Neil: Welcome to another Real English programme from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil and with me today is Yang Li.

Yang Li: 大家好，在今天的地道英语节目中我们一起学习成语，是吗 Neil?

Neil: Yes we are, and that idiom is – pigs… might… fly. Pigs might fly.

Yang Li: 字面意思是说猪可能会飞。可是我就不明白了，猪压根儿不会飞，那这儿为什么说猪可能会飞呢？

Neil: Well, that’s exactly it Yang Li, pigs don’t fly. So we say ‘pigs might fly’ when there is no chance of something happening at all.

Yang Li: Ah 我明白了。在英语里，当我们想表达一件不可能发生的事情时，就可以用 pigs might fly 这个成语。能给我们举些例子吗？

Neil: Of course. Say for example you’re running a marathon for the first time and you’re not a very confident runner. A friend says to you – how long do you think it will take? Four hours? You would say – and pigs might fly because you know there is no chance of that happening.

Yang Li: 如果你不是一个非常擅长长跑的人，你决定参加马拉松，一个朋友说你在四个小时内可以跑完，这时你就可以说 pigs might fly；也就是说绝对不可能！

Neil: Here are some more examples.

Example

A: I bought a lottery ticket yesterday.

B: Just think, you could buy a new sports car.

A: And I’d buy a house in Hawaii... and pigs might fly!

A: Look... Brad Pitt…he is just gorgeous.

B: Why can’t a man like that ask us on a date?

A: Yeah pigs might fly!

Yang Li: Neil 其实汉语里我们也有一个相似的表达，太阳从西边出来了！因为太阳永远不会从西边出来！

Neil: Ah interesting. I am enjoying learning Chinese, you know?

Yang Li: But how is it going? Are you fluent yet?

Neil: Ha, pigs might fly! Anyway, that’s today’s idiom – pigs might fly.

Yang Li: 太阳从西边出来了！要想学到更多地道的英语常用表达和短语，都可以登陆BBC英语教学的网站， www.bbcchina.com.cn 感谢收听，下次再见！

Neil: Bye.