英语小达人 234 You've Swallowed My Sock

 　　You've Swallowed My Sock!

　　你吞了我的袜子！

　　A young man and a young woman were soon to be married, but they both had a problem they had never told anyone else about.

　　一对年轻人就要结婚了，可是他们各自都有一个毛病从没跟对方说过。

　　The man approached his father the day before the wedding and told him about his problem. His feet REALLY stunk¹, even if he washed them constantly, he was worried that this wound scare off his new bride, so he needed a solution, fast.

　　小伙子在婚礼前一天去找爸爸商量。他的问题是他的脚实在是太臭了，虽然他经常洗。他担心自己的臭脚会把新娘子吓跑，所以他需要爸爸帮他想一个立竿见影的办法。

　　His father pondered² the situation and finally told his son to wear socks constantly (even to bed) and always wash his feet whenever he got a chance.

　　爸爸思前想后终于想到一个方法。他要儿子一直穿着袜子（上床睡觉时也不例外），并且只要有机会就随时洗脚。

　　Meanwhile the young lady approached her mother and told her about her problem. Her morning breath was bad. Her mother reassured³ her that everyone had bad morning breath. The young woman told her mother that she got really horrid⁴ morning breath.

　　与此同时，准新娘也在找妈妈帮忙。她的问题是睡觉起来后会有口臭。妈妈安慰她说每个人起床后都会有口臭，可是她告诉妈妈她的口臭确实非常严重。

　　The mother thought about this and told her daughter to get up earlier than everyone else and not say a thing, go make breakfast and then brush her teeth while the others are eating. The young woman thought and then ran off to get ready for the wedding, happy.

　　妈妈想了想后要她这样做：每天早上赶在所有人前面起床，起床后不要说话马上去做早饭，然后在别人吃饭的时候去刷牙。准新娘想了想就高兴地跑开为婚礼做准备去了。

　　The couple is married and they are happy, him with his perpetual⁵ socks and her with her morning silences.

　　这对年轻人结婚后幸福地生活在一起。他一直穿着袜子，她起床后保持沉默。

　　One morning about 5:00 a.m. the young man wakes up to find one sock missing. He starts rustling⁶ around in the bed looking for it, which of course wakes up his wife, who without thinking asks what's worng.

　　一天早上5点钟的时候，他醒来发现一只脚上的袜子不见了，就开始在床上狂找一气，这样当然就把他的妻子吵醒了。她想都没想，张嘴就问他在干什么。

　　With a look of shock on his face the young man says, "OH MY GOD! You've swallowed my sock!"

　　他一脸震惊地说：“天哪！你吞了我的袜子！”

　　重点讲解：

　　1. scare off

　　吓跑；吓退；把…吓跑；

　　eg. I don't think that revealing your past to your boyfriend scared him off.

　　我并不认为是因为你把自己的过去向男朋友坦白才把他吓跑的。

　　eg. They lighted a fire to scare off the wolves.

　　他们点了一堆火来吓跑狼群。

　　2. get ready for

　　为……做准备；

　　eg. He was busy getting ready for his journey.

　　他正忙于准备旅行。

　　eg. This guy's a nut and you'd better get ready for rainy days.

　　这个家伙是一个难对付的人，你最好是未雨绸缪。

　　3. wake up

　　醒；醒来；唤醒；弄醒；

　　eg. One morning I woke up and felt something was wrong.

　　一天早上我醒过来后感觉有些不对劲。

　　eg. At dawn I woke him up and said we were leaving.

　　黎明时分，我把他叫醒，告诉他我们要走了。

1 stunk   

v.散发出恶臭( stink的过去分词 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透

参考例句：

• Those rotten eggs have stunk the place. 那些臭蛋把这个地方弄得恶臭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• A stunk made a bad smell in our yard last night. 昨天臭鼬在我们院子里弄得好臭。 来自互联网

2 pondered   

考虑( ponder的过去式和过去分词 )； 深思熟虑； 沉思； 琢磨

参考例句：

• She pondered over his words. 她反复琢磨他的话。
• She pondered his marriage proposal for weeks. 几个星期以来她认真地考虑着他的求婚。

3 reassured   

adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The captain's confidence during the storm reassured the passengers. 在风暴中船长的信念使旅客们恢复了信心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The doctor reassured the old lady. 医生叫那位老妇人放心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 horrid   

adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的

参考例句：

• I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
• The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

5 perpetual   

adj.永久的，长期的，无休止的

参考例句：

• He is on a perpetual search for truth.他毕生在寻求真理。
• The wind and the water were carrying on their perpetual quarrel.风和海水正进行着它们那永无休止的争吵。

6 rustling   

n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的

参考例句：

• the sound of the trees rustling in the breeze 树木在微风中发出的沙沙声
• the soft rustling of leaves 树叶柔和的沙沙声