英语博客(A cup of English):Murder on the beach

Beginners.

As you can see, I'm back from my trip to Lake Roosevelt. We were there from Wednesday until Friday, and the time flew. It took a lot of preparation to get there; typically I overpacked some things and underpacked other things. For example: I took enough food to feed an army, but I forgot to pack toys or coloring pens for the kids, which are essentials for the evening when we have all returned from the beach. When we arrived, I opened the trunck * door, and saw that my children had thrown in fishing poles and nets, which I would have forgotten, and which happened to be very useful. The journey took about three hours. We travelled through countryside that is unusual for me: huge, flat wheat lands that seemed to go on forever. Then we passed through a massive, dry, rocky gorge¹. It was the type of place you imagine dinosaurs² to be roaming around in. Finally, the countryside changed to more hilly and green. The trees were all pine as we approached the lake. It was beautiful, in a very Western, rugged³ way. After we unpacked⁴ everything, we went to the beach. The children ran and splashed, built sand castles and dug for pebbles⁵ and anything interesting. It was towards the end of the first day that one of my boys pointed⁶ to an unusual collection of objects piled in a shady area of the beach. Bones!

Grammar notes.

Preterite: fly (flew), forget (forgot), seem (seemed), go (went).

Exs:

The bird flew away from the hawk⁷, and hid in a bush.

I forgot that I had left the car running. When I came out in the morning, the petrol and the battery had run out.

My uncle seemed tired last night. I think he has a lot on his mind.

I didn't want to go to the beach; it was too hot. So I went to the mall instead.

 Advanced.

Bones! What bones! I mean, what or who did they belong to? There weren't enough of them to reconstruct a complete skeleton, so my kids and I had to deduce whose they were, and what had happened. First of all, they were not human, thank goodness, so we weren't playing on a crime scene. Secondly⁸, one of the bones had a certain kind of fur attached to it. Conclusion, it must have been a baby deer, a foal. The poor little thing could have died in a number of ways. The area of Lake Roosevelt is quite wild, really. There are not only lots of deer, but also moose, and the occasional predators⁹, like coyotes. Also, the winters are very snowy, cold, and long. Unless deer come down to the human residences and eat up garden plants, their food sources can become quite limited. One of the neighbor ladies who was on the beach told me that it is difficult for the younger deer to survive the winter. Thankfully, there are so many of them, that future generations continue to thrive. But there is obviously a toll¹⁰ every year. My kids were fascinated with all of this, so they decided¹¹ to bring the bones home. Oh great! Something else that's yucky in the house. Mind you, it could have been worse. The lady also told me that she was going for a walk one morning, and a moose walked right past her! Now, those bones would have been far too big for the car!

Grammar notes.

 Would have/ could have.

Exs:

If I'd have known that they were going to spend the night with us, I would have put clean linen¹² on the beds.

It could have been worse. They usually bring their dogs and insist that they also sleep in the beds!

I would have loved to have taken some photos of the wheat fields, but we didn't have time to stop the car.

 

1 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。

2 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

4 unpacked   

v.从（包裹等）中取出（所装的东西），打开行李取出( unpack的过去式和过去分词 )；拆包；解除…的负担；吐露（心事等）

参考例句：

• I unpacked my bags as soon as I arrived. 我一到达就打开行李，整理衣物。
• Our guide unpacked a picnic of ham sandwiches and offered us tea. 我们的导游打开装着火腿三明治的野餐盒，并给我们倒了些茶水。 来自辞典例句

5 pebbles   

[复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pebbles of the drive crunched under his feet. 汽车道上的小石子在他脚底下喀嚓作响。
• Line the pots with pebbles to ensure good drainage. 在罐子里铺一层鹅卵石，以确保排水良好。

6 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

7 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

8 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

9 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 linen   

n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的

参考例句：

• The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
• Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。