迷你对话学地道口语第859期:争执的焦点,争端

 　　第一， 迷你对话

　　A: Why do the two brothers grow cold and often quarrel with each other?

　　那对兄弟感情怎么冷淡起来的？而且还总是吵架？

　　B: Money is the matter.

　　是钱的问题。

　　A: Why?

　　为什么呀？

　　B: Because of the division of their father’s property, it is their bone of contention¹.

　　还不是因为他们父亲财产分配的问题而引起的争端。

　　A: So there is no brother when they come to money.

　　一提到钱，兄弟就不亲了。

　　第二， 地道表达

　　bone of the contention

　　1. 解词释义

　　Bone of the contention这个习语源于够抢骨头，争斗不休。其字面意思为“争夺的骨头”，比喻为“争端的起因”或“争议点”等意思，常见用于新闻报道中。类似的习语还有have a bone to pick with sb.。

　　2. 拓展例句

　　e.g. The border has always been a bone of contention between these two countries.

　　这两国之间的边界问题历来是争议的焦点。

　　e.g. The small island has been a bone of contention between the two countries for centuries.

　　那小岛成为这两个国家之间的争端已达数百年之久。

　　第三， 词海拾贝

　　1. grow cold ：（关系或感情）变得冷漠

　　e.g. After a certain point, she grew cold, detached utterly² from him.

　　过了某一点后，她变得冷漠无情，对他没有一丝恋眷。

　　e.g. As she came to understand her position, she grew stiff and cold.

　　当她渐渐明白自己的处境时，就变得呆滞，冷漠了。

　　2. quarrel with sb. ：与某人争吵

　　e.g. He is good-natured and has never had a quarrel with anyone.

　　他脾气很好,从不和任何人争吵。

　　e.g. For all these reasons, he decided³ to pick a quarrel with Miss Wackles without delay.

　　基于这许多理由，他决定立即向瓦克尔斯小姐寻衅。

　　3. because of ：因为

　　e.g. His later stories are not interesting because of their poverty of imagination.

　　他后来写的故事因为缺乏想像力而枯燥乏味。

　　e.g. The lives of many people have been enriched because of adult education.

　　许多人的生活由于受了成人教育而变得更加充实。

　　4. come to sth. ：谈到某事，涉及某事

　　e.g. When it comes to politics I know nothing.

　　谈到政治，我一无所知。

1 contention   

n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张

参考例句：

• The pay increase is the key point of contention. 加薪是争论的焦点。
• The real bone of contention,as you know,is money.你知道，争论的真正焦点是钱的问题。

2 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

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。