英语博客(A cup of English):Fishing and surgery

Beginners.

Fishing seems to be a sport that you either love, or have nothing to do with. My father is a fisherman, and has been for most of his life. My husband also enjoys fishing during salmon¹ season. It would be nice, though, if he caught a fish at some point.... Well, my kids love messing about in rivers and streams, as I'm sure most kids do. They have buckets and nets and kids' fishing rods. They also have the real thing. Infact, my youngest son, Robert, bought himself a tackle box with his pocket money. It is one of his treasures. Inside are various compartments² for the little rubber worms, the shiny metal spinners, and the colorful floats. He proudly brought the box with him on our latest trip to Lake Roosevelt. I found it stuffed into the back of the car with the rest of the luggage. Well, it turned out that that little box was a very important part of the vacation. My brother took the three boys down to the beach each evening to fish. About the time that the sun was setting, the flies would start to come out, and the fish would start jumping. I would stay at the house with my mother and my daughter and play cards. The second to last evening, about the time that it was dark, I heard excited voices coming up the road from the beach. It was all the boys; they had caught a fish, and my goodness, they were celebrating.

Grammar notes.

Fishing vocabulary: spinners, floats, worms, to cast, hooks, the reel, bait, tackle.

Exs:

When we went fishing, the fish didn't go for the worms, but for the spinners.

After I bought my new fishing pole, I cast out, and immediately I caught a salmon.

I would have caught the fish, but the reel got stuck. It didn't turn because there was a knot on the line.

Our fishing trip was hopeless. We had brought all the fishing tackle but we had forgotten the bait!

Advanced.

The fish was presented to me as if it were a box of treasure that had just been discovered. It was a rainbow trout³, only about one pound in weight, but a great prize for the boys. They begged me to let them help clean the fish. "No problem," I said, "it's a good education." So, after washing the fish, we cut it open. Then the fascination⁴ for the insides of the fish could be seen on the childrens' faces. I asked them if they wanted to see what the fish had been eating. "Yes!" they cheered in unison⁵. So I removed the fish's stomach and very delicately cut it open. Wow! It was completely full of flies. Infact, we could see that the fish enjoyed catching⁶ and eating one particular type of fly. They were very recognizable in the top of the stomach, and further down had become mashed⁸ and mixed up. It was very interesting. Then we continued to examine the intestines⁹. The liver was obvious, but boring compared to the colon¹⁰. I hope these details are not too disgusting for you, my dear podlisteners. My kids looked on in amazement¹¹ while Robert ran the knife along the fish's colon and squeezed out the....um....the digested fish. "Eww!" they all said, like a little choir¹². That is the same expression as "Yuck" in the U.K. Well, we finished our gory¹³ examination, washed and wrapped the fish, and put it in the fridge. By the next morning, by the time the kids were awake, their uncle Richard had it on a plate, fried up with butter and lemon.

Grammar notes.

New vocabulary: in unison, to mash⁷, gory, recognizable.

Exs:

When I asked the boys who had broken the vase, they pointed¹⁴ at eachother and said, "He did it!" in unison.

To make the potato dish, the vegetable needs to be boiled and then mashed.

The film was too gory. There was too much violence, and blood and guts¹⁵.

The criminal was barely recognizable. He had disguised himself very effectively.

 

1 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？

2 compartments   

n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 )；（列车车厢的）隔间；（家具或设备等的）分隔间；隔层

参考例句：

• Your pencil box has several compartments. 你的铅笔盒有好几个格。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The first-class compartments are in front. 头等车室在前头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 trout   

n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属)

参考例句：

• Thousands of young salmon and trout have been killed by the pollution.成千上万的鲑鱼和鳟鱼的鱼苗因污染而死亡。
• We hooked a trout and had it for breakfast.我们钓了一条鳟鱼，早饭时吃了。

4 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

5 unison   

n.步调一致，行动一致

参考例句：

• 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。
• My feelings are in unison with yours.我的感情与你的感情是一致的。

6 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

7 mash   

n.麦芽浆，糊状物，土豆泥；v.把…捣成糊状，挑逗，调情

参考例句：

• He beat the potato into a mash before eating it.他把马铃薯捣烂后再吃。
• Whiskey,originating in Scotland,is distilled from a mash of grains.威士忌源于苏格兰，是从一种大麦芽提纯出来的。

8 mashed   

a.捣烂的

参考例句：

• two scoops of mashed potato 两勺土豆泥
• Just one scoop of mashed potato for me, please. 请给我盛一勺土豆泥。

9 intestines   

n.肠( intestine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perhaps the most serious problems occur in the stomach and intestines. 最严重的问题或许出现在胃和肠里。 来自辞典例句
• The traps of carnivorous plants function a little like the stomachs and small intestines of animals. 食肉植物的捕蝇器起着动物的胃和小肠的作用。 来自辞典例句

10 colon   

n.冒号，结肠，直肠

参考例句：

• Here,too,the colon must be followed by a dash.这里也是一样，应当在冒号后加破折号。
• The colon is the locus of a large concentration of bacteria.结肠是大浓度的细菌所在地。

11 amazement   

n.惊奇，惊讶

参考例句：

• All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。
• He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。

12 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

13 gory   

adj.流血的；残酷的

参考例句：

• I shuddered when I heard the gory details.我听到血淋淋的详情，战栗不已。
• The newspaper account of the accident gave all the gory details.报纸上报道了这次事故中所有骇人听闻的细节。

14 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。

15 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》