Lesson 49 The end of a dream 美梦告终

Tired of sleeping on the floor, a young man in Teheran saved up for years to buy a real bed. For the first time in his life, he became the proud owner of a bed which had springs and a mattress. Because the weather was very hot, he carried the bed on to the roof of his house. He slept very well for the first two nights, but on the third night, a storm blew up. A gust of wind swept the bed off the roof and sent it crashing into the courtyard below. The young man did not wake up until the bed had struck the ground. Although the bed was smashed to pieces, the man was miraculously unhurt. When he woke up, he was still on the mattress. Glancing at the bits of wood and metal that lay around him, the man sadly picked up the mattress and carried it into his house. After he had put it on the floor, he promptly went to sleep again.

参考译文

德黑兰的一个人年轻人由于对睡地板感到厌倦，于是积蓄多年买了一张真正的床。他平生第一次自豪地拥有了一张既有弹簧又带床垫的床。由于天气很热，他便把床搬到了他的屋顶上。头两天晚上，他睡得非常好。但第三天晚上起了风暴。一阵大风把床从屋顶上刮了下来，把它摔碎在下面的院子里。那年轻人直到床撞到地上才醒了过来。尽管床摔成了碎片，但年轻人却奇迹地没有受伤。他醒来时，仍然躺在床垫上。年轻人看了一眼周围的碎木片和碎金属片，伤心地捡起了床垫，把它拿进了屋。他把床垫往地板上一放，很快又睡着了。

New words and expressions

tired

• a. 累的
  • be tired of 受够了
  • If you get tired of life in the city, you can always come back home.
  • = be sick of
  • = be fed up with

spring

• n.泉水

  • hot spring 温泉

• 弹簧

mattress

• n. 床垫
  • quilt 被子
  • pillow 枕头
  • sheet 床单
  • bedcover 床罩

gust

• 一阵狂风
  • breeze n. 微风
    • a cool breeze
    • a see breeze
    • flowers are waving in the breeze
  • gale n. 大风
  • a sudden gust of wind

sweep

• vt. 扫除
  • swept - swept

courtyard

• n. 庭院, 院子
• 篮球场 basketball court

smash

• vt. 打碎
  • smash the mirror
  • smash sth into pieces
  • crack vt. 砸裂
    • crack a nut

miraculously

• /məˈrækjələslɪ/
• adv. 奇迹般地
  • miracle n. 奇迹
  • work miracles 创造奇迹，产生奇迹

unhurt

a. 未受到伤害的

glance

• stare v. 盯着
• glare v. 瞪眼

promptly

• adv. 迅速地
  • prompt a. 迅速的，及时的
  • a prompt reply
  • reply promptly to the invitation

注释

• 状语从句
  • All the students came to the park by bike.（介词 + 名词 的方式状语）
  • This, for example, is a good place.
  • I went to university when I was 18 years old.
  • When I was 18 years old, I went to university.
  • I, when I was 18 years old, went to university.
  • because 原因状语从句
    • as
    • since
    • for（不能放在句首）
    • Now that 既然，因为 + 现在时态
• send ... doing ... 使某人做...
• until = till
  • +持续动词 We waited until it stops raining.
  • 否定 + 点动词 We didn't leave until it stops raining.
• Although 让步状语从句
  • though
  • even though/if
  • while
• doing 作为状语，表示同时
  • Jim hurt his arm playing tennis.
  • Playing tennis, Jim hurt his arm.
  • Jim, playing tennis, hurt his arm.
  • Carol is in the bar having a drink.
  • A man ran out of the house shouting.

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