(单词翻译:单击)
各位亲爱的听众朋友,欢迎来到《点滴英语天天学》!我是Juliet。在今后的日子里,Juliet将带您体验美国纽约大学,美国哈弗大学的《原味美语》口语课堂的学习内容。Let's go!
Jane告诉了Nancy:Ken终于向Debbie求婚了,下个月就结婚。那么Nancy是什么反映呢?我们来听Nancy说的一番话:
You've got to be kidding. Ken is so much older than she is. He's robbing the cradle. Well, Debbie has always wanted a sugar daddy and now she's going to have one. I have to admit, they do seem crazy about each other. I mean, they'er always making out in public.
Nancy 说的这段话是什么意思呢?我们暂且不管,先来学习四个美语原味表述:rob the cradle,sugar daddy,be crazy about,make out。今天,我们先来学习:rob the cradle。
我们经常说的“老牛吃能嫩草”就是rob the cradle. To rob the cradle means to date someone who is much younger than oneself. 译为:和比自己年级小的异性约会。我们通过下面的例句来熟悉它的意思和把握它的运用:
1. Are you sure it doesn't bother you how much older I am? I feel like people are judging me for robbing the cradle.(你真的不介意我的年龄吗?我感觉别人总是拿我和年龄小的人约会来数落我。)
解析句式:Are you sure +从句:表示“你确认......”“你肯定......”的意思。例如:Are you sure you are dialing the right number? (你确定你打的号码是对的吗?)
解析句式:It doesn't bother you+从句表示“某人不会介意某事”。从句是主语从句,it 是形式主语。例如:It didn't bother you that I was singing while you studying this afternoon. (你不介意今天下午你在学习的时候我在唱歌吗?)
解析短语:feel like:想做某事 例如:I feel like going to Europe for a visit next summer vacation.(我好想明年暑假去一趟欧洲。)Enough said. If you feel like working here, you only have to say so.(不用多说了,如果你愿意在这里工作,照直说好了。)
解析短语:judge sb. for something:由于某事而判断某人好或者坏
2. Uncle Bill, who is nearly eighty, married a thirty-year-old woman. That is really robbing the cradle.(将近80岁的叔叔Bill取了一个年纪仅仅30岁的女人,这真是老牛吃嫩草了!)
解析语法:who is nearly eighty是非限定性定语从句,补充说明主语Bill的年龄情况。
我们再来看一个小对话:
A: I hear that Bill is dating Ann. (我听说Bill要和Ann约会。)
B: Isn't that sort of robbing the cradle? She's much younger than he is. (这不就是有点老牛吃嫩草吗?她比他年轻很多啊!)
解析短语:sort of的意思是“有点,稍稍”,表示一定的程度。例如:I sort of regarded that as mainly a business relationship.(我多少认为这主要是工作关系。)
Rob the cradle在口语中可以使用,属于非正式书面用语。那么,Nancy说到的“He's robbing the cradle.”用标准书面英语来如何说呢?我们可以用“dating someone so much younger than he is”来进行表述。
我们今天的学习就到此结束了,明天Juliet继续说美语“be crazy about someone”,不见不散哦!Bye for now!