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Neil 把胡子剃得一干二净，因为留胡须现在是“a thing”，所以他不要随波逐流。听音频，学习这个词的新流行用法。

Feifei
大家好，欢迎收听 BBC 英语教学的《地道英语》节目。我是冯菲菲。

Neil
And I’m Neil.

Feifei
Where’s your beard?

Neil
Well, I, uh, shaved it off. I fancied a change. Beards are such a thing these days.

Feifei
Yup, ever since beards became a thing, I’ve found them a bit boring.

Neil
‘A thing’. Of course, we know what the word ‘thing’ normally means, but what does ‘a thing’ mean here?

Feifei
本集节目中给大家介绍的表达是“a thing”。大家都知道 a thing 最常用的意思是“一件东西，一个物品”，而目前流行的说法是用“a thing”来表示“一个潮流，一种时尚”。比如：如果我们说“留胡须 is a thing”，那实际要表达的意思就是“留胡须很时尚，lots of people have them”。

Neil
Yes. Cats on the internet – they’re a thing.

Feifei
Oh, fidget spinners. They’re definitely a thing.

Neil
Fidget spinners?

Feifei
对，就是那个风靡全球的“fidget spinners 指尖陀螺”。Those little metal or plastic toys that spin on your finger. Know them?

Neil
Oh, those things that kids everywhere are playing with.

Feifei
Not just kids. Anyway. What else is a thing? Listen to these examples.

Examples
Using funny GIFs in your message is such a thing.

You know parkour: the sport of running and jumping across buildings? Why is that such a thing?

Organic powdered food. Since when has that been a thing?

Feifei
A well-known use of this phrase was after American personality Kim Kardashian posted a picture of herself pregnant, with the words “pregnancy lips 怀孕的嘴唇”. 

Neil
It’s a term not many people had heard of, and prompted responses like this: “Pregnancy lips? Is that even a thing?”

Feifei
当你对别人所描述的一件事情一无所知，或对所描述的事情持怀疑态度的时侯，你就可以说“Is that a thing?”或“Is that even a thing?”。

Neil
But there’s little doubt the phrase ‘a thing’ is itself ‘a thing’ – it’s now been included in major dictionaries.

Feifei
There we are. A thing. No plans to grow the beard back, then?

Neil
Only when being clean-shaven becomes too much of a thing!

Feifei
Bye.

Neil
Bye.

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