【英语趣味课堂】礼品-The Gift

Todd: John, can you talk a little bit about the frog that you got for your Valentine's day gift.

 

John: Sure, yeah, my wife gave me this Pac Man frog for Valentine's day, and basically¹ it was this enormous², stinky frog that would only eat baby mice, so you had to like feed it like a little tiny cute baby mouse like every week and then it would just like leave this big mess, this stinky mess, and you'd have to clean it up and at the time I had just gotten rid of an iguana³, and like I didn't want any pets and that was the gift my wife gave me so!

 

Todd: Oh, man, well, how long did you have it?

 

John: I think I kept it for about six month. Maybe even a year.

 

Todd: That's a long time.

 

John: Yeah. Well see, I kept it until she moved in with me and then when she moved in with me, she said, "Wow, that thing really stinks⁴!" We should get rid of it." So we took it back to the pet store and just gave it back to them.

 

Todd: Oh, so you took it back to the pet store. They took it.

 

John: Yeah, they took it. I looked around for someone to like give it to, and everyone was like, "No, that thing is disgusting⁵. No one wanted it and I asked the pet store would they like pay for it, and they were like "No, no, you bought it" so I was just like, "Here, OK, have it back" and they were "Fine, we'll sell it again"

 

Todd: OK, do you ever know what happened to the frog?

 

John: No, maybe, I went back to that pet store like a year after I gave it back to them and it was still there and it was like twice the size, so I don't know if they ever got rid of it or not.

 

Todd: Great story.

 

学习内容：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

enormous or stinky

 

My wife gave me this enormous, stinky frog for a gift.

 

If something is 'enormous' it is really, really big. When something smells bad we can say that it is 'stinky.' Notice the following:

 

Dinosaurs⁶ were enormous creatures.

Sorry. My shoes are really stinky.

stinky mess or clean up

 

It would always leave this stinky mess that I'd have to clean up.

 

A 'mess' is something that is not clean or orderly⁷, in the case of the example, a mess that smells bad. To 'clean something up' is to remove the mess.  Notice the following:

 

The bad food left a stinky mess in the refrigerator.

I had to clean up my room when I was a child.

get rid of

 

I had just gotten rid of an iguana.

 

You 'get rid of' things that you don't want or need anymore.  This can either be throwing them in the garbage, giving them to another person or selling them. Notice the following:

 

When they broke up she got rid of all his photos.

You should really get rid of that jacket.

disgusting

 

No one wanted to have it, because people thought it was disgusting.

 

When something is 'disgusting' it is not nice and maybe makes you feel little sick. Notice the following:

 

It smells disgusting in here.

I think eating worms⁸ sounds disgusting.

twice the size

 

I saw the frog a year later, and it was twice the size.

 

If the frog is 'twice the size' that it was before it means⁹ it has grown to double the original size, or it is two times as big. Notice the following:

 

This house is more than twice the size of our old one.

It is difficult to believe that he was a small baby because he is twice the size of his mother now.

1 basically   

adv.基本上，从根本上说

参考例句：

• His heart is basically sound.他的心脏基本上健康。
• Basically I agree with your plan.我基本上同意你的计划。

2 enormous   

adj.巨大的；庞大的

参考例句：

• An enormous sum of money is injected each year into teaching.每年都有大量资金投入到教学中。
• They wield enormous political power.他们行使巨大的政治权力。

3 iguana   

n.美洲大蜥蜴，鬣鳞蜥

参考例句：

• With an iguana,you really don't have to say surprise.惊喜两字已经不足以形容这只鬣鳞蜥了。
• I'm going to turn on my computer and make a movie starring my pet iguanadj.打开计算机准备制作一部关于我的宠物蜥蜴的电影。

4 stinks   

v.散发出恶臭( stink的第三人称单数 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透

参考例句：

• The whole scheme stinks to high heaven—don't get involved in it. 整件事十分卑鄙龌龊——可别陷了进去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soup stinks of garlic. 这汤有大蒜气味。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 disgusting   

adj.令人作呕的，可憎恶的，讨厌的

参考例句：

• What a disgusting smell!多么讨厌的气味！
• The mosquito is the disgusting thing.蚊子是讨厌的东西。

6 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 orderly   

adj.有秩序的，整齐的，一丝不苟的，和平的；adv.有秩序地，有条理地，依次地；n.勤务兵，（医院的）勤务工

参考例句：

• It's an orderly room.这是个整洁的房间。
• The books are in orderly rows on shelves.书籍整齐地排列在书架上。

8 worms   

计算机网络"蠕虫"(可自我复制但无危害)

参考例句：

• Worms have a lifespan of a few months. 蠕虫的寿命为几个月。
• birds looking for worms 觅食蠕虫的鸟

9 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。