Once in a Blue Moon / 千载难逢

Welcome to English in a Minute, where we teach you all about idioms in American English. / 欢迎收听《一分钟英语》，在这里我们将教您一些美式英语中的俚语。

Have you ever heard the American English idiom ... Once in a blue moon. / 你听过美语俚语"Once in a blue moon"吗?（= 难得一见、千载难逢）

It doesn't mean that the moon is blue. / 这并不意味着月亮是蓝色的。

So let's listen to this American English conversation to find out how it is used. / 让我们来听这段美式英语对话，看看它是如何使用的：

A: Where did you say your brother lives? / 你说你哥哥住在哪里?

B: He lives all the way in Minnesota, so I never get to see him. I only get to see him once in a blue moon. / 他住在明尼苏达州很偏远的地方，所以我很难见到他，见他对我来说是千载难逢啊。

Once in a blue moon is a common way of saying that something does not happen often. / Once in a blue moon是表示某事不经常发生的常见说法。

But what is a blue moon? We typically see a full moon once a month. / 但是什么是蓝月亮呢?通常我们每个月能看到一次满月。

And seeing two full moons in the same month is rare. / 而且在一个月里看到两次满月是很罕见的。

The second full moon in a particular month is called the blue moon. / 一个月的第二个满月被称为蓝月亮。

Once in a blue moon is an informal phrase. / Once in a blue moon是一个非正式短语。

And that's English in a Minute. / 以上就是本期的《一分钟英语》。

本文节选自《English in a Minute》，VOA的一个教学栏目，用一分钟的时间介绍一个美式俚语，语速适中，标准美语。