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A: Happy New Year! 欢迎大家来到2012年第一期的美语训练班! 我是杨琳！
B: 我是 Kat! Happy New year everyone! First, Let's see what we're going to learn today!
A: 好！今天，咱们要挥动大斧子砍木头，要被老师请家长，要看看如何处理办公室里的流言蜚语，还要告诉大家怎么用美语说“必备单品”，和“瞎指挥”。
B: Sounds interesting！
A: 不过咱们还是先来学个词儿！
Learn A Word: thorny
今天我们要学的词是thorny. Thorny is spelled t-h-o-r-n-y, thorny. Thorn 本身是刺的意思，而 thorny 变成形容词，意思是棘手的，富有争议的。最近美国联邦贸易委员会宣布要对Facebook 脸谱网站是否侵犯用户个人隐私进行调查。Facebook's privacy problem has always been a thorny issue. 脸谱网站的隐私设置一直是一个有争议的议题。In the post Cold War era, missile defense is still a thorny question in Russia-US relations. 后冷战时期，导弹防御仍然是美俄关系中的棘手议题。 The super-committee failed to reach an agreement on the thorny deficit problem. 美国超级委员会没能就棘手的赤字问题达成一致。好的，今天我们学习的词是thorny, thorny, thorny.
A: 明年是美国总统大选年，现在，参选人经常辩论，There are a lot of thorny issues in their debates.
B: Yes, and their campaign teams spend a lot of time preparing them for those debates so that they know what to say when those thorny questions come up.
A: Wow, 所以真正厉害的人不是那些政客，而是他们身后的campaign managers？
B: Well, to some extent, that's true.
A: 不过，不知道这些Politicians能不能忍受别人指导他的一举一动。
B: Well, these campaign managers or consultants know what they're doing. They're professionals, not backseat drivers.
A: backseat drivers?
B: 听下面的popular American, and you'll know what I mean!
Popular American: All ears; Back seat driver
