王强口语 第一册 long conversation 23

　　Long Conversations
1. Conversations: (Find a partner and practice these dialogues.)
Helen: Sarah moved in and for the first month both of us struggled to get used to each other again.
Interviewer: You shouldn't have had much trouble because you used to live under the same roof for a long time.
Helen: Unfortunately, it became clear pretty quickly that what used to work before Sarah had gone to school would not work now. Sarah had become an independent woman, and she couldn't live under the same rules and regulations she had as a teenager.
Interviewer: I think you should change your thinking about your daughter, but you also have to rethink the new life you'd taken on.
Helen: Suddenly, everything was out of kilter. Steve, my boyfriend, couldn't spend time with me at my house. I got up before Sarah and I found myself tiptoeing around my own house, not being able to do what I used to do in the mornings. My telephone was ringing three times as often, interrupting my work.
Interviewer: There was no more privacy¹ in your house.
Helen: Sometimes Sarah worked long hours and I felt I had to have dinner ready for her when she came home late. So suddenly I was eating later than I usually did and spending a lot of time cooking, which I hadn't done before.
Interviewer: You must have had clashes² from time to time. How did you manage to work the clashes out?
Helen: We always talked things out and came up with workable rules, regulations and boundaries for our continued sharing of the family home.
Interviewer: Life settled down.
Helen: Oh yeah, but I found that something was still missing³, no matter how smoothly⁴ the household run.
Interviewer: What was that?
Helen: It was that private space, that area that really has no physical description and can't always be described too well with words, either. That's what I lost when Sarah moved into the house with me.
Interviewer: You began to get restless⁵ and weren't sure why?
Helen: I thought maybe I was getting bored with my work, or that I just needed a vacation. That was right---I did need a vacation, but I still didn't know what I needed it from. It was like I was always sitting on the edge of my chair, poised⁶ to jump up and run, but to...what? And why? It was starting to bother me tremendously⁷, and my relationship with Steve began to suffer as I took my restlessness⁸ out on him.
Interviewer: Did Sarah realize that?
Helen: She knew I was missing my private time, and she felt guilty about being the cause of it. She told me that she wanted so much to just move out and let me have my life back. She didn't want to hurt my feelings. She set a definite date by which she would move out of the house. Even if she didn't feel ready financially, she talked with a close friend about sharing a place, and that helped make the goal of moving out more realistic. She also agreed to share cooking chores and to be ready to take care of herself if I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to go out for the night or away for the weekend.
Interviewer: Did things improve?
Helen: Tremendously, but I still missed my private space. Finally, we had addressed the issue to a point where Sarah made concrete plans for going out on her own. Then I had something definite to look forward to---getting my space back!
Exercise: Turn the long dialogue into ONE descriptive narrative⁹. Use only indirect¹⁰ speech.

1 privacy   

n.私人权利，个人自由，隐私权

参考例句：

• In such matters,privacy is impossible.在这类事情中，保密是不可能的。
• She wept in the privacy of her own room.她在自己房内暗暗落泪。

2 clashes   

冲突( clash的名词复数 )； 不协调； （两群人之间的）打斗

参考例句：

• Clashes broke out between police and demonstrators. 警方与示威者发生了冲突。
• Several policemen were injured in the clashes. 几名警察在冲突中受伤。

3 missing   

adj.遗失的，缺少的，失踪的

参考例句：

• Check the tools and see if anything is missing.检点一下工具，看有无丢失。
• All the others are here;he's the only one missing.别人都来了，就短他一个。

4 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

5 restless   

adj.焦躁不安的；静不下来的，运动不止的

参考例句：

• He looks like a restless man.他看上去坐立不安。
• He has been very restless all day and he awoke nearly all last night.他一整天都心神不定，昨夜几乎一整夜没有合眼。

6 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

7 tremendously   

adv.极大地；极端地；极其；非常

参考例句：

• The experience has been tremendously educational. 这一经历极富教育意义。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The spectacle of Xerxes's defeat tremendously reinforced the traditional conviction that pride goes before a fall. 泽克西斯战败的景象极其使人信服“骄兵必败”这句源远流长的老话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 restlessness   

n. 辗转不安，烦躁不安，不安定

参考例句：

• A terrible restlessness that was like to hunger afflicted Martin Eden. 一阵可怕的、跟饥饿差不多的不安情绪折磨着马丁·伊登。
• Their gossips abraded her into restlessness. 他们的流言蜚语使她心烦意乱。

9 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

10 indirect   

adj.间接的，转弯抹角的，非直接的

参考例句：

• What he said was very indirect.他的话很婉转。
• He gave only an indirect answer.他只作了间接的回答。