【英语趣味课堂】忠诚的狗-Loyal Dog

 Todd: James, I saw on your desk you have a nice picture of a dog.

 

James: Yes.

 

Todd: OK. Tell us about your dog.

 

James: My dog's name is Piper. He was a mutt, a homeless dog that we picked up off the street about four and a half years ago.

 

Todd: Oh, wow! So what kind of dog is he now?

 

James: He's a yellow lab, golden retriever mix. He's very very sweet, very very fun to play with, really really nice.

 

Todd: Oh, that's great. Can he do any tricks?

 

James: No.

 

Todd: No.

 

James: We can do one trick where we point our finger at him and go Bang Bang Bang Bang and he falls over dead, but that is the only trick he can do and he only does that maybe half the time.

 

Todd: OK. Does he bark a lot?

 

James: Usually no. Usually he's pretty good.

 

Todd: Pretty quiet.

 

James: Mm,hm!

 

Todd: OK. Is it a male dog or a female dog?

 

James: Yeah. It's a male dog.

 

Todd: So, no puppies¹.

 

James: No, puppies.

 

Todd: OK. Would you like to have another dog, another puppy²?

 

James: It would be fun in the future but not for awhile.

 

学习内容：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

mutt

 

My dog was a mutt that we picked up off the street years ago.

 

A 'mutt' is a dog that has parents that are two different types of dogs.  It is a combination instead of a purebred dog. Notice the following:

 

This dog is actually a mutt.

We have a bunch of little mutt puppies.

sweet

 

He's very sweet and fun to play with.

 

'Sweet' used like this is another way to say nice. Notice the following:

 

Sometimes she is sweet, but sometimes she can be terrible.

He is a sweet boy but not very interesting.

do tricks

 

Can he do any tricks?

 

A 'trick' is an action that you teach your dog to do. This can be shaking hands or rolling over.  Notice the following:

 

He works in a circus teaching animals to do tricks.

I spent a lot of time teaching my dog to do tricks.

half the time

 

He does only one trick and he does it only maybe half the time.

 

If you do something 'half the time' you only do it fifty percent of the time, the other fifty percent of the time you don't do it. Notice the following:

 

Half the time you come to work late.

She spends half the time in the library.

falls over dead (or play dead)

 

We point a finger at him and go "bang, bang" and he plays dead.

 

When something 'falls over dead' it falls to one side because it is dead and can't stand up.  When an animal 'plays dead' it acts like it is dead and doesn't move. Notice the following:

 

Some animals play dead to escape predators³.

If you eat that you will fall over dead.

 

1 puppies   

n.（常指不满一岁的）小狗(puppy的复数)；小狗，幼犬( puppy的名词复数 )；浅薄自负的年轻男子

参考例句：

• a litter of puppies 一窝小狗
• The bitch bore six puppies. 母狗生了六只小狗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 puppy   

n.小狗，幼犬

参考例句：

• You must school your puppy to obey you.你要训练你的小狗服从你。
• Their lively puppy frisks all over the house.他们的小狗在屋里到处欢快地蹦跳。

3 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》