Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Chapter 14~15
No.1 语言知识点
1.He felt very fit, and the actual work was not taxing.
taxing 一词在这里相当于 tiring, 作形容词,表示“令人疲劳的”。它的动词形式是tax,表示“to make someone have to work hard or make an effort”,“使费力气,使伤脑筋”。如果我想表达:你真是在考验我的耐心。就可以说成:You are really taxing my patience.
此外,tax还有一个我们更熟悉的用法,作名词,表示“税收”。
2.They did not guess how closely he had kept in touch from across the road.
guess 在这里表示“猜中,想得到”。我一般想表达“他们肯定想不到……”,可能会第一反应说:They won't know that...,以后可以用:They didn't guess...
3. The story wen round - heard Chips's latest?
The story wen round... 消息传开了...
4. One day he got a letter from Switzerland, from friends there; it was heavily censored, but conveyed some news.
censor
5. Chips, in his room again, was not displeased by the comment. Yes, he still had'em - those ideas of dignity and generosity that were becoming increasingly rare in a frantic world.
这是整本书读到目前为主最喜欢的一句话。能保持住那些在疯狂的世界里变得越来越难得的尊严和宽容的思想,实属不易。
6. And once, on a night of full moonlight, the air-raid warning was given while Chips was taking his lower fourth in Latin.
given一词除了是我们非常熟悉的give这个词的过去分词之外,它本身也是一个词。
首先,它可以作名词,在口语中表示“理所当然的事,可以肯定的基本事实”,比如:He will be at least 15 minutes late - that's a given. 短语take sth as given,就表示“认为某事是想当然的”。
其次,可以作介词,表示“考虑到,鉴于”,比如:Given the circumstances...
最后,它还可以作形容词,表示“特定的,制定的,事先安排好的”,比如:The rules are to be followed in any given situation.
7. So he went on with his Latin, speaking a little louder amidst the reverberating crashes of the guns and the shrill whine of anti-aircraft shells.
①说起来很搞笑,amidst 这个词是我今天打出来才发现自己一直拼错了,拼的是admist, 读也读成/ədmist/,查一查才发现,应该读成/əmidst/,而且还有一个词是amid,比这个词要口语化一点。真是意外的收获。
②reverberate 除了可以表示“(声音)震荡”之外,还可以表示“(事件或思想)产生广泛而长久的影响”,比如: The events of 9/11 will reverberate through history.
8. It had been a damp, foggy day, and the walk across the quadrangle to the Dining Hall had given him a chill.
give sb a chill 这个短语可以从两个维度理解。
一是从字面意思上,理解为:让某人起了一身冷汗或者一身鸡皮疙瘩。还可以说成:send a chill (through ab)/(down sb's spine)
第二层意思是:使某人着凉。另有一个短语catch a chill,“受寒,着凉”特别适合我这两天的情况,因为受了凉,嗓子哑了快一个星期了。
No.2 语音知识点
1. ratio [ˈreɪʃiəʊ] vs. ration [ˈræʃn]
长得很像,读音差别很大
2.colonel [ˈkɜ:nl] n. 上校
这个词是今天群里讨论得最多的词,其实大家不说我都没发现,这个词里没有字母r却发了卷舌音,其实是非常特殊的。因为按照规则,美音中只有遇到字母r才卷舌。
在网上查了一下,发现有很多人讨论过这个问题,比较主流的观点是说这个词是英语从其他语言里借来的(具体从哪儿借的我看到有好几个不同的说法),最开始拼写中是有字母r的,后来在历史的发展过程中,拼写有了变化,r不见了,但读音保留下来了,说起来算是一个“历史遗留问题”。
顺便记一下kernel这个单词,读音和colonel一样,但表示
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