英语博客：Who invented the Garp?

 

 

Like many good things, the Garp started out as an idea. A boy had been told by his Science teacher to make an instrument involving specific measurements and the number eight. Well, the idea moved around in the mind of the boy for a few days, changing its shape a little, becoming more real and more possible each day. A day before he had to produce the instrument, and show it to his teacher, the boy set to work. He sneaked¹ into his father's workshop and looked around. Gosh, look at all those tools. "I can surely create something wonderful here," he thought. First, he picked out a piece of wood from the many that were there. He put it in the vice², and tightened³ it. Then, he very carefully marked in pencil the measurements that his Science teacher had given him. Then came the screws. He screwed them in at each point where he had marked the measurements. Finally, he chose eight elastic⁴ bands, stretched and looped each one around two screws, creating a stringed instrument. "Yes," he thought, "this looks good." But, when he plucked the elastic bands, there was hardly any sound. Even the most stretched band didn't make much of a noise. He scratched his head. "This wasn't supposed to happen," he thought. He paced up and down the room for a few minutes, going over the steps he had taken, wondering what had gone wrong. He sat down with a sigh. Then, he started to think about stringed instruments that he had seen: guitar, cello⁵, harp⁶, violin. "Ah-ha!" a light bulb went on in his head. All of those instruments have a hollow; the strings⁷ are not right up against the wood. Perhaps a hollow will help to create a sound. He considered other materials that were lying around that he could use for a stringed instrument. He came up with a cardboard box from the recycling bin⁸. He removed one side, making it into a triangle. Taped it all together, made the measurements, cut little notches¹⁰ at each measurement, and put the elastic bands in each notch⁹. Surely, this would work.....He ran his fingers along the line of elastic bands, and to his delight heard a 'drrriiing!' Yes, he had found a hollow big enough to make it all work. Happily, to complete his creation, he spray painted it gold. He admired it for a while. "It's like a cross between a guitar and a harp. I'll call it, The Garp." So, that is how it came to be, and that is how he got an 'A' in his Science class.

 

Grammar notes.

 

Related expressions: involving, to set to ..., to pace, to take steps.

 

1. Exs: I'm considering involving Peter in our discussion.

 

They were in an incident involving a gun and a stolen car.

 

2. They set out on their journey.

 

We set to work immediately because it would take hours to finish the project.

 

3. The lady paced up and down the hospital room; she would soon deliver her baby.

 

4. The council was going to cut down all of our neighborhood trees, but we took steps to stop them.

1 sneaked   

v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状

参考例句：

• I sneaked up the stairs. 我蹑手蹑脚地上了楼。
• She sneaked a surreptitious glance at her watch. 她偷偷看了一眼手表。

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 tightened   

收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧

参考例句：

• The rope holding the boat suddenly tightened and broke. 系船的绳子突然绷断了。
• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again. 他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。

4 elastic   

n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的

参考例句：

• Rubber is an elastic material.橡胶是一种弹性材料。
• These regulations are elastic.这些规定是有弹性的。

5 cello   

n.大提琴

参考例句：

• The cello is a member of the violin family.大提琴是提琴家族的一员。
• She plays a melodious cello.她拉着一手悦耳的大提琴。

6 harp   

n.竖琴；天琴座

参考例句：

• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
• He played an Irish melody on the harp.他用竖琴演奏了一首爱尔兰曲调。

7 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

8 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

9 notch   

n.(V字形)槽口，缺口，等级

参考例句：

• The peanuts they grow are top-notch.他们种的花生是拔尖的。
• He cut a notch in the stick with a sharp knife.他用利刃在棒上刻了一个凹痕。

10 notches   

n.（边缘或表面上的）V型痕迹( notch的名词复数 )；刻痕；水平；等级

参考例句：

• The Indians cut notches on a stick to keep count of numbers. 印第安人在棒上刻V形凹痕用来计数。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• They cut notches in the handle of their pistol for each man they shot. 他们每杀一个人就在枪托上刻下一个V形记号。 来自辞典例句