内容简介

伤感的电影和优美的音乐都可能会让我们深受感动。英语表达 “tug at the heartstrings” 就可以用来形容 “激发人内心的情感、让人触动心弦的感受或体验”。听节目，学习如何在日常对话中使用 “tug at the heartstrings”。

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（关于台词的备注: 请注意这不是广播节目的逐字稿件。本文稿可能没有体现录制、编辑过程中对节目做出的改变。）

Feifei
大家好，欢迎收听 BBC 英语教学的 “地道英语” 节目。在每期节目中，我们都会介绍一个英语母语人士或讲英语流利的人会用到的表达。I'm Feifei, and I'm joined by Georgie.

Georgie
Hi everyone.

Hi Feifei! How are you doing?

Feifei
I'm well, thank you! What about you?

Georgie
I actually feel quite emotional, Feifei! This morning, I watched a video about a man who was reunited with his pet dog after it had been missing for three weeks! It was a beautiful story – It really tugged at my heartstrings!

Feifei
Ah how sweet! Now, you said the story 'tugged at your heartstrings', and that's the phrase we're looking at in this programme. 'Tug' or 'pull' at the heartstrings means that something brings out strong emotions.

Georgie
That's right, but particularly emotions you might associate with the heart – things like love, compassion, sympathy or sadness. So, imagine something literally pulling on the nerves or strings attached to the heart. Feifei, when was the last time something pulled at your heartstrings?

Feifei
Recently, I've been following this soap on TV. And the two main characters really want to be with each other, and they've overcome a lot of difficulties. And we, the audience, really wanted them to be together as well! But in the end, they still couldn't be with each other. It really tugged at my heartstrings.

Georgie
Oh, I bet it did!

Feifei
Let's hear more examples from our BBC Learning English colleagues.

Examples
I saw my niece perform a song from a musical, and it really tugged at my heartstrings.

So, my friend has just got a puppy. And he's so cute! He was really tugging at my heartstrings!

I was going through my stuff from High School. And I saw all the silly things that I did with my friend. And all the old memories started tugging at my heartstrings.

Georgie
Now, we often hear references to the heart when we talk about emotions, don't we?

Feifei
Yes, in a similar way, if something affects you emotionally, you can say that it 'touched your heart', like that video you watched about the man and his dog probably touched your heart.

Georgie
It did. And if something 'melts your heart', it means you start to feel emotional about something that maybe you didn't before. It's the idea that your heart was icy and cold but now it's melted.

Feifei
OK, let's recap.

表达 “tug at the heartstrings” 的意思是 “触动心弦”，可以用来表达某件事情让人感到了强烈的感情或情绪，而这种情绪通常是感动、悲伤、同情或爱意。

这个表达中的动词 “tug” 的意思是 “用力拉拽”，它也可以被替换成 “pull（拉扯）”，表达的意思相同。与 “tug at the heartstrings” 或 “pull at the heartstrings” 意思相似的常用表达还有 “something touches your heart（触动了你的内心）”，还有 “something melts your heart（融化了你的心）”，它们都可以用来形容让你深受感动的事情；它们的不同之处在于，“something touches your heart” 更多地强调感情上受到的强烈影响，而 “something melts your heart” 则传达了像冰雪消融一般初次体验或没有想到会经历的感情波动。

And remember to come back next time for another useful English phrase.

Georgie
Thanks for joining us. Bye!

Feifei
Bye!