内容简介

名词 “ground” 不仅有 “地面” 的意思，还可以被用来指 “观点，立场” 或比喻 “产生某物的有利条件”。包含 “ground” 的表达 “fall on stony ground” 就可以用来形容 “想法得不到回应或建议无法实施”。听节目，跟主持人菲菲和 Phil 一起学习表达 “fall on stony ground”。

文字稿

（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习惯用语或者表达。I'm Feifei, and I'm here with Phil. But you don't look happy today, Phil.

Phil
No, I'm not. I've just been with the rest of the team. We're working on a project, and they are just getting everything wrong! I tried to tell them exactly what they needed to do and what mistakes they were making, and my words fell on stony ground.

Feifei
They fell on stony ground? Maybe your ideas weren't that good, or you were being a bit rude. But, Iet's have a look at the expression 'fall on stony ground'.

Phil
Yes, we use it to say that a suggestion or idea is either unpopular or just ignored, like all my suggestions just now.

Feifei
Well, there's an image here. Think about seeds. If seeds are blown by the wind and fall on ground that has lots of stones, then they probably won't grow. They just die – like your ideas, Phil.

Phil
Don't remind me! It's often things that are unpopular that fall on stony ground. When a company announces a pay cut for their employees, it's likely to fall on stony ground. If you try to tell someone that their big idea probably isn't going to work, then there's a good chance that your warning will fall on stony ground.

Feifei
Let's hear some more examples of people using 'fall on stony ground'.

Examples
I told my son he needed to be home before dark on his bike. That fell on stony ground – he really wasn't happy.

A school near me has banned smartphones, and it's really fallen on stony ground – everyone is annoyed.

I really wanted to have a party for my birthday, but my suggestion fell on stony ground. Nobody wants to come!

Feifei
你正在收听的是 BBC 英语教学的 “地道英语” 节目。以上我们一起学习了表达 “fall on stony ground” 的用法。如果我们说一个想法或者建议 “falls on stony ground”，意思就是 “这个想法或者建议没有取得预期的效果，不受欢迎” 或者 “得不到回应，没有进展”。就好像一粒种子被播散在了满是石头的地面上，无法开花结果。

Phil
In the same way that we can use 'stony ground' to talk about ideas not being well received, we can use 'fertile ground' to describe a place, where it's easy for ideas to develop.

Feifei
是的。和 “fall on stony ground” 相反，“fertile ground（肥沃的土壤）” 这个表达则可以被用来比喻 “容易产生或发展想法的环境”。比如，“一所成功的大学往往是创新型研究的沃土。A successful university might be fertile ground for innovative research.”

Phil
Well, we hope that this programme is fertile ground for your English development. Join us again next time.

Feifei
See you then!

Phil
Bye!