【英语趣味课堂】对法国的美好回忆-Fond Memories of France

 Todd: So, Mike, you were born in Europe, but grew up in Canada. Have you been back to Europe?

 

Mike: Yeah, uh, I've been back to Europe on a couple of occasions². The first time, I guess I went back to Europe was in 1989, 1990, when I went to visit my brother who was studying in France in Paris, studying business at one of the business schools there. And during the trip, I'd, we'd rented a car, so we were driving around the country and one of the best memories I had was when we drove into Leon, in the center of France, and the people were really friendly, really fantastic and we just met some people in a bar who then invited us out to their cottage, in the 

country, the following day for a pig roast.

 

Todd: A pig roast!

 

Mike: Yes!

 

Todd: What is a pig roast? You put a pig on a stick?

 

Mike: Yeah, well, that's exactly, we had no, we thought it was just a barbeque but we drove through this tiny road into the middle of the forest it seemed, and, there was this, we came to a cottage, a small wooden, very old-looking cottage, and next to it there were roasting a gigantic³ pig on a big spit over an open fire, (Wow!) and there was one, one of the people that we met was there turning the spit so that the pig was being, obviously⁴ was being well-cooked, and he'd been there for several hours already doing this by the time we arrived about 1:00 in the afternoon, and it was interesting. It was amazing. They told us the history of this little cottage that belonged to one of the people. It was several hundred years old, and apparently⁵, it used to be a hide-out for French pirates⁷.

 

Todd: No way!

 

Mike: Yeah! Yeah, and it looked like a wooden shack⁸. It didn't really look like something, which would be perfect as a hide-out because no one would suspect it. But it was fascinating. They even had pictures on the walls of two of the pirates that I guess visited or had visited been there during that time, and so, a lot of, just it's incredible⁹, the history, and the culture that you'll find in that small little shack in the woods, in the middle of Leon.

 

Todd: That is cool!

 

Mike: Yeah, that is neat.

 

Todd: That is really cool! Nice, so um, what happened? You had lunch and then you.

 

Mike: We had the pig roast, and obviously some wine and just had a great time. Got to meet all kinds of really new and interesting people and talk about the history of the place, and the actual, the region¹⁰, the Loire valley, which is just famous for castles and for wine, very historic¹¹ area in France.

 

Todd: Mm, that sounds nice!

 

学习内容：

 

occasions

 

I've been back to Europe on a couple of occasions. 

In this sentence, a 'couple of occasions' can be replaced by a 'couple of times,' meaning more than once. Notice the following:

 

She lied to you on a number of occasions.

I've only been to her house on one occasion¹.

gigantic

 

Next to the cottage, they were roasting a gigantic pig on a big spit over an open fire. 

If something is 'gigantic' it is really, really big. Notice the following:

 

I'm hungry for a gigantic ice cream cone¹².

Your new house is gigantic! How do you have time to clean it?

spit

 

Next to the cottage, they were roasting a gigantic pig on a big spit over an open fire. 

When referring to cooking something, a 'spit' is a long piece of metal that goes through a large piece of meat and holds it over a fire. Notice the following:

 

At the roast chicken restaurant down the street they cook the chicken on a spit for hours.

There are all different kinds of meat cooking on spits at the restaurant.

hide out

 

The cottage, apparently, used to be a hide-out for French pirates. 

A 'hide out' is a place where you hide yourself from someone who is trying to find you. Usually a hide out is a place where you could stay for a long time and gives you shelter. Notice the following:

 

I had a hide out in a tree by my house when I was a child.

The police finally found the kidnapper's hide out, but they were already gone.

pirates

 

They even had pictures on the walls of two of the pirates that had been there. 

A 'pirate⁶' who robs or commits crimes on or next to the ocean. Pirates usually travel by boat. Notice the following:

 

A pirate ship sank near here in the 1800s.

Pirates caused many problems for ocean travelers in the past.

1 occasion   

n.场合，时机，机会，诱因，理由；vt.惹起，引起

参考例句：

• Her dress was too showy for such a formal occasion.在如此正式的场合，她的服装过分华丽了。
• Her tears were fought back on such an occasion.在这种场合下她忍住了眼泪。

2 occasions   

n.机会( occasion的名词复数 )；时刻；原因；需要

参考例句：

• The prosecution stated that intercourse had occurred on several occasions. 控诉方称发生过数次性交。
• He has been late on numerous occasions. 他已经迟到过无数次了。

3 gigantic   

adj.巨大的，巨人似的

参考例句：

• He has a gigantic appetite and eats gigantic meals.他有很大的食量，能吃很多的食物。
• The earth may be thought of as a gigantic magnet.整个地球可以想像为一块硕大无朋的磁石。

4 obviously   

adv.显然；明白地

参考例句：

• Obviously they were putting him to a severe test.显然他们是在给他以严峻的考验。
• Obviously he was lying.显然他是在撒谎。

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

6 pirate   

n.海盗，每盗船

参考例句：

• The pirate chief commanded that the prisoners should be shot.海盗头子下令枪毙俘虏。
• The shore batteries fired at the pirate boat.海岸炮兵向海盗船开火。

7 pirates   

n.海盗( pirate的名词复数 )；剽窃者；侵犯版权者；非法播音的人（或组织）

参考例句：

• Children dressed (themselves) up as pirates. 孩子们假扮成海盗。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The pirates treated their captives with barbarity. 海盗们残暴地对待他们的俘虏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 shack   

adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚

参考例句：

• He had to sit down five times before he reached his shack.在走到他的茅棚以前，他不得不坐在地上歇了五次。
• The boys made a shack out of the old boards in the backyard.男孩们在后院用旧木板盖起一间小木屋。

9 incredible   

adj.难以置信的，不可信的，极好的，大量的

参考例句：

• Some planets run at incredible speed.某些星球以难以置信的速度运行着。
• Her answer showed the most incredible stupidity.她的回答显示出不可思议的愚蠢。

10 region   

n.地区，地带，区域；范围，幅度

参考例句：

• The students went to study the geology of that region.学生们去研究那个地区的地质情况。
• It is unusual to see snow in this region.这个地区难得见到雪。

11 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

12 cone   

n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果

参考例句：

• Saw-dust piled up in a great cone.锯屑堆积如山。
• The police have sectioned off part of the road with traffic cone.警察用锥形路标把部分路面分隔开来。