Lesson 78 The last one? 最后一根吗?

After reading an article entitled 'Cigarette Smoking and Your Health' I lit a cigarette to calm my nerves. I smoked with concentration and pleasure as I was sure that this would be my last cigarette. For a whole week I did not smoke at all and during this time, my wife suffered terribly. I had all the usual symptoms of someone giving up smoking: a bad temper and an enormous appetite. My friends kept on offering me cigarettes and cigars. They made no effort to hide their amusement whenever I produced a packet of sweets from my pocket. After seven days of this I went to a party. Everybody around me was smoking and I felt extremely uncomfortable. When my old friend Brian urged me to accept a cigarette, it was more than I could bear. I took one guiltily, lit it and smoked with satisfaction. My wife was delighted that things had returned to normal once more. Anyway, as Brian pointed out, it is the easiest thing in the world to give up smoking. He himself has done it lots of times!

参考译文

读完一篇题为《吸烟与健康》的文章之后，我点上了一枝香烟，来镇定一下自己紧张的神经。我聚精会神而又愉快地吸着这枝烟。因为我确信这是我最后一枝烟了。整整一个星期我根本没有吸烟。在此期间，我妻子吃尽了苦头。我具备了戒烟者通常表现出来的所有症状：脾气暴躁和食欲旺盛。我的朋友们不断地向我递香烟和雪茄。每当我从口袋里掏出一包糖果时，他们都毫不掩饰地表现出他们对此感到非常好笑。这样过了 7 天以后，我去参加一次聚会。我周围的每个人都在吸烟，我感到非常不自在。当我的老朋友布赖恩极力劝我接受一枝香烟时，我再也忍不住了。我内疚地接过一枝点上，心满意足地抽起来。一切又都恢复了正常，为此我妻子十分高兴。不管怎么说，正如布赖恩指出的那样，戒烟是世界上最容易的事情，他自己就已戒了很多次了!

New words and expressions

• entitle v. 给（书）命名
• calm v. 使镇定
  • I tried to calm the dog.
  • 使某人冷静 calm sb down.
• nerve n. 神经
  • nerve damage
  • nervous a. 紧张的
  • 放松的 relaxed
• concentration n. 集中，专心
  • concentrate + on 专注于，集中精神在...
  • a concentration camp
• suffer v. 受苦
  • +from (病灾)
• symptom n. 症状
  • 感冒的症状 the symptom of cold
• temper n. 脾气
  • I have a bad temper.
  • I have a short temper.
  • control my temper
  • lose one's temper 发脾气
• appetite n. 胃口，食欲
  • I have a good appetite.
  • I have no appetite.
• produce sth (from / out of sth) 拿出，出示（以供检验或使用）
  • produce a railway ticket for inspection
• urge v. 力劝；强烈建议
  • urge sb to do
• satisfaction n. 满意
  • satisfied a. 满意的
  • be satisfied with 对...满意
  • be happy with
  • be pleased with
  • be fulfilled with
  • 对...失望 be disappointed with
• delighted a. 高兴的，欣喜的 = very happy
  • His parents were absolutely delighted about the baby.

注释

• light - lit - lit 点燃
• big
  • huge/enormous
• keep (on) doing 不停地做，持续地做
  • The child was crying loudly, but he kept on watching TV.
• try to do 努力做
  • make an effort to do
  • make no effort 表示「根本不作努力」
• 句型：did A, did B and did C