【英语早间课堂】A Dog in the Manger

 Good morning,everybody. I am Juliet , your buddy¹. I was woken up by that humorous cockcrow . The moment I open the window in my study , I can hear the beautiful bird's singing , I can see the dancing leaves of trees with ages, and I can get a breath of fresh air with the balm of flowers, which really really makes me carefree and happy so that I am in a good mood. I wish you would be the same. Let's enjoy today's programme in five minutes.

大家早上好，我是大家的好朋友，Juliet, 又和大家在空中见面了。烦死了，我可被那滑稽的鸡叫声吵醒了。当我来到书斋打开窗户的时候，听见悦耳的鸟声，看到随风荡漾的古树的叶儿，呼吸夹杂着花香的新鲜空气，真是心旷神怡。一早就有个好心情，我希望您也是如此.和我共度这5分钟的美好时光。

We have a phrase which means "a person is in an important position but without doing what he's expected to do." or "a person occupies something that he doesn't make use of and he doesn't give it to someone else to share ." What's it? Think it over. All right, let's listen to a simple situational dialogue and I'm sure you can find it . Mike： John is a dog in manger.

Jane : Yeah, he's in a important position but without doing what he's expected to. Mike : how can we do away with him?

Jane : I have no idea. Maybe we can pull together and get rid of him by making protest² against his inefficiency³ in his work.

【精彩点拨】

Now have you found it ? It is " a dog in the manger ". it is an idiom. This is a figure of speech. 从字面上的意思是占着马槽的狗，可是在英国他是一个比喻的说法，喻指“身在其位而不谋其职的人”或者是“占据有某样东西，自己不能享用可又不给别人享用？ a dog in the manger 用我们中文来说是 “占着茅坑不拉屎的人”，这个再合适不过了。

Well , please listen to this dialogue again and write down the key phrases. Mike： John is a dog in the manger.

Jane : Yeah, he's in an important position but without doing what he's expected to. Mike : how can we do away with him?

Jane : I have no idea. Maybe we can pull together and get rid of him by making a protest against his inefficiency in his work.

【日积月累】

1 do away with 去掉，废除2 have no idea 不知道3 pull together 齐心协力，通力合作4 make a protest 抗议 （抗议什么东西，在 protest 后面加上against.）5 get rid of 摆脱，除去【对话译文】

Mike : 约翰是一个占着茅坑不拉屎的人。

Jane: 恩，他身居要职可是没见他做什么事情。

Mike : 我们如何赶走他呢？

Jane : 不知道，也许我们联合起来，通过抗议他不能胜任该工作来除掉他。

Okay, it's time to day goodbye to all my listeners. Thank you for your listening this time , see you next time. 让我们在欢快的音乐声中结束这次节目吧......

 

转自可可英语

1 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

2 protest   

v.反对，抗议；宣称；n.抗议；宣称

参考例句：

• I can't pass the matter by without a protest.我不能对此事视而不见，我要提出抗议。
• We translated his silence as a protest.我们把他的沉默解释为抗议。

3 inefficiency   

n.无效率，无能；无效率事例

参考例句：

• Conflict between management and workers makes for inefficiency in the workplace. 资方与工人之间的冲突使得工厂生产效率很低。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This type of inefficiency arises because workers and management are ill-equipped. 出现此种低效率是因为工人与管理层都能力不足。 来自《简明英汉词典》