Step by Step 3000 第2册 Unit4:Getting Ready for the future career(4)

 　　Part 4. My pet hate.

　　Keywords. pet hate, dislike, filling up forms, horror, applying for, giving information, personal life, habits, answers,

　　questions, defects, job applications, false declarations, discrepancies¹.

　　Vocabulary. pet hate, positive, obscure, prospective² employer, measles³, conceivably, confront, go blank,

　　tonsil, delicate, contend, defect, contact lens, account, dubious⁴, summons, discrepancy⁵.

　　What do you dislike most?

　　Listen to a passage about what is the speaker's pet hate.

　　Complete the statement in the left-hand column, and then note down the supporting details in the right-hand column.

　　Of all things in the world, I mostly dislike filling up forms.

　　In fact, I have a positive horror of it.

　　Applying for a driving license⁶, registering for an evening course, booking a holiday abroad...

　　everything nowadays seems to involve giving information about one's personal life and habits that has little or nothing to do with the matter in hand.

　　When applying for a job, it maybe of some obscure interest to a perspective employer to learn that I collect stamps, or had measles as child.

　　But why should he conceivably want to know that my father was a tobacconist to live in Foreland and died when he was 82.

　　The authorities who require one to fill up forms frequently demand answers to questions that one would hesitate to put to one's intimate friends.

　　The worst of it is that, when confront with such questions, my mind goes blank and I can hardly remember my own date of birth, let alone my nationality.

　　Have I ever suffered from a serious illness? Have I? What do them mean by serious?

　　I had my tonsils out in hospital when I was 8.

　　My mother always assured me I was delicate, but father contended I was born lazy.

　　Do I suffer from any personal defects?

　　Well, I wear contact lenses and my upper teeth are not my own.

　　But perhaps the word "defect" applies to my character.

　　Am I supposed to admit that I like gambling⁷ and find it difficult to get up in the morning, both of which are true.

　　Of all, I think job applications are the worst——education, previous experience, posts held, give dates.

　　Terrified by the awful warning about giving false declarations, which appears at the bottom of the form.

　　I struggle to remember what exams I passed and how long I worked for what firms.

　　However hard I try, that always seems to be a year or two for which I cannot satisfactorily account.

　　And which I am certain, if left blank, will give the impression that I was in prison or engaged in the some occupations too dubious to mention.

　　Even when the form is safely posted, there is no relief as I hourly await the summons from some furious official to explain the discrepancies on my form.

1 discrepancies   

n.差异，不符合（之处），不一致（之处）( discrepancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• wide discrepancies in prices quoted for the work 这项工作的报价出入很大
• When both versions of the story were collated,major discrepancies were found. 在将这个故事的两个版本对照后，找出了主要的不符之处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

3 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

4 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。

5 discrepancy   

n.不同；不符；差异；矛盾

参考例句：

• The discrepancy in their ages seemed not to matter.他们之间年龄的差异似乎没有多大关系。
• There was a discrepancy in the two reports of the accident.关于那次事故的两则报道有不一致之处。

6 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

7 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。