可可网友们，大家好。欢迎和Rose一起听故事，学英语。有些人安于别人赋予自己的角色，有些人却宁可流血流汗，只为自己向往的位置。Cristina就是这样的一个女孩儿。这样的执着也使她最终成为西班牙的第一个女斗牛士。

When Cristina was a little girl, she loved to watch her father fight bulls. She knew that bullfighting was a dangerous profession. And she knew that there were no women bullfighters in Spain. But still she wanted to become a matador, to follow in her father's footsteps.

Her father was totally opposed to her future plans, but Cristina insisted. "I didn't want the role of a traditional woman," she says. Finally, her father changed his mind and gave in. He saw that Cristina had bullfighting in her blood. He gave her the green light to attend the most famous school in Spain to learn the ropes of bullfighting. And then he became her trainer.

Now Cristina is a star in her country. As the first female matador, she is always in the public eye. But it hasn't been smooth sailing for her. She has been hurt three times by bulls. Also, many people are angry about her participation in the sport. "When I hear insults from the crowd," says Cristina, "it makes me try harder. I want those people to eat their words."

算是一个小励志故事了。尽管知道斗牛是危险的，是从没有女人涉足过的职业，小Cristina依然想要follow in her father's footsteps步父亲的后尘，成为一名职业斗牛士。对此，父亲was totally opposed to。Be opposed to sth，意思是disagree strongly with a plan, an idea。强烈的反对某个观点。再比如：Most Americans would , I suspect be opposed to this proposal. 我猜，大多数美国人都会反对这个提案。

然而Cristina非常坚决，最后，父亲不得不承认Cristina had bullfighting in her blood。in one's blood，意思是in one’s personality or character。也就是“天生的，血液中带有的”。比如：Acting runs in their blood. 演戏是他们家族遗传的天分。

承认了这一点，父亲gave her the green light to attend the most famous school in Spain to learn the ropes of bullfighting. 首先，give the green light to意思是give someone permisssion to do or start something. 允许某人做某事，允许某人开始做某事。这个用法和汉语中我们常说的“开绿灯”有相似之处。再来看去西班牙最好的学校学什么呢？learn the ropes of bullfighting，这里learn the ropes of可不是学习什么绳子，而是learn how to do something “摸到门道”的意思。比如：When you go to a new school , it takes a while learn the ropes. 你要去一所新学校，得过一段时间才能熟悉那里的人和环境。

然而，这个世界上不会有真正的smooth sailing，字面意思为“平稳的航行”，也就是没有什么事情会永远easy and without problems，没有任何问题，没有任何阻碍的。很多人，特别是同行们对她的加入非常不满。有些人甚至在她上场的时候辱骂她。不过，对于Cristina来说，这些辱骂恰恰成为她不断努力的动力。她要用实力让骂她的人eat their words. 通过上下文意思，大家可以判断出eat one’s words意思是admit that what one said is wrong。让某人承认自己说的是错的。也就是“收回某人所说的话”之意。例如：I never expect him to win , but he did ! I have to eat my words. 我真没想到他会赢，可他真的赢了。我得收回说出的话了。

好了，今天的故事就到这里。我们下期“布朗尼加分”口语再见吧。