流行美语 第128课 - from scratch / all set

李华正在为朋友的生日party做准备，她生平第一次烤了一个蛋糕。今天李华会学到两个常用语：from scratch¹和all set.

LH: Larry, 这是我烤的蛋糕，你尝尝。这可是我生平第一次烤蛋糕，不一定会好吃！

LL: Mmmm! This is delicious! Did you make this from scratch or did you use a cake mix?

LH: 你觉得好吃呀？太好了！哎，你刚才问我是不是make it from scratch? 那是什么意思啊？我是照因特网上的一个食谱做的。

LL: Then you did make it from scratch. To make something from scratch is to make it yourself using all of the basic ingredients².

LH: 原来to make something from scratch就是自己用基本材料，从头做起。是呀，我用鸡蛋、面粉、牛奶和黄油做的。还有别的做蛋糕的方法？

LL: A lot of people nowadays use a pre-packaged cake mix with all the ingredients in it already, so it's easier to make.

LH: 用事先调好的蛋糕粉那当然简单多了。那多没意思啊！自己把所有的材料准备好，从头开始做，其实很好玩呢！

LL: Well, you should be proud of yourself. This cake is great!

LH: 谢谢，你说好吃我就放心了！对了，Larry，你有没有自己烤过蛋糕？

LL: No, but I tried making chocolate chip cookies from scratch once.

LH: 自己做巧克力饼干啊？好吃吗？

LL: They were awful because I forgot to put oil in them. After that, I decided³ that it was best if I didn't try to make things from scratch anymore.

LH: 忘了放油！那饼干肯定会太硬。你一次没做成功就决定下回不做了！你知道，做这种东西是试验好多次才行。

LL: I know, but I'm not that patient.

LH: 嗨，要做好就得要有耐心嘛！

******

LL: All right, Li Hua. The cake is ready, the drinks are prepared, and the decorations look great. I think we are all set.

LH: We are all set？ 这是什么意思？蛋糕、饮料都准备好了，一切都布置好了。你的意思是一切准备就绪了，是吗？

LL: That's right. To be "all set" is to be ready for whatever it is you're going to do. In this case, we are all set to have a party.

LH: 对，要举行party的个方面似乎都准备好了。那我是不是可以说we're all set to have fun at the party?

LL: If you're ready to have fun, then of course you can say that. Hey, what about the music - is that all set?

LH: 音乐啊？没问题！我把激光唱机和几片激光盘全放桌上了。So it's all set.

LL: Great! Now, I'm all set to eat more of that cake you made. It's really delicious

LH: 不行，你现在还不能吃这蛋糕，要等做生日的人吹完蜡烛后才能吃的！

LL: I know. I was just kidding. Hey, do you have a place for people to put presents?

LH: 放礼物的地方啊？早准备好了！我在进门的地方有张桌子。大家可以把礼物和生日卡放在那儿。.

LL: Okay, since everything is all set, we can relax until the guests start arriving.

LH: 我早就准备好在客人来以前先休息一下。筹办一个生日party 可真是够累人的！

LL: Preparing a party isn't that bad; it's cleaning up afterwards that's a lot of work.

LH: Party结束后，我想你一定会帮我收拾的。对不对？

LL：Of course!

李华学到两个常用语。第一个是from scratch, 意思就是从头做起。第二个常用语是all set, 就是一切就绪，准备好了的意思。

1 scratch   

n.草稿，抓痕，搔，抓，擦伤，刮擦声，乱写，零，起跑线，未中的一击；vt.搔，抓，挖出，擦

参考例句：

• Scratch my name out please.请把我的名字划掉。
• The suggestion is that they should start from scratch.提出的建议是，他们从头开始。

2 ingredients   

n.（混合物的）组成部分( ingredient的名词复数 )；（烹调的）原料；（构成）要素；因素

参考例句：

• All ingredients are readily available from your local store. 所有的原料都可以方便地从你当地的商店买到。
• We never use second quality ingredients to build building. 我们决不使用次等材料用于建筑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。