上一期我们介绍了很多含有up的短语，还认识了一个失意的音乐家。与up遥相呼应的，当然就是down啦。
之前呢，已经零零星星为大家介绍了一些含有down 的短语，例如turn down, break down。也许今天大家要认识的短语们，会显得颇有些小众。
废话不多说，我们先来看看这些短语们今天为我们上演的故事吧。
Charlie’s mom used to be the monarch (君主) in his family. She was in full charge of organizing every family meeting, laying down(制定) all kinds of behavioral rules, and shouting others down (压制别人的声音) if they dare to challenge her.
Charlie was a rebellious (叛逆的) 16-year-old soul. He didn’t like it when his importance in the family was played down (贬低) by his mom. However, he also loved his mom and did not want to let her down (使…失望).
Leaving home might alarm (警告) his mom, but this idea appalled(让他厌恶) him. It sounded like a threat (威胁), and families shouldn’t do such a horrible thing to each other.
Do you want to know what he did to solve the problem? He wrote a long and touching letter to his mom and hid it under her pillow one night. The next morning, his mom found the letter when she was cleaning the bedroom.
Tears started streaming down her face. She finally decided to step down (退位) from her throne (王位).
这是一个不那么奇怪却比较温馨的故事。母子之间通过一封充满爱意的信而跨越鸿沟。(spoiler alert: 至于信的内容，请大家耐心等候明天的更新)。
down本身是向下的意思，众所周知的sit down, look down都体现了它的原意。
同时，它有很多延伸出来的意思，例如下滑，降低，坠落，下落到底线就会停止。有了这些延伸出的意思，理解短语就简单多了。
例如，shout down other people’s opinions, 也就是依靠自己的shouting (叫喊) 来降低别人的说话力度，压制别人的观点。
play down someone's/ something's importance, 就是降低某人/某事的重要性。
let someone down，让别人感到在坠落，也就是辜负了他人。
step down from a prominent (重要的) position，就是从一个重要的位置上退下，或是退位。
lay down a policy, 就是把一项政策白纸黑字列下来，使它尘埃落定。
到今天为止，我们分析了in, out, up and down，也明白了语言不是完全没有规律的。下面我们就来做几个小练习，结束今天的学习吧。
小练习
His parent tell him that even if he doesn’t always get great test scores at school, they are not going to feel ____.
A. laid down
B. let down
C. shouted down
He _____ from his role in the government because his health was declining(下降) too much.
A. stepped down
B. shouted down
C. played down
He _____ my ideas because he was not used to listening to other people’s opinions.
A. backed down
B. shouted down
C. laid down
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