美语三级跳 Go English：011C 带孩子: 高级课程

Professor: Hannah has a young daughter named Amber¹ who is in second grade. Today Hannah is going in to talk to Amber's teacher to find out how her daughter has been doing at school.

Amber是个让人头疼的孩子，我估计她老师肯定有一大堆苦水要倒。

Teacher: Thanks so much for coming in to talk to me about Amber. There are some things about Amber's behavior I want to discuss with you.

Hannah: Of course. Isn't my Amber just a little angel?

Teacher: Your daughter is certainly very... special. However, there are a few issues that I'd like to talk to you about.

Hannah: What is it? Do you want to put her on the honor roll?

Hannah还以为Amber在学校是乖乖的小天使呢！不过，Professor Bowman, 什么叫"honor roll"?

Professor: The honor roll is a list of the best students in class. If your child is on the honor roll, you can also say that he or she is an "honor roll student."

哦，honor roll就是优等生名单。

Teacher: The honor roll? Uh ... no. Even though Amber is very bright, she has some serious behavioral problems we need to deal with.

Hannah: Behavioral problems? What are you talking about? My little Amber would never misbehave.

Teacher: Actually, Amber throws a temper tantrum whenever I tell her to do her work.

Hannah: A temper tantrum? What does she do?

Teacher: She throws all her books on the floor and screams. It's really disruptive for all the other students in class.

瞧，真相大白了吧。老师说，Amber虽然很聪明，但是不听话，老师让她做功课，她就"throw a temper tantrum," 这是什么意思呢？

Professor: The word "tantrum" means an outburst of bad temper. If a child "throws a temper tantrum", he or she is expressing anger through kicking, screaming or other immature² ways.

我知道了，就是耍赖，发小孩子脾气。

Professor: Exactly. "Throwing a temper tantrum" is the same thing as "throwing a fit". For example, I could say, "My son always throws a fit when I try to put him to bed."

Hannah: Oh my goodness! Well... I'll give you a piece of advice: If Amber throws a fit, just give her whatever she wants. It always works for me.

Teacher: Well you see, that's the problem. If you don't set rules for her to follow, she will never learn discipline. That would be a shame because she really has a gift for learning.

Hannah: You think I need to discipline her more? How should I do that?

Teacher: One thing you can do is to give her a time-out. If she misbehaves or is acting³ up, make her sit in one spot and don't let her leave until she behaves.

Professor Bowman, 老师说Amber has a gift for learning是什么意思？

Professor: Winnie, if you say that someone has a gift, that means he or she has an extraordinary talent.

所以老师意思是，Amber有学习天份，但需要严格管教。她告诉Hannah，如果Amber再act up - 捣蛋、耍脾气，就 give her a time-out--罚她反省。

Teacher: I think this is really a textbook case of lack of discipline. If you set boundaries for her behavior, she will quickly learn what is acceptable⁴ and what isn't.

Hannah: Alright, I will set boundaries. From now on when she throws food at her babysitter when I go out, she will have to take a time-out.

Teacher: That's exactly right. I think your babysitter will appreciate it, too.

Hannah: That reminds me: I have to find a new babysitter for my sweet little Amber. Can you believe all the other ones have quit?

Teacher: Yeah .... I'm completely shocked .....

Professor, 老师说Amber是"textbook case of lack of discipline," 这是什么意思？.

Professor: Here the word "textbook" is an adjective, meaning "typical" or "a perfect example." For example, "John sleeps until noon every day. He is the textbook example of a lazy teenager."

哦，就是“典型的例子”。希望Hannah真能接受老师的建议，set boundaries--给Amber立点规矩。

 

1 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

2 immature   

adj.未成熟的，发育未全的，未充分发展的

参考例句：

• Tony seemed very shallow and immature.托尼看起来好像很肤浅，不夠成熟。
• The birds were in immature plumage.这些鸟儿羽翅未全。

3 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

4 acceptable   

adj.可接受的，合意的，受欢迎的

参考例句：

• The terms of the contract are acceptable to us.我们认为这个合同的条件可以接受。
• Air pollution in the city had reached four times the acceptable levels.这座城市的空气污染程度曾高达可接受标准的四倍。