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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。
You can trust that we are actually Voice of America Learning English.
您可以相信我们确实是美国之音英语学习频道。
We are the real deal. We are authentic.
我们是真的。
In other words, we are not bogus.
换句话说，我们不是假的。
Bogus is an adjective that means fake or phony.
“Bogus”是一个形容词，意味着是假的或是骗人的。
Something bogus is not genuine. It is a fraud. It's fraudulent.
“bogus”的东西不是真的。它是冒牌货，是欺骗性的。
For example, the man's huge diamond ring was bogus.
例如，那个男人的巨大钻戒是假的。
He told everyone it was a real diamond. But actually, it was just a piece of glass.
他告诉每个人那是真钻石。但实际上，那只是一块玻璃。
Bogus can describe something that is a lie.
“Bogus”可以用来形容谎言。
If something like an explanation or reason is bogus, it's not true.
如果像解释或理由之类的东西是“bogus”的，那就是虚假的。
For example, an employee might call her employer to say she needs a sick day off from work.
例如，一名员工可能会打电话给她的老板，说她需要请一天病假。
But during the call, her boss hears loud, live music in the background.
但在通话中，老板听到背景中有嘈杂的现场音乐。
The employee was clearly at a music show. Her reason for not being at work was bogus.
很明显，员工当时在音乐演出上。她不去工作的理由是假的。
We could also say the employee's excuse did not hold water.
我们也可以说，员工的借口站不住脚。
Her excuse for missing work sounded bogus. It was not believable. It didn't hold water.
她缺勤的借口听起来很假。不可信。站不住脚。
Experts at the online dictionary Merriam-Webster explain that bogus began as a noun.
在线字典韦氏词典的专家解释说，“bogus”最初是一个名词。
In the early 19th century in the U.S., a bogus was a machine that made counterfeit, or fake, money.
在19世纪早期的美国，“bogus”指的是一种制造假币的机器。
Here's a fun fact: You can call bogus, counterfeit money funny money.
这里有一个有趣的事实：你可以称假币为“funny money”。
Here is another word related to bogus – sham.
这里有另一个与“bogus”相关的词——“sham”。
Sham, a noun, describes a fake, made-up situation. We use shams to cover up the truth.
“Sham”是一个名词，描述一种假的、捏造的情况。我们使用“sham”来掩盖真相。
Let's hear some of these terms used in a short story.
让我们通过一个小故事来了解这些词语。
Two roommates work together at a bank.
两个室友一起在一家银行工作。
One day, they decide to steal all the gold and jewelry held in the bank's safe.
一天，他们决定偷走银行保险柜里的所有黄金和珠宝。
So, they plot. They plan it out.
于是，他们展开密谋。他们做好计划。
First, they need an alibi. Where can they be while the robbery is actually happening?
首先，他们需要不在场证明。当抢劫真正发生时，他们能在哪里呢？
They create a bogus alibi.
他们制造了一个假的不在场证明。
They tell police that at the time of the robbery, they were together at a volunteer event, cleaning up a local park by the town's river.
他们告诉警方，在抢劫发生时，他们一起参加了一个志愿者活动，正在清理镇上河边的一个公园。
But after checking out their alibi, police brought the two in for questioning.
但在核实了他们的不在场证明后，警方将两人带走问话。
Then detectives searched their shared apartment and found all the gold and jewels from the bank robbery.
随后，警探搜查了他们的合租公寓，发现了银行抢劫案中的所有黄金和珠宝。
What made the police suspect them?
是什么让警方怀疑他们的呢？
Can you guess what detectives found at the river park that proved their alibi was a sham?
你能猜到警探在河边公园发现了什么，从而验证他们的不在场证明是假的吗？
A dirty park and river! They both had a huge amount of trash!
脏乱的公园和河流！这两个地方都有大量垃圾！
Clearly, no clean-up event had ever taken place.
很明显，这里从未进行过任何清理活动。
And that's all the time we have for this Words and Their Stories.
以上就是本期的《词汇掌故》。
Until next time ... I'm Anna Matteo.
下期见……我是安娜·马特奥。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
