江山易改，本性難移

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Jennifer: Hello, I'm Jennifer and this is Authentic Real English. I'm with Feifei, and we're here at the zoo!

Feifei: 大家好！今天倫敦天氣特別好，陽光燦爛，Jen 和我來到了動物園。We've already seen the elephants and penguins - I love the penguins, they're so funny.

Jennifer: We're moving on now to my favourites - the big cats!

Feifei: 誒，我看動物園的簡介上說，他們有獅子、老虎、美洲獅還有豹子呢。

Jennifer: Fantastic - I love leopards. They're so beautiful and they also feature in one of my favourite phrases in English. Can a leopard change its spots?

Feifei: Let me guess, it's "a leopard can't change its spots"?

Jennifer: Absolutely, Feifei. The phrase "a leopard can't change its spots" is used to describe a person's character, particularly if they have some bad habits.

Feifei: 就像一只豹子無法改變它身上的豹紋一樣，一個人很難改變他的性格。那么這個短語的意思就是積習難改，就是我們常說的"江山易改，本性難移"。

Jennifer: Let's hear some examples of how you might use this phrase. John promised me that he would stay out of trouble at school, but don't believe him. A leopard can't change its spots. Katie used to have a reputation for gossiping and spreading rumours. I've heard she's changed now, but I don't trust her: a leopard can't change its spots.

Feifei: Great phrase. Let's see if we can find a real life leopard then!

Jennifer: Well, the big cat area is over there, according to this map. Oh look! I can see lions... Ah... They have little baby ones too! But where are the leopards?

Feifei: Er, Jen...

Jennifer: They must be here somewhere, a big spotty cat like that can't be too hard to find.

Feifei: (whispering) Jen 我覺得你應該...

Jennifer: Hurry, they must be this way. I want to see a leopard right now! A leopard can't change its spots and I can't change the fact that it's my favourite animal in the whole wide world!

Feifei: 我說你應該轉(zhuǎn)過身回頭看一下！

(huge growl and roar)

Jennifer: (terrified) Oh. Hello Mr Leopard. You're a lot bigger in real life...

Feifei: (whispering) Join us again for another edition of Authentic Real English from BBC UKChina... Bye!

(roar)

Jennifer: Here kitty, kitty, kitty. Nice kitty...

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（來源：BBC英語教學 編輯：Julie）