【英语时差8,16】谈谈诗歌

 Amanda: Hi, Mike. What are you reading?

Mike: Oh, these are just some books I picked up at a local poetry festival that took place a couple of weeks ago. Even though a lot of what the featured poets read wasn't in English, it was still neat to see that there are so many people who appreciate poetry in Taiwan.

Amanda: I didn't know you were such a poetry lover¹, Mike. Personally, I've always found that stuff² a little bit boring and hard to understand. All that flowery language gives me a headache! I'd rather read a nice long novel any day.

Mike: I'll admit that poetry's an acquired taste. But once you learn more about it, you'll find that poems aren't all flowery and incomprehensible－they don't even have to rhyme! One of my favorite poets is Billy Collins, who writes really funny, clever poems in simple everyday English.

Amanda: I'll have to look him up. Say, have you ever written any poetry of your own? Some love sonnets⁴, perhaps?

Mike: No love sonnets, but I did try to write some poems a long time ago. They were all really bad. Once I spent three hours trying to come up with a word that rhymes with "panda"!

Amanda: Silly Mike! How could you not think of "Amanda"?

poetry  (n.)   诗Most people have heard of Ernest Hemingway's short stories, but did you know that he wrote poetry as well?

festival  (n.)   节庆At this year's international food festival, I tried a lot of dishes that I'd never had before.

headache  (n.)   头痛I didn't get much sleep last night, so I've had a headache all day long.

incomprehensible  (adj.)   难懂的；无法理解的Lisa didn't know anything about the stock⁵ market, so most of what her friends were discussing was incomprehensible to her.

to rhyme  (v.)   押韵Sandi Landy's friends often teased⁶ her because her name rhymed.

flowery language   瑰丽的词藻A: How did you do on your essay?

B: Better than I expected. I was afraid I'd used too much flowery language, but my teacher still gave me a good grade.

love sonnet³   十四行情诗A: Can you think of a good way to impress the girl I like?

B: Maybe you should memorize a few love sonnets and recite them to her.

to come up with   想出…A: This math problem is so hard!

B: Relax. I'm sure if we work on it together we'll be able to come up with the correct answer.

1 lover   

n.情人，恋人；爱好者

参考例句：

• Every lover sees a thousand graces in the beloved object.情人眼里出西施。
• Mr.Smith was a lover of poetry.史密斯先生是一名诗歌爱好者。

2 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

3 sonnet   

n.十四行诗

参考例句：

• The composer set a sonnet to music.作曲家为一首十四行诗谱了曲。
• He wrote a sonnet to his beloved.他写了一首十四行诗，献给他心爱的人。

4 sonnets   

n.十四行诗( sonnet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Keats' reputation as a great poet rests largely upon the odes and the later sonnets. 作为一个伟大的诗人，济慈的声誉大部分建立在他写的长诗和后期的十四行诗上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He referred to the manuscript circulation of the sonnets. 他谈到了十四行诗手稿的流行情况。 来自辞典例句

5 stock   

n.存货，储备；树干；血统；股份；家畜；adj.存货的；平凡的，惯用的；股票的；畜牧的；vt.进货，采购；储存；供给；vi.出新芽；进货

参考例句：

• The shop takes stock every week on Friday mornings.这家商店每星期五早晨盘点存货。
• Experts have forecast an upturn in the stock market.专家已预测股票市场价格有上升趋势。

6 teased   

v.取笑，戏弄( tease的过去式和过去分词 )；梳理（羊毛等）

参考例句：

• He took a screwdriver and teased out the remaining screws. 他拿出螺丝刀把其余的螺丝卸了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt annoyance at being teased. 我恼恨别人取笑我。 来自《简明英汉词典》