英语博客:The big gift

My son, Cass, has been playing the piano for over a year. He loves it! He practices at home, and attends his weekly class religiously. He really has the discipline thing 'down' as we say, meaning that he understands why and how to be disciplined. I am really impressed at his progress. When he first started lessons, I bought him an electronic keyboard that I found on Craig's List for seventy five dollars. It was a bargain. The previous owner was obviously¹ serious about music, and had taken good care of the instrument. When I went to pick it up, I found a house full of music sheets and musical instruments, so I knew that the keyboard had been in good hands. And so, it came to our house. Cass used it and enjoyed it for a long time, especially all of the special effects and pre-recorded classical music that you can enjoy with the push of a button. But, there was a problem. It wasn't a full sized keyboard. We needed a keyboard or piano with 88 keys because his teacher had started to give him melodies² that recquire the whole piano. So, I got on the internet, looked up Craig's List, and spotted³ a couple of pianos for sale. One was a little damaged. The other belonged to a family who was moving to another town and who didn't want to pay for the delivery⁴. I dragged my feet about both; I wasn't very enthusiastic. Then, we received a phone call from one of Cass' friends. His parents had just bought him a new piano, and they wanted to give Cass the old one. He was thrilled! A week later, the moving men pulled up in their delivery truck and carefully rolled the dark, upright⁵ piano into our living room. We got to work, polishing, testing, and decorating with pictures. It now sits in a welcomed spot, and gets played every day.

Grammar notes.

Common expressions and related⁶ vocabulary: to drag one's feet, to pull up (in a vehicle), to have something 'down', previous.

1.  I'm dragging my feet about going to the party; I really don't feel like going at all.

2. A police car pulled up to the building. Then the fire truck (fire engine) pulled up close to the flames.

3. You really have the tennis serve down; you get it right every time.

4. We live in the country now, but our previous house was in the middle of the city.

 

1 obviously   

adv.显然；明白地

参考例句：

• Obviously they were putting him to a severe test.显然他们是在给他以严峻的考验。
• Obviously he was lying.显然他是在撒谎。

2 melodies   

曲调( melody的名词复数 )； 旋律； 乐曲的音符编排； 美妙的音乐

参考例句：

• The two melodies are played in counterpoint. 用对位法来演奏这两首曲调。
• And now for your further delectation, we present a selection of popular melodies. 为使你们更加愉快，我们奉献给你们一组精选的流行歌曲。

3 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

4 delivery   

n.交付；投递；分娩；解救者；演讲的风格

参考例句：

• The strike caused a great delay in the delivery of the mail.这次罢工严重地延误了邮件的投递。
• He was employed at the local grocery store as a delivery boy.他受雇于当地杂货店当送货员。

5 upright   

adj.直立的；正直的；adv.挺直着，竖立着

参考例句：

• He stood himself upright.他笔直地站着。
• An upright man is respectable.正直的人是值得尊敬的。

6 related   

adj.有关系的，有关联的，叙述的，讲述的

参考例句：

• I am not related to him in any way.我和他无任何关系。
• We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。