Lesson 5 No wrong numbers无错号之虞
First listen and then answer the question.听录音,然后回答以下问题。
What does 'No wrong numbers' mean? Mr. James Scott has a garage in Silbury and now he has just bought another garage in Pinhurst.
詹姆斯·斯科特先生在锡尔伯里有一个汽车修理部,现在他刚在平赫斯特买了另一个汽车修理部。
Pinhurst is only five miles from Silbury, but Mr. Scott cannot get a telephone for his new garage, so he has just bought twelve pigeons.
平赫斯特离锡尔伯里只有5英里,但詹姆斯·斯 科特先生未 能为他新的汽车修理部搞到一部电话机,所以他买了12只鸽子。
Yesterday, a pigeon carried the first message from Pinhurst to Silbury. The bird covered the distance in three minutes.
昨天,一只鸽子把第一封信从平赫斯特带到锡尔伯里。这只鸟只用了3分钟就飞完了全程。
Up to now, Mr. Scott has sent a great many requests for spare parts and other urgent messages from one garage to the other.
到目前 为止,斯科特先生从一个汽车修理部向另一个发送了大量索取备件的信件和其他紧急函件。
In this way, he has begun his own private‘telephone’service.
就这样,他开始了自己的私人“电话”业务。
New words and expressions 生词和短语
pigeon
n. 鸽子
message
n. 信息
cover
v. 越过
distance
n. 距离
request
n. 要求,请求
spare part
n.备件
service
n. 业务,服务
Notes on the text课文注释
1 from Silbury:介词from作“距…”、“离...”讲,常与away连用。如:
It is far laway) from here.离这里很远。
2 up to now(=up till now),到现在为止;作时间状语,句子的时态多用现在完成时。
3 a great many,许多的,其中great表示数量很大;只能同可数名词的复数连用。
Lesson 5 自学导读First things first
课文详注 Further notes on the text1.Pinhurst is only five miles from Silbury, but Mr. Scott cannot get a telephone for his new garage, so he has just bought twelve pigeons.
平赫斯特离锡尔伯里只有5英里,但詹姆斯·斯科特先生未能为他新的汽车修理部搞到一部电话机,所以他买了12只鸽子。
(1)这句话由3个部分组成。but引导的句子与前面的句子为并列关系,so引导的句子表示结果。
(2)from 在这里表示距离上相隔,译为“离”、“从”等:
The school is a mile (away) from my house.
学校离我家有一英里。
She has been away from home for 5 days now.
她离家已有5天了。
2.Yesterday, a pigeon carried the first message from Pinhurst to Silbury. 昨天,一只鸽子把第一封信从平赫斯特带到锡尔伯里。
(1)from…to…表示从一个地方到另一个地方。如下文中的from one garage to the other。这个短语中顺序比较重要,不能搞错方向:
He flew from Beijing to Moscow.
他从北京坐飞机去莫斯科。
He looked at the girl from head to foot.
他把这姑娘从头到脚打量了一下。
The news spread from house to house.
家家户户都得知了这条消息。
(2)message在这里的意思是“(口头或书面的)信息”、“信”:
an oral/ written message 口信/便条
Hers is a message for you from your sister.
这是你姐姐/妹妹给你留的便条。
John has gone to his office. Would you like to leave him a message?
约翰去办公室了。你愿意给他留个口信吗?
与message相关的另一个词是 messenger,意为“送信人”、“信使”等。
3.Up to now, Mr. Scott has sent a great many requests for spare parts and other urgent messages from one garage to the other.
到目前为止,斯科特先生从一个汽车修理部向另一个发送了大量索取备件的信件和其他紧急函件。
(1)这句话看起来很长,但却是个简单句。sent有两个宾语,一是requests,二是messages。from one garage to the other是整个句子的状语。
(2)up to now相当于until/till now,意思是“迄今”、“到目前为止”,一般与现在完成时连用:
Up to now, he has not been very hard-working.
到目前为止,他一直不是很用功。
Up to now, he has collected a good number of stamps.
到目前为止,他已收集了许多邮票。
(3)request作名词“要求”、“请求”讲时,往往需要补充说明其内容,如课文中 requests for spare parts(索取备件的信件)。
She sent a request for help to Gary.
她向加里请求帮助。
He granted my request for more time.
他同意了我延长时间的请求。
(4)a great many在这句话中为形容词短语。many单独使用时前面不加a,但加了great/ good等形容词后,前面要加 a,动词用复数形式:
A great many trees were destroyed in the storm.
好多树在这场暴风雨中被毁坏了。
a great many还可以作代词短语用:
He has read a great many of the books in this room.
这房间的书他好多都读过了。
4.In this way, he has begun his own private‘telephone’ service.
就这样,他开始了自己的私人“电话”业务。
(1)service作为不可数名词时通常用于表示旅馆、餐馆以及商店等对旅客、顾客等的侍候、接待或服务;它作为可数名词时可以表示为帮助他人所采取的行动或所做的工作:
The service in that hotel is quite good.
那家旅馆的服务很不错。
You have done me a great service.
你帮了我很大的忙。
(2)在课文中,service的意思是“业务”、“公用事业”等。这类用法一般有: the mail service(邮政业务); the telephone service(电话业务);a travel service(旅行社);a news service(通讯社)等。可以看出,service既可以指公用事业的业务,也可以指办这些业务的机构。因此,课文中的“‘ telephone’service”实际上是个大词,有一种幽默感。
语法 Grammar in use
1.一般过去时与现在完成时
在表示过去某个特定时间发生的事情或动作时,要用一般过去时:
Yesterday, a pigeon carried the first message from Pinhurst to Silbury.
昨天,一只鸽子把第一封信从平赫斯特带到锡尔伯里。
在表示刚刚或者已经完成一个动作并且对现在有影响时,则要用现在完成时,时间状语可以是不特指的now, just,或者是for引导的一段时间,或者不加任何时间状语:
He has written a book.
他写了一本书。
…now he has just bought another garage in Pinhurst.
…现在他刚在平赫斯特买下了另一个汽车修理部。(现在拥有)
They have been here for five months.
他们在这里已经5个月了。
在一段文章中可以同时出现一般现在时、一般过去时和现在完成时。因此,要根据具体情况灵活运用这些时态,体会它们之间的区别:
I have a brother, Tom. He is an engineer. He has been abroad for three years now. Several days ago, I received a letter from him.
我有一个弟弟,名叫汤姆。他是位工程师。他出国已3年了。几天前我收到了一封他的来信。
2.带way的一些短语
名词way的用法很灵活,能组成不同的搭配:
(1)in the/ one's way, 妨碍(某人):
You are in my way.
你挡着我了。
Don't stand in the way. I can't see the blackboard.
别挡着我的视线。我看不见黑板了。
(2) in the way, 按照,以……方式:
You can make the cake in the way I have told you.
你可以按我告诉你的方法做蛋糕。
(3) on the/ one's way, 在途中:
I met Mary on my way to school.
我在去学校的路上遇到了玛丽。
(4) by the way, 顺便提一下(插入语,改变话题时使用):
By the way, have you met Bill before?
顺便问一下,你以前见过比尔吗?
(5) in a way, 在某种程度上,从某种意义来说:
In a way you are right.
从某种意义上说你是对的。
词汇学习 Word study
1.cover
(1)vt. 盖,覆盖:
Snow covered the whole village.
大雪覆盖了整个村庄。
She covered the child with a coat.
她给孩子盖了件外衣。
(2)vt. 行过(一段距离),走过(通常不用被动语态):
He covered sixty miles this morning.
他今天上午走了60英里。
You can cover the distance to the museum in ten minutes.
你10分钟就可以走到博物馆。
(3)n. 覆盖物,盖子,罩子,套子:
Put a cover on the box!
给这盒子加个罩!
2.spare
(1)vt. 抽出(时间等),让给:
Have you got five minutes to spare?
你能抽出5分钟时间吗?
(2)vt. 饶恕,赦免:
The robbers spared his life.
强盗们没要他的命。
(3)adj.多余的,空闲的,剩下的,备用的:
You can sleep in the spare bedroom.
你可以睡在那间空着的卧室。
I have no spare time now.
我现在没有空闲时间。
She has some spare money.
她有一些活钱。
Where can I get spare parts for this machine?
我从哪里可以找到这台机器的备件?