书城外语笑死你的英文书
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第3章 The Long and Short of It

Although I had never met him,I knew that my grandfather had been five feet six inches tall,while my stately grandmother stood five feet eleven inches。As a teenager leafing through old photographs with Grandma,I finally realized how unusual they must have looked together。

“Grandma”I asked,“how could you have fallen in love with a man five inches shorter than you?”

She turned to me。“Honey”she said,“we fell in love sitting down,and when I stood up,it was too late。”

来龙去脉

尽管我从未见过我祖父,但我知道他身高五英尺六,而我高贵的祖母身高五英尺十一。十几岁的时候,我和祖母一起一页一页地翻着老照片,我终于认识到他们在一起是多么不同寻常。

“奶奶,”我问道,“你怎么会爱上一个比你矮五英寸的人呢?”

她转过脸来看着我。“宝贝,”她说,“我们是坐着相爱的。当我站起来的时候,已经太晚了。”

stately[steitli]adj。庄严的;高贵的

例:She is stately in personage。她仪容端庄。

leaf[li:f]n。叶子;页

例:Several leaves had been torn out of the novel。这本小说已被撕掉了几页。

fall in love爱上某人

例:It is natural that he should fall in love with such a beautiful girl。他爱上那位美丽的姑娘是很自然的事。

The long and short of it。这个俗语的意思是“你把有关某一件事的基本事实和情况都说的很明白了,已经没有必要再说什么了。”举例来说吧。一个家庭里的几个孩子都想让爸爸买一辆新车。他们不断地去说服他们的爸爸,把他弄得烦死了。后来,他对孩子们说:No,we are not going to buy a new car right now。The old one still runs fine。Besides,the simple truth is we don’t have the money and that’s the long and short of it。(不,我们现在不买新车。那辆老车还挺好用。另外,事实上,我们没有钱去买新车。这就是基本的现实。)

honey直译是“蜂蜜”,如:Honey is sweet,but the bee stings。(蜜甜蜂蛰人。)引申义为“甜心,甜甜蜜蜜”,如honey moon就是“蜜月”的意思。现在人们都用honey来称呼自己的亲密爱人,或者是子女,意思是“亲爱的”。如:I love you,honey!(亲爱的,我爱你!)除此之外,外国人还用sweetheart,baby,darling来表达同样的意思,也就是“亲爱的”。honey也可意为“极出色的东西,出类拔萃的人”,如:That camera is a honey。(那架照相机真是顶呱呱。)