英语博客(A cup of English):An army for clean-up

Beginners.

It's my favorite time of year, Autumn. I love this season so much that I could burst into song about all the colors, the smells, the angle of the sun, the pumpkins¹ etc etc, but I don't want to bore you, plus, I don't sing very well. I will tell you about two great things that you can do with leaves. You can rake together a big pile of leaves and jump into them, with or without friends. Or you can do something a bit more artistic². I did this a few years ago with my kids, and it turned out very well. You find some freshly fallen leaves, some that are quite wide, not skinny. You take them home and lightly wash them. Dry them carefully with a paper towel and leave them on the countertop in the kitchen. In a saucepan, on a very low heat, grate your favorite chocolate. Let it melt a little, then take it off the heat and stir until it is all soft. With your finger, rub a tiny amount of oil on the underside of the leaf, then spread the chocolate. Put the leaves on a plate and pop them into the fridge. After about 20 minutes or half an hour they will be ready. Simply peel off the leaves, and you have a perfect chocolatey replica³, great for decorating a cake.

Grammar notes.

Vocabulary: a pile, to grate, a replica, to rub, to peel.

Exs:

At work today, I had a huge pile of papers to read. It was so depressing!

Just before you serve the spaghetti, grate the parmesan cheese on top.

My grandma has a replica of the Sphinx in her lounge.

The boy fell out of the tree, and ran home crying and rubbing his elbow.

The mandarin⁴ oranges you can buy now are so easy to peel.

Advanced.

The other day I was pulling into the parking lot outside of the local library, when I looked over to the nearby park and saw a lot of activity. There were all sorts of people there, some of them working. It is the middle of Autumn, and you can be sure that anywhere that there are trees, there will be lots of leaves to clean up. The park is one of the oldest in Wenatchee, so the trees are some of the biggest. I got out of the car and walked past a huge pile of leaves.Ooo, it was so tempting⁵ to jump in them, but I didn't. There was a loud, whooshing⁷ noise in the air; it was the sound of the leaf-blowers. Three men, dressed in brown, were moving slowly through the park, blowing the leaves into piles which were then going to be bagged up and taken away. What would happen if the leaves weren't removed? They would eventually rot, forming a slimey layer on top of the grass. This wouldn't be a problem if they could dry out, crumble⁸, and feed the ground. Soon, you see, we will get snow, and if a thick layer of snow sits on a layer of slimey leaves, the grass underneath⁹ will die. So, as part of the local council's cleaning machine, paid for by wonderful tax dollars, the group of happy men, spent the day blowing leaves all over the place.

Grammar notes.

Vocabulary: tax, council, layer, whoosh⁶, to crumble.

Exs:

Income tax is going up again. It is getting harder every year for the middle class.

The council has decided¹⁰ to spend more money on local parks.

She made a ten layer chocolate cake. There was cream in between each layer. It was magnificent.

Whoosh! went the rain and wind against the window. It was quite a storm.

Add some blue cheese to the salad. It crumbles¹¹ easily and so is evenly distributed.

More verbs as adjectives:

The criminal was thrown into the van and taken away.

All the food is ready to be cooked: the potatoes and carrots have been peeled, the turkey has been stuffed, and the gravy¹² has been seasoned.

The lamp post was smashed by the hooligans.

I was blown away by his comments!

The baby was fed, bathed, and dressed by her new nanny.

My neighbor was operated on yesterday.

 

1 pumpkins   

n.南瓜( pumpkin的名词复数 )；南瓜的果肉，南瓜囊

参考例句：

• I like white gourds, but not pumpkins. 我喜欢吃冬瓜，但不喜欢吃南瓜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they cut faces in the pumpkins and put lights inside. 然后在南瓜上刻出一张脸，并把瓜挖空。 来自英语晨读30分（高三）

2 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

3 replica   

n.复制品

参考例句：

• The original conservatory has been rebuilt in replica.温室已按原样重建。
• The young artist made a replica of the famous painting.这位年轻的画家临摹了这幅著名的作品。

4 Mandarin   

n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的

参考例句：

• Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
• Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。

5 tempting   

a.诱人的, 吸引人的

参考例句：

• It is tempting to idealize the past. 人都爱把过去的日子说得那么美好。
• It was a tempting offer. 这是个诱人的提议。

6 whoosh   

v.飞快地移动，呼

参考例句：

• It goes whoosh up and whoosh down.它呼一下上来了，呼一下又下去了。
• Whoosh!The straw house falls down.呼！稻草房子倒了。

7 whooshing   

v.（使）飞快移动( whoosh的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by. 我喜欢最后期待。我尤其喜欢它们飞驰而过时发出的嗖嗖声。 来自互联网
• The constant whooshing of the wind across the roof wouldn't fade into the background. 不断跑车疾速的风雨整个屋顶不会褪色的背景。 来自互联网

8 crumble   

vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁

参考例句：

• Opposition more or less crumbled away.反对势力差不多都瓦解了。
• Even if the seas go dry and rocks crumble,my will will remain firm.纵然海枯石烂，意志永不动摇。

9 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

10 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。

11 crumbles   

酥皮水果甜点( crumble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This cake crumbles too easily. 这种蛋糕太容易碎了。
• This bread crumbles ever so easily. 这种面包非常容易碎。

12 gravy   

n.肉汁；轻易得来的钱，外快

参考例句：

• You have spilled gravy on the tablecloth.你把肉汁泼到台布上了。
• The meat was swimming in gravy.肉泡在浓汁之中。