朗文3L看听学英语第四册 Lesson 93

　　Lesson 93 Getting ready for the Old Crocks Race
Gretel is always surprised when she sees an old car in England-which is quite often. She is impressed by the way the English seem to love old things and take care of them. Last week the Clarks were invited to a friend's house and Gretel went with them. Mr Clark's friend, Jack¹ Hume, has a very old and very valuable veteran² car. It's a 6 h.p. 1903 De Dion-Bouton. Jack spends a lot of time looking after it."He's more interested in that old car than he is in me," his wife complains.
Jack is very proud of his veteran car and always shows it to visitors. "It has to be kept in its own garage," Jack explained. "I take it out quite often, but it has to be driven very carefully. If it gets wet, it has to be cleaned and polished³ immediately. That takes a few hours. I'm getting the car ready for the London to Brighton race now." Jack saw that Gretel hadn't understood, so he explained. "This race is held once a year. It's often referred to as the 'Old Crocks Race'. It's for old cars like mine. My wife and I always find it an exciting race."
"Speak for youself," Mrs Hume said."It's very uncomfortable and we usually get soaking⁴ wet. Geve me my Mini any day!"

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 veteran   

n.老兵；经验丰富的人，老手

参考例句：

• My grandfather is a veteran of the Second World War.我祖父是二战时的老兵。
• We often asked the veteran workers for advice.我们常常向老工人求教。

3 polished   

adj.磨光的，擦亮的；完美的，精良的；优雅的v.使光滑，擦亮(polish的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The boxer polished off his opponent in the first round. 那个拳击手在第一个回合就把他的对手击倒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The silver will need to be polished up for the dinner party. 为了宴会，这些银器需要擦得光亮。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 soaking   

v.浸，浸湿(soak的现在分词)；吸收，吸入adj.湿透的；浸透的n.浸湿，浸透adv.湿透地

参考例句：

• That coat is soaking—take it off. 上衣湿透了—脱下来吧。
• I tried to squeeze the water out of my soaking skirt. 我用力拧掉我那件湿透了的裙子上的水。 来自《简明英汉词典》