下次见……我是安娜·马特奥。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
