【英语早间课堂】A Blind Alley

 Good morning , my buddies¹. I'm so glad to meet you via network. I am Juliet. Very good , it's Friday today. We can take a deep breath and dream of our meaningful and joyful² plans on weekends. Usually I drive my private car to a countryside to enjoy the nature, taking a breath full of the balm of soil and all kinds of plants .What's more , it's spring now. Leaves get to turn olivine , all kinds of flowers are in blossom. Imagine those, I really really feel carefree and happy. Whatever how wonderful they are , there is a day far away from weekends. All right, come to our today's five-mumite programme大家早上好，我是Juliet，很高兴又和大家在空中见面了。 真好，今天是星期五，我可终于可以喘口气了，心想着如何度过一个有意义的愉快的周末。 我通常是在周末驾车到郊外去享受大自然，呼吸夹杂着泥土芬芳的气息。此外，正值春季，树叶都转绿了，花儿竞相开放，啊！想起来就心旷神怡。不管有多么好，还要工作学习一天，好了，进入我们今天的早间课堂，希望能和大家在此度过一个美好的清晨。

【主题】

We have a phrase to express that the speaker takes the view of dim and thinks there's no possibility to do anything, depressed³. How should we put it? 【oh , Juliet, it's easy as a pie, they are: The future looks black. /The prospects⁴ are dim./Things look very dim. Blah , blah blah...】yeah, Lucy, you are really smart as a whip. However, today I would like to share a classic one with you. Please listen to the dialogue and find it .

A :Why did Jim quit the job.

B : He said his present job seemed to be a blind alley⁵. A : If he doesn't change his attitude toward work, I don't think a new job can make any difference.

【主题点拨】

Now have you found it? 【Juliet，is it "a blind alley".】Yeah, dead right, it is a blind alley. It's an idiom and figure of speech. Alley 是“胡同，巷子”的意思。Blind 是“瞎的，盲目的”意思，a blind alley 字面上的意思是 一条瞎的胡同，we could give our rein⁶ into imagination. 一条瞎的胡同是不是黑暗的，黑暗的胡同我们什么都看不到，看不到我们也就不知怎么走，那就是比喻“走不通的，前途暗淡的”意思。And in addition , it is the use of a double meaning. 【Juliet， what's called a double meaning?】A double meaning 就是语义双关的意思。A blind alley 可以说是一条走不通的巷子，也可以说是前途暗淡的。

For example : 1 We drove into a blind alley and had to back out.

我们把车子开进了一条死胡同,只得退出来。

2 His present job seemed to be a blind alley.

他现在的职业看来没什么前途。

3 You are heading into a blind alley. 你的想法行不通。

As far as I'm concerned, there are some more expressions whose meaning is the same as "a blind alley", they are : a dead end, cul-de-sac 这些都是死路，死胡同，绝路的意思。

【短语积累】

All right , let's come to the dialogue study. Please write down the key phrases while listening to the recording⁷. This is of kind of help for your listening comprehension.

A :Why did Jim quit the job.

B : He said his present job seemed to be a blind alley. A : If he doesn't change his attitude toward work, I don't think a new job can make any difference.

Now have you done. They are should be underlined:

1 quit the job 辞职2 a present job 目前的工作3 a blind alley 行不通的，前途暗淡的4 change one's attitude toward ... 对... 改变态度5 make some difference 有些作用或影响, 区别【咬文嚼字】

Let's look at these sentences: 1 I don't think a new job can make any difference. 意思是我认为新的工作对他也没有用。

这里 a new job can make any difference.是个宾语从句，一个主句中有think 这个词， 宾语从句的否定式前置于think，那么宾语从中如果含有some这个单词就要改为any. 因此句中说没有什么区别，用的是make any difference. If we want to express "对......有用" ， we just put a preposition "to' afer difference：make some difference to . If we want to express "对......没有用"，it should be put like this: make no difference to. So the sentence in the dialogue which is " I don't think a new job can make any difference. " can be changed to another way to say "I think a new job can make no difference to his present job. "2 He said his present job seemed to be a blind alley. 他说他目前的工作前途黯淡。

his present job seemed to be a blind alley. 在这里是宾语从句，从句中seem做的是实义动词，后面的不定时做宾语成分。

【译文】

Well , so much explanations to this dialogue. Finally The translation of the whole dialogue is as follows:

A : Jim 为什么要辞职呀？

B : 他说他目前的工作前途黯淡。

A : 如果他不改变对工作的态度，即使换了一份新工作也没有用。

It's time to say goodbye to you . Have a wonderful weekend. Thank you for your listening . See you next time.

好了，又要跟大家暂时在空中告别，祝您周末愉快，感谢您的这次收听，下次再会。

【学以致用】

Please translate the following sentences in to English.

1 山穷水尽,豁然开朗。

2 这种人如果指导革命,就会引导革命走上碰壁的地步。

3 这条街道是条死胡同。

4 我要一辈子做这没出息的工作。

5 试验失败了,我们一筹莫展.

【习题答案】

1 An apparently⁸ blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.

2 If such persons direct a revolution, they will lead it up a blind alley.

3 The street was a blind alley.

4 I'll be in this dead-end job all my life.

5 With the failure of the experiment, we had reached a dead end.

转自可可英语

1 buddies   

n.密友( buddy的名词复数 )；同伴；弟兄；（用于称呼男子，常带怒气）家伙v.（如密友、战友、伙伴、弟兄般）交往( buddy的第三人称单数 )；做朋友；亲近（…）；伴护艾滋病人

参考例句：

• We became great buddies. 我们成了非常好的朋友。 来自辞典例句
• The two of them have become great buddies. 他们俩成了要好的朋友。 来自辞典例句

2 joyful   

adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的

参考例句：

• She was joyful of her good result of the scientific experiments.她为自己的科学实验取得好成果而高兴。
• They were singing and dancing to celebrate this joyful occasion.他们唱着、跳着庆祝这令人欢乐的时刻。

3 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

4 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

5 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

6 rein   

n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治

参考例句：

• The horse answered to the slightest pull on the rein.只要缰绳轻轻一拉,马就作出反应。
• He never drew rein for a moment till he reached the river.他一刻不停地一直跑到河边。

7 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

8 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。