[考试那点事]练听力。Lesson 40:Food and talk 进餐与交谈

Lesson 40:Food and talk
              进餐与交谈

   First listen and then answer the question.
   听录音，然后回答以下问题。
   Was Mrs. Rumbold a good companion at dinner?
   Last week at a dinner party, the hostess asked me to sit next to Mrs. Rumbold. Mrs. Rumbold was a large, unsmiling lady in a tight1 black dress. She did not even look up when I took my seat beside her. Her eyes were fixed2 on her plate and in a short time, she was busy eating. I tried to make conversation.
   'A new play is coming to "The Globe" soon,' I said. 'Will you be seeing it?'
   'No,' she answered.
   'Will you be spending your holidays abroad this year?' I asked.
   'No,' she answered.
   'Will you be staying in England?' I asked.
   'No,' she answered.
   In despair3, I asked her whether she was enjoying her dinner.
   'Young man,' she answered, 'if you ate more and talked less, we would both enjoy our dinner!"
New words and expressions 生词和短语
hostess  n. 女主人
unsmiling  adj. 不笑的，严肃的
tight  adj. 紧身的
fix  v. 凝视
globe  n. 地球
despair  n. 绝望
参考译文
   在上星期的一次宴会上，女主人安排我坐在兰伯尔德夫人的身旁。兰伯尔德夫人是一位身材高大、表情严肃的女人，穿一件紧身的黑衣服。当我在她身旁坐下来的时候，她甚至连头都没有抬一下。她的眼睛盯着自己的盘子，不一会儿就忙着吃起来了。我试图找个话题和她聊聊。
   “一出新剧要来‘环球剧场’上演了，”我说，“您去看吗？”
   “不，”她回答。
   “您今年去国外度假吗？”我又问。
   “不，”她回答。
   “您就呆在英国吗？”我问。
   “不，”她回答。
   失望之中我问她饭是否吃得满意。
   “年轻人，”她回答说，“如果你多吃点，少说点，我们两个都会吃得好的！”
 


自学导读
1．next to, 挨着。
它既可以表示座位挨着也可以表示地理位置上挨着：
Who was the man sitting next to you during the meeting?
开会时坐在你旁边的那人是谁？
There's a field/shop next to our house.
我们家房子边上有一片田野/一个商店。
2．Mrs. Rumbold was a large, unsmiling lady in a tight black dress.兰伯尔德夫人是一位身材高大、表情严肃的女人，穿一件紧身的黑衣服。
（1）unsmiling的反义词为smiling（微笑的，喜气洋洋的）。有些形容词前面可以加上前缀un-来表示相反的意义：comfortable （舒服的）/uncomfortable（不舒服的），true（真实的）/untrue（不真实的）， interesting（有趣的）/uninteresting（无趣味的，乏味的）。
（2）in在这里表示“穿着”、“戴着”：
A young man in a blue dress is inquiring4 for you.
有位穿蓝衣服的小伙子在找您。
3．take one's seat, 在指定的位置上就座。
take a seat表示“坐下”，比sit要正式：
Please take a seat.
请坐。
take one's seat则表示位置事先已安排好：
After everyone had taken his seat, the meeting/dinner party began.
大家各自就座后，会议/宴会便开始了。
4．Her eyes were fixed on her plate and in a short time, she was busy eating. 她的眼睛盯着自己的盘子，不一会儿就忙着吃起来了。
（1）fix最常用的意思为“使……固定”、“安装”：
she fixed a handle on the door.
她在门上安了个把手。
fix on的含义之一为“使（目光、注意力等）集中于”、“盯着”：
He fixed his eyes on the book, but he couldn't understand a word.
他的眼睛盯着那本书，但他一个字儿也没看懂。
（2）busy+ doing sth.表示“忙着做某事”， doing前可以加 in，也可以不加：
They are busy (in) repairing the car.
他们正忙着修车。
We're all busy getting ready for the performance.
我们都在忙着为演出进行准备。
5．If you ate more and talked less…如果你多吃点，少说点……
在并列句中，相同的句子成分（如主语、谓语、状语等）通常由同一词性的单词/词组表示，并且它们的长度也差不多，以保持句子的平衡性。在课文中的这句话中ate与talked对应，more与less对应。再如：
You can either go out or stay here.
你出去也行，呆在这里也行。
He wants to buy a lot of things, but he has little money.
他想买的东西很多，但他的钱很少。

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