读者文摘:美国生活(1)

WHEN MY LOCAL barista handed me my change, one coin stood out.

当地的咖啡师把零钱递给我时，一枚硬币脱颖而出。

"Look at that. You rarely get one of these old wheat pennies nowadays,"

“看那，现在很少有这种老式小麦便士了。”

I said, tapping the sheaf of-wheat design. I handed her the penny.

我一边说，一边敲着麦秸板的图案，把硬币递给她。

Turning it over and over in her hand, she said, "You know, I always thought they were made of copper¹."

她将硬币在手里翻来覆去说道：“你知道吗，我一直以为它们是铜做的。”

I DON'T MIND vacuuming, but if the cord doesn't reach an area of the room,

我不介意用真空吸尘器清扫，但如果房间里没有电，

I'm not making a special trip over there.

我不准备去那里旅行。

OUR BIOLOGY TEACHER asked the class whether anyone knew what the word retrovirus meant.

生物老师问班上有没有人知道逆转录病毒这个词的意思。

One kid raised his hand and said, "Retrovirus, or more commonly known as ... disco fever."

一个小孩举手说：“逆转录病毒，或者更通俗的说法是……迪斯科狂热。”

THINGS I OVERHEARD AT MY HEALTH CLUB:

我在健身俱乐部听到的事情：

"I'm only taking this class so I don't eat for an hour."

“我在上课，所以一个小时内我不会吃东西。”

"Who knew 40 years of neglect would have repercussions²?"

“试问40年不注意饮食会产生影响吗？”

"Does this body make me look fat?"

“会让我看起来很胖吗?”

I TACKED³ UP a flyer on the street that proclaimed,

我在街上收到一张传单，上面写着：

"Take what you need."

“带上需要的东西。”

At the bottom were tear-off strips with the words Passion, Strength, Love,

下面是撕掉的纸条，上面写着：激情、力量、爱、

Patience, Cookies, Courage, and so forth⁴.

耐心、饼干、勇气等等。

The first strips taken were Cookies and Love.

第一张纸条是饼干和爱。

TRAVELING THROUGH the Midwest, I stopped at an Ohio welcome center to pick up a state map.

穿越中西部时，我在俄亥俄州的一个服务中心停了下来，想拿张地图。

I found plenty of brochures but no maps.

我找到了很多小册子，但没有找到地图。

Then I spotted⁵ two employees and asked whether they had any.

接着我看见两名员工，问他们有没有地图。

"Sure," said the first guy. "I'll get you one."

“当然，”第一个人说。“我去给你拿一张。”

As he walked to the back, the second guy explained,

当他走到后面时，第二个人解释道，

"We keep them in the storage room. If we leave them out on the counter,

“我们放在了储藏室，如果放在外面的柜台上，

people just come in and take them."

人们就会进来拿。”

1 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

2 repercussions   

n.后果，反响( repercussion的名词复数 )；余波

参考例句：

• The collapse of the company will have repercussions for the whole industry. 这家公司的垮台将会给整个行业造成间接的负面影响。
• Human acts have repercussions far beyond the frontiers of the human world. 人类行为所产生的影响远远超出人类世界的范围。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 tacked   

用平头钉钉( tack的过去式和过去分词 )； 附加，增补； 帆船抢风行驶，用粗线脚缝

参考例句：

• He tacked the sheets of paper on as carefully as possible. 他尽量小心地把纸张钉上去。
• The seamstress tacked the two pieces of cloth. 女裁缝把那两块布粗缝了起来。

4 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

5 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。