國立教育廣播電臺

Joey:

Ah~ a cockroach!

Hope:

Ah~ a cockroach! Here is a box. Cover it!

Joey:

No way!

Hope:

Phew! It ran out of the door.

Joey:

Sorry, I was 太害怕了!

Hope:

No worries. You were just in such panic when you saw the cockroach. I was scared of it too.

Joey:

In fact, I am always in a panic when there are insects like cockroaches around.

And I don’t like ants, flies, ladybugs, grasshoppers and butterflies.

Hope:

You know there is a term describing the fear. It is called the phobia.

Joey:

Phobia?

Hope:

Yes. For instance, you are afraid of insects. It is called entomophobia.

Joey:

Entomophobia? Interesting. So, I am also afraid of snakes, and stuff like that. What is that in English?

Hope:

Oh~ it is ophidiophobia. It is an extreme, overwhelming fear of snakes. You can say you are ophidiopobic.

Joey:

Yes, I am ophidiophobic.

Hope:

And when you are afraid of reptiles. It is herpetophobia. So, it includes the fear of snakes and lizards.

Joey:

Herpetophobia. So, I am herpetophobic, right?

Hope:

Right. The other way to describe the phobia, for example,

we can also say the house lizard triggered my herpetophobia.

Joey:

The house lizard triggered my herpetophobia. 壁虎觸發我的爬蟲類恐懼症

Hope:

You can also say “I’ve got phobia about snakes.”

Joey:

I’ve got phobia about snakes. This is easier to say.

Hope:

It is!

Joey:

So, Hope, have you got any phobia?

Hope:

I have got phobia about worms, insects, and reptiles, dogs, fish and a lot of things.

Joey:

你甚麼都怕呀?!

Hope:

Yes. I have phobia about everything! ……

Joey:

By the way, are there any other phobia we can learn today?

Hope:

Yes. There is a modern phobia called nomophobia. Guess what it means.

Joey:

Nomophobia…No mobile phone phobia? 無手機恐懼症?

Hope:

Hey, good for you. For someone who cannot live without their smartphone, they are nomophobiic.

Here is another one, sociophobia. Do you know it?

Joey:

Sociophobia…..socio…..phobia 社交恐懼症，對吧!

Hope:

That’s right. Here is another one that we hear often, mysophobia.

Joey:

Mysophobia………I have no idea about this term. What is it?

Hope:

Mysophobia means a fear of germs. 很怕細菌。

Joey:

I got it. Mysophobia 是潔癖，對吧?