英语博客:Goodbye to old toys

As I was walking back to my house from the mail box the other day, I looked at our entryway and realised that it looked like a junk yard. There were about four, old, plastic vehicles that our children don't use anymore, just sitting on the driveway looking yucky. I have been meaning to throw the things away, but my youngest children always beg me to keep them for a few more months. The thing is, they are too big for the vehicles, and these old favorites (favourites) of theirs are now faded, weather worn, and have parts missing. I can understand why my kids don't want to see their toys thrown away. When I look at them they certainly bring back memories of when the children were little, and how excited they were to get them. One of the tricycles has a peddle¹ missing, the other is missing the seat, the four wheeler goes backwards² only, and the little, plastic buggy is too small for anyone. "Oh, don't throw away my buggy!" pleads my daughter when she suspects that that is my plan. Once, my son Robert, fished the buggy out of the dumpster where I had previously³ thrown it. I found it sitting happily back on the driveway where it shouldn't have been. Perhaps my urge to Spring clean is too obvious; I'll have to be more sneaky about it and get rid of these old play things when the kids are in school. I never thought that they would be so emotionally attached to the toys!

Grammar notes.

Practice of possessive pronouns with new vocabulary: to beg, faded, to suspect, an urge.

1. His dog is well behaved; mine begs for treats all day long.

2. My dress is quite faded. Can I borrow yours?

3. My wallet went missing from my car. I suspect it is in his.

4. Can we swap⁴ cakes? I'll have yours and you can have mine.

 

1 peddle   

vt.(沿街)叫卖，兜售；宣传，散播

参考例句：

• She loves to peddle gossip round the village.她喜欢在村里到处说闲话。
• Street vendors peddle their goods along the sidewalk.街头摊贩沿著人行道兜售他们的商品。

2 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

3 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

4 swap   

n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易

参考例句：

• I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
• This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。