Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Chapter 12~13
语言知识点
1. After all, it was good, ripe age; and Ralston's straight words had, in some ways, had an effect.
①ripe age 高龄。 ripe原本是“成熟”的意思,形容age时理解为“年迈的”。
②have an effect 直译为“有影响”,结合上下文可以理解为Chips听了Ralston的话,“往心里去了”。take something to heart 这个短语也可以表示“往心里去,在意”。还有个用法是Don't take something personally,表示“不要生气,因为接下来要说的话不是针对你的”。
2. He felt that it would not be fair to hang on if he could not decently do his job. Besides, he would not sever himself completely.
这两句话表达了Chips对工作的态度:如果不能把工作做好,赖着不走是不合理的。但是,即使要退休,他也不会完全脱离自己呆了这么久的学校。
①decently作副词,表示“可以接受的,像样的,相当好的”。形容词decent还可以表示“得体的”,比如说,父母总是希望我们有一份体面的工作,就可以说成“a decent job”。同时,短语 a decent number of 相当于 many,表示“大量的”。
②sever 作动词,表示“切断”,相当于“cut off”。这个词要注意发音,读作 [ˈsevə(r)],要和severe [sɪˈvɪə(r)] 这个词区分开来。
3. Staefel was thirty years his junior, but the two men got on excelently.
A is + 年纪 + B‘s junior/senior, 表示“A比B大或者小多少岁”,一个非常实用的表达。
4. Once a term he dined with the Head, and once also with the masters.
dine 作动词,表示“进餐”,是一种比较正式的说法。这个词我印象比较深刻,因为学生总是记不住意思,也读不准。今天又学到一个实用的表达:dine and dash,吃了就跑,意思就是“吃霸王餐”,很形象。
5. But one didn't guess what lay ahead.
lie ahead,将在今后出现或发生。非常实用、简洁的表达。
6. Armies clenched in deadlock from the sea to Switzerland.
in deadlock 僵持,陷入僵局
7. I have to take classes myself, take prep for fools like that, work till midnight every night, and get cold-shouldered as a slacker on top of everything.
①take prep for sb, 给某人带晚自习,对老师来说真是非常实用的短语了。
②get cold-shouldered 受到冷落
③slaker n.懒汉
8. You look pretty fit, and, of course, you know all the ropes.
know the ropes 熟悉情况, 正在熟悉情况,可以说:I'm learning the ropes.
9.I don't mean a lot of hard word for you - you needn't take anything strenuously - just a few odd jobs here and there, as you choose.
odd这个词我记得有“古怪”的意思,但odd jobs在这里表示的是“零星的工作”,odd是“偶尔”的意思,相当于今天文中出现的occasional.
语音知识点
1. breathlessly ['breθləslɪ]
之前一直以为这个词的名词和动词只是最后一个音节发音不同,今天查了一下才发现元音也是不同的,动词breathe读作[bri:ð],而名词breath读作['breθ]。
2. There was a lot of war talk.
war talk这个短语重音在前。
3.1913; sixty-five
这两个表达都是重音在后。