文章献给准备过英语专业四级的同学,给同学一些听力习题练习,希望大家考试成功。
在纽约上大学的Michael和李华今天在华盛顿参观名胜古迹。他们在对话里会用到两个常用语:ticked off ,另一个是close。
L:Michael,大家都说纽约人开车不守规矩,我看华盛顿的人也好不了多少。刚才那辆车差一点撞到我!
M: Yeah, I saw that. Crossing the streets in New York and Washington is dangerous. But getting ticked off about it won't do you any good.
L:对,在纽约和华盛顿穿马路是很危险。你说什么对我没好处?Ticked off?
M: Yes, Ticked off means to get angry or annoyed at something. Getting angry at the drivers will not do you any good.
L:噢,ticked off的意思是为什么事情生气。你刚才说的是我对开车的人生气没有什么好处。看来让我ticked off的事还挺多。
M: Yeah, like when your boyfriend broke up with you right before we started classes.
L:你还提醒我这事!我以前那男朋友刚开学就跟我分手,当时我真的非常生气。不过,Michael,我觉得你也很爱生气。
M: Well, I got pretty ticked off a few days ago when the professor gave me a low score on the exam.
L:对,和你同班的中国同学王光告诉我你那天非常生气,因为那个教授给你的考试判分判得很低。Ticked off这个说法很好,以前我就知道用angry这个字。
M: Hey, are you hungry? We haven't eaten in a while.
L:刚才好生气,连肚子饿也忘了。走,去吃点东西吧!
(Michael和李华吃完饭以后)
M: Now that we have eaten, let's walk to the White House. It's not too far from here.
L:到白宫去?太好了,除了照片外,我还没有看到过真的白宫呢!
M: Watch out Li Hua! Get back!
L:哟!我的天哪!我的天哪!真吓死我了!我以为这下我可完了!
M: Oh, my god! Are you okay? Geez, that was really a close call.
L:Michael,我都差一点被车撞了,而你还在说什么close call,这跟打电话根本没有关系!
M: No, that's not what I meant by close call. I meant that the car nearly hit you.
L:对啊,那车差一点就撞上我了,这就是close call?
M: Actually, Li Hua, close call means that you narrowly avoided danger. Something bad could have happened to you, but you narrowly avoided a bad situation.
L:原来close call就是说,差一点发生倒霉的事,我算是逃避了这倒霉事。我可以说,今天我差一点没被汽车撞了。对不对?
M: Yeah, that's right.
L:那close call是不是一定用在跟生命危险有关的场合呢?
M: Not really. Let me give you another example. The paper you and I turned in this week was almost late. That was also a close call.
L:对,那个教授让我们在星期二前把学术报告交给他,我们是星期一晚上去交的,差一点就过了限期,这也可以说是close call。下回我可再也不敢这么做了。
M: Here we are! The White House!
L:太好了!白宫到了,那我们赶快走把。
今天Michael 和李华在对话中用的一个常用语是ticked off,意思是为了什么事情生气;另一个是close call,意思是差一点没发生倒霉的事,或是差一点完不成该做的事。