Now the VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories.
Cold weather has a great effect on how our minds and our bodies work. Maybe that is why there are so many expressions that use the word cold. For centuries, the body's blood has been linked closely with the emotions. People who show no human emotions or feelings, for example, are said to be cold-blooded(冷血的, 没有感情的). Cold-blooded people act in cruel ways. They may do brutal things to others and not by accident.
For example, a newspaper says the police are searching for a cold-blooded killer. The killer murdered someone not in self-defense or because he was reacting to anger or fear. He seemed to kill for no reason and with no emotion as if taking someone's life meant nothing.
Cold can affect other parts of the body, the feet, for example. Heavy socks can warm your feet if your feet are really cold. But there is an expression to get cold feet(事到临头打退堂鼓，对原先有信心的事感到胆怯了) that has nothing to do with cold or your feet. The expression means being afraid to do something you had decided to do. For example, you agree to be president of an organization. But then you learn that all the other officers have resigned. All the work of the organization will be your responsibility. You are likely to get cold feet about being president when you understand the situation.
Cold can also affect your shoulder. You give someone the cold shoulder(故意对人冷淡,表现出轻视和讨厌的态度) when you refuse to speak to them. You treat them in a distant cold way. The expression probably comes from a physical act of turning your back toward someone instead of speaking to him face to face. You may give a cold shoulder to a friend who has not kept a promise he made to you, or to someone who has lied about you to others.
A cold fish(指那些对人很冷淡，很不友好，根本没有意思和别人友好相处的人) is not a fish. It is a person. But it is a person who is unfriendly, unemotional and shows no love or warmth. A cold fish does not offer much of himself to anyone. Someone who is a cold fish could be cold-hearted. Now cold-hearted person is someone who has no sympathy. Several popular songs in recent years were about cold-hearted men or cold-hearted women who without feeling broke the hearts of their lovers.
Out in the cold(受冷落) is an expression often heard. It means not getting something that everybody else got. A person might say that everybody but him got a pay raise that he was left out in the cold. And it is not a pleasant place to be.
This VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories was written by Marilyn Christiano. Maurice Joyce was the narrator. I'm Shirley Griffith.
