书城外语笑死你的英文书
34262900000019

第19章 The Target

My cooking has always been the target of family jokes。One evening,as I prepared dinner a bit too quickly,the kitchen filled with smoke and the smoke detector went off。Although both of my children had received firesafety training at school,they did not respond to the alarm。Annoyed,I stormed through the house in search of them。

I found them in the bathroom,washing their hands。Over the loud buzzing of the smoke alarm,I asked them to identify the sound。

“It is the smoke detector”they replied in unison。

“Do you know what that sound means?”I demanded。

“Sure”my eldest child replied。“Dinner is ready。”

靶子

我的烧饭手艺向来是家庭的笑柄。一天晚上,晚餐我准备得有点儿太快了,厨房里充满了烟,结果烟雾探查器报起警来。尽管我的两个孩子都在学校里接受过防火安全训练,可是他们并没有对报警声作出反应。我感到很恼火,满幢房子乱冲寻找他们。

我在洗澡间找到他们,发现他们正在洗手。我的声音盖过了烟雾警报的嗡嗡声,我叫他们辨别那声音。

“是烟雾探查器,”他们异口同声地说。

“你们知道那声音意味着什么吗?”我责问道。

“当然,”我的大孩子回答道,“晚饭准备好了。”

detector[ditekt]n。探测器

例:Smoke detector is fit in all the rooms。所有的房间都装有烟尘警器。

go off离开;私奔;睡着;消失;开始变坏,变质;变差

例:You’d better have waited till the rain went off。你当时要是等雨停再走就好了。

in unison一致地;和谐地

例:The governments acted in unison to combat terrorism。这些国家的政府一致行动对付恐怖主义。

buzz[bz]vt。&vi。发出嗡嗡声;(发出)充满兴奋的谈话声[闲话,谣言]

例:The crowd buzzed with excitement。人群发出一片兴奋的说话声。

关于target的习惯用语

be dead on the target正中[正对着]目标

hit a target达到定额[指标],射中靶子

miss the target未射中靶子,未完成指标

one’s target for tonight[英军俚]女友

one(单一)

字首uni源自拉丁文形容词unus,原义即为one。uni在拉丁文中亦为字首,后面所接的字根第一个音若是母音,则拼成un,如:unanimous adj。意见一致的,universe n。(宇宙),字根vers有“转”的意思,万物旋转成为一体,自然变成[宇宙];形容词universal指“万物皆适用”,因而便有了“共同,普遍”的意思。类似的词有:

uniform一致,相同的;unify统一;union联合,同盟;unique独特的;unison同音,一致,和谐;unit单位,一个;unite连接,结合,联合;unity和谐,统一;universal共同,普遍的;universe宇宙