现代大学英语精读第一册 Lesson3(2)

The whole sentence: News about my children’s problems doesn’t make my husband as sad as me. He doesn’t bother about what is happening around us and to our children. He never says anything about them. mind: take care of; attend to

“minding his own life”: this present participle phrase functioning as adverbial of accompanying circumstances

The whole sentence He’s always been patient and talks little. He just does his duty and carries on his life.

Cf. “ mind one’s own business” ----------＞“don’t interfere” year after year: every year for many years

The whole sentence: Our land is getting poorer with each passing year, like us who are getting old, weak and tired.

“bleeding year after year”: this present participle phrases functions here as a cause. More example:

They sent us their statement, hoping to get our support.

They went on with their struggle, thinking theirs was a just cause.

Not having received an answer, he decided to write another letter to them.

The doctor, not wishing to make her nervous, did not fully explain the seriousness

of her condition.

“getting old and exhausted”: (rhetorical device) personification

Personification:

Definition: Referring to inanimate things or abstractions as if they were human. It is a kind of metaphor.

More examples:

The youth were singing, laughing and playing the music instruments. The twentieth year!

11) … but in a bad year, 3)

it’s not only: a kind of emphatic structure.

break: “break” in this sentence governs both “ploughs” and “hearts”, therefore we call this kind of rhetorical device as syllipsis.

Syllipsis (一语双叙)

Definition: a single word is made to modify or govern two or more words in the same sentence.

More examples:

The senator picked up his hat as well as his courage.

COATTAILS: Clothes that fit the man and the times. (Advert. In New York Times

Magazine, 1980)

Ten minutes later, the coffee and Commander Dana of Naval Intelligence arrived

simultaneously.

蜜蜂是在酿蜜，又是在酿造生活，……

----杨朔《荔枝蜜》

水调数声持酒听，午醉醒来愁未醒。送春出去几时回？临晚镜，伤流景，往

事后期空记省。

----张先《天仙子》

第二位汪太太过了门没生孩子，只生病。在家养病反倒把这病养家了，不肯

离开她，所以她终年娇弱得很……

----钱钟书《围城》

The whole sentence: … but when there is a drought, the land is so hard that the ploughs break. And we become very, very sad.

Question: Summarize these three paragraphs:

Answer: The wife tells us briefly about her family and how all her children left.

12) Only ten years ago, you could barter for things, but now it’s all cash. (para 4) The whole sentence: Just ten years ago, we cold exchange one thing for another, but today we have to use money to get everything we need. (In the past, we were more or less self-sufficient. But now, we have to buy everything in the market.)

13) used to do sth….but no longer…: it is often used to show a change

e.g. They used to come and see their parents every week, but no longer.

他们过去每周常来看他们父母，但现在不再了。

The whole sentence: In the past men made fine bamboo crafts but they no longer do that. to spring up: appear suddenly or develop quickly

to be filled with sth: to be made full of sth.

This past participle phrase functioning as post-modifier to modify “shops”. More examples:

The immediately went into

action.

to have no use for sth: to not need sth.

This is a relative clause.

e.g 当他们的儿子开始上学，他就不再需要玩具了。

When their son started school, he had no use of his toys.

The whole sentence: Many shops appear in a short time. In these shops there are lots of colorful plastic things and things that are useless for us.

15) Those rough fingers and toes are for working in the mud of our rice fields. (para 4)

Question: What is good of painting the nails of my fingers and toes?

Answer: Their place is in the paddy fields where I work, so there is no point of making them look pretty. … lightning would strike me. (para 4)

in somebody’s day: when somebody was young

The whole sentence: When I was young, I surely would be punished by God if I ever wore the kind of trousers they wear today.

Cultural background:

In Thailand, females wear wrap-around skirts. In some Asian countries, to be stuck dead by lightening is believed to be a punishment by God.

Question: What is the topic sentence of Para. 4? What are the supporting details? Answer: Topic sentence: “… we two haven’t changed much, but the village has.” Supporting details:

Cash instead of barter

Paid help

Plastic things instead of village crafts

The old alone on the land

Young people’s different way of thinking, dressing and behaving

17) I know, times have changed, but certain things should not change. (para 5) The whole sentence: I know, times have changed, but we shouldn’t give up or

abandon certain things, for example, our duty to our parents, our religious beliefs, our sympathy for others, etc. ’s a shame. (para 5)

tend to do sth.: to be likely to do sth. (usually bad)

e.g. It tends to rain.

要下雨。

The whole sentence: It is shameful that young people don’t do these things, thinking that they are only for the old.

Question: What is the function of the first sentence in para. 5?

Answer: The first sentence in para. 5 is a transitional sentence. The wife shifts her

talk to the things that should not change, which include people’s worship, and young people’s respect to their parents and the aged. The whole sentence: Recently I heard a boy shout or yell rud …… 此处隐藏：5361字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……