Detailed Reading

I. Difficult Sentences

1. He sounded as if he had a cold or something. (Para. 2)
What can we infer from this sentence?
(This sentence implies the sad state of mind the taxi driver was in.)

2. At least they do with me because I’m on the road so much. (Para. 5)
Paraphrase the sentence.
(At least letters from home mean a lot to me because I travel a lot for long distances.)

3. It might just as well have been family. (Para. 6)
Translate the sentence into Chinese.
(也可以算是一家人。)

4. But I take it he’s someone you’ve known quite a while? (Para. 7)
What does “I take it” mean?
(“I take it” means “I understand (that); I assume (that)”.
- As I take it, they won’t accept the proposal.)

5. But I realized that Old Ed was still on his mind when he spoke again, almost more to himself than to me: “I should have kept in touch. Yes,” he repeated, “I should have kept in touch.” (Para. 16)
1) Paraphrase the sentence.
(But I realized that the taxi driver was still thinking of Old Ed when he spoke again. It seemed that he spoke more to himself than to me. He repeated that he should have kept in touch.)
2) Why did the driver repeat that he should have kept in touch?
(He could have let Ed know how he missed him.)

6. It had references to things that probably meant something to the driver, … (Para. 21)
1) What does it refer to?
(It refers to the letter.)
2) What does reference mean here?
(It means the act of mentioning.)
3) Paraphrase the sentence.
(The letter mentioned something that might be important to the driver.)

7. “Like it says there,” he answered, “about all we had to spend in those days was time.” (Para. 23)
Paraphrase the sentence.
(“As the letter says there,” he answered, “though we didn’t have much money we had a lot of free time.”)

8. There are fewer and fewer still around. (Para. 25)
Paraphrase the sentence.
(Fewer and fewer of us are left alive.)

9. But we hung out on the same corner when we were single. (Para. 28)
Paraphrase the sentence and translate it into Chinese.
[But we passed our free time together before we got married. (不过没成家时我俩总在一起闲荡。)]

10. But for the last 20 or 30 years it’s been mostly just Christmas cards. (Para. 28)
Paraphrase the sentence.
(But generally speaking we have sent only Christmas cards to keep in touch with each other for the last 20 or 30 years.)

11. Your friendship over the years has meant an awful lot to me, more than I can say because I’m not good at saying things like that. (Para. 29)
Paraphrase the sentence.
(Your friendship over the years has been very important to me, more important than I can say because I’m not good at expressing my feelings.)

II. Words & Expressions

be lost in / lose oneself in:  be absorbed in; be fully occupied with

- He was lost in playing computer games so he was unaware of my entering the room.

- I had lost myself in thought.

- 他忙于这项工作而对周围的一切都很漠然。(He was lost to the world in this task.)

available: adj.

1. able to be got, obtained, used, etc.

- If you don’t want to buy a kite, you can make your own using directions available in the book.

- We have already used up all the available space.

- 对不起,这种外套没有你要的颜色和尺码。(I’m sorry. Those overcoats are not available in your color and size. )

2. able to be visited or seen; not too busy

- 律师现在没空。 (The lawyer is not available now.)

or something:  used when you are not very sure about what you have just said

- The air fare was a hundred and ninety-nine pounds or something.

- Here’s some money. Get yourself a sandwich or something.

NB:

同义的短语：or something like that

go ahead:  continue; begin (sometimes followed by with n.)

- The board of directors will vote today on whether to go ahead with the plan.

- Henry will be late but we will go ahead with the meeting anyway.

estimate:

1. vt. form a judgment about (a quantity or value)

- Bill’s personal riches were estimated at $368 million.

- I estimate that the total cost for the treatment of the disease will go from $5,000 to $8,000.

- 我估计她有35岁。 (I estimate her age at 35. )

2. n. approximate calculation or judgment made about a quantity or value

- According to some estimates, the number of farms has increased by 50 percent.

- My estimate of her character was wrong.

CF: estimate, evaluate & value

这组词都有“估计”或“估价”的意思。

estimate 指先于实际的测量、计算或测试而作的某种估计或估价，可以是经过仔细考虑，也可以是随意的。

- He estimated he would do the hundred miles by noon. (他估计自已到中午时能走完这一百英里路。)

- I asked three building firms to estimate for the repairs to the house.  (我请三个建筑公司估计修缮房屋的费用。)

evaluate 很少表示用金钱来估计某物的市场价值，而是对其相对或内在价值的评定。

- The research project has only been under way for three months, so it’s too early to evaluate its success. (这个研究项目进行了不过三个月，所以要对它的效果作出评价为时尚早。 )

value 指估计某物的价值、价格。

- He valued the house for me at ￡3,500. (他为我给这幢房子估价，价值3,500英镑。)

Put into each gap one of the above words. Change the form where necessary.

1. How do teachers evaluate their students’ work?

2. It was estimated that there were more than 2,250,000 spiders in one acre of grass field.

3. They have gone to have their jewels valued.

might / may (just) as well:  If you say that you might / may (just) as well do sth., you mean that you will do it although you do not have a strong desire to do it and may even feel slightly reluctant  about it.

- Anyway, you’re here; you might as well stay.

- The post office is really busy. We’ll have to queue for ages to get served. We might as well go home.

- 这道甜食我还是不吃了吧。 (I might as well give the sweet course a miss.)

not much of:  not a good …

- 天气不是很好。(It is not much of a day. )

- Some people may think that doing housework for others is not much of a career.

- He is not much of a father, but he is an outstanding professor.

keep up:  continue without stopping

- They risk losing their homes because they can no longer keep up the repayments.

- I was so hungry all the time that I could not keep the diet up for longer than a month.

Collocation:

keep t                                                     坚持；信守

keep up with                       跟上；赶上

keep on                                         继续进行；反复地做

keep out of                                   躲开；（使）置身于…之外

keep off                                         避开；不让…接近

Put into each gap one of the above phrases. Change the form where necessary.

1. Keep off the grass!

2. If this rain keeps up, the garden will be ruined.

3. Try to keep out of trouble.

4. Don’t run — I can’t keep up with you.

5. He just kept on writing, paying no attention to the cry of the baby.  

6. He always keeps to his promises.

correspondence: n.

1. the act of writing, receiving or sending letters (often followed by with n.)

- His interest in writing came from a long correspondence with a close college friend.

- 敌人空袭后通信中断了。(The correspondence dropped after the enemy’s air raid. )

2. the letters that sb. receives or sends (used as an uncountable noun)

- Mary really never mentions her step-mother in her correspondence.

- The library bought all the correspondence between Queen Victoria and her daughters.

Collocation:

carry on correspondence                                                                 进行通信

break off correspondence                                                                中断通信

business / commercial correspondence           商业书信

personal correspondence                                                                私人通信

in correspondence with                                                                    与…有通信联系

practically: adv.  almost, but not completely or exactly

- 她几乎每天上班迟到。(She’s practically always late for work. )

- He’d known the old man for practically ten years.

- I know people who find it practically impossible to give up smoking.

kind of / sort of:  (“kind of” esp. AmE, “sort of” esp. BrE) a little bit; in some way or degree (used before verb or after a link verb)

- The boy’s description kind of gives us an idea of what’s happening.

- She wasn’t beautiful. But she was kind of cute.

- 她有点希望能受到邀请。 (She kind of hoped to be invited. )

lose touch (with sb.):  meet and contact sb. less and less often, gradually stop writing to, telephoning, or visiting them

- I lost touch with my former classmates after graduation.

- In my job one tends to lose touch with friends.

a couple of:  a few; more than one but not many

- Do you have a moment? There are a couple of things I’d like to talk to you about.

- They promised the students that they would find a substitute teacher in a couple of days.

on one’s mind:  in one’s thoughts; of concern to one (If sth. is on your mind, you are worried or concerned about it and think about it a lot.)

- Dealings on the stock market have been on his mind all the time.

- This travel plan has been on my mind all week.

- You are always on my mind.

keep in touch (with sb.):  If you keep in touch with someone, you write to, phone, or visit each other regularly.

- The old man kept in touch with his children while living in a nursing home.

- While doing the research work in the Antarctic, the professor kept in touch with his students via email.

Collocation:

stay in touch with                     与…保持联系

get in touch with                       与…取得联系

come up:

1. happen or occur, esp. unexpectedly

- Sorry, I am late — something came up at home.

- Other projects came up and the emphasis of my work changed.

2. be mentioned or discussed

- The issue of safety came up twice during the meeting.

- News about Project Hope has come up a lot after the earthquake in various media.

Collocation:

come across                                        偶遇，碰到

come along                                          进展；出现

come down                                          流传下来；落魄，失势

come over                                                      从远处来，过来；短暂造访

come through                                      经历（困难），安然度过

come up with                                       想出（计划、答案、回答等）

Put into each gap one of the phrases. Change the form where necessary.

1. He couldn’t come up with an appropriate answer just at the time.

2. How’s your work coming along?

3. These legends came down to us from the 15th century.

4. The old man was 90 years old and lucky to come through his operation.

5. We’ve just come across an old friend we haven’t seen for ages.

6. Come over and see us sometime.

urge: vt.  try very hard to persuade

- They urged the local government to approve plans for their reform program.

- Sir Fred urged that Britain (should) join the European Monetary System.

- 当老朋友布赖恩怂恿我接受一支香烟时，我实在忍不住了。(When my old friend Brian urged me to accept a cigarette, it was more than I could bear. )

Pattern:

urge sb. to do sth.

urge that-clause. (In the that-clause, “should” or the base form of a verb is used.)

postpone: vt.  delay (usu. followed by n. / gerund)

- The couple had postponed having children to establish their careers.

- 我们把比赛从3月5日推迟到3月19日举行。 (We postponed the match from March 5th to March 19th. )

CF: postpone & delay

这组词都有“延缓”或“耽搁”的意思。

postpone 指将某事推迟或耽搁延后进行，也可以用来比喻将某人或某物置于次要地位。例如：

- The ball game was postponed because of the rain. (球赛因雨延期。 )

- It is not right for him to postpone the public interest. (他将公众利益放在后面是不对的。 )

delay 指由于干扰或意外事故而延误，特别是延误了某事的预期完成或某人某物的按时到达。有时也可能是由于主观原因故意造成的拖延或耽搁。例如：

- The flood seriously delayed the train service. (洪水严重延误了铁路运输。 )

- Our debtor delays payment from day to day. (欠我们债的人一天又一天地拖延还款。 )

Put into each gap one of the above words. Change the form where necessary.

1. The ship was delayed two hours.

2. We are postponing our trip until the weather grows warmer.

reference: n.

1. the act of talking about sb. / sth., or mentioning them (usu. followed by to)

- It was strange that he made no reference to any work experience in his resume.

- His recent book makes references to the political events of those days.

2. sth. that shows you where else to look for information, for example the page number of another place in a book

- Make a note of the reference number shown on the form.

3. the act of looking at sth. for information

- Use the dictionary for easy reference.

- Keep their price list for further reference.

Collocation:

a reference book                                  参考书，工具书

a reference library                             （不外借书的）参考书阅览室

for reference                                       作参考

in / with reference to      关于

reunion: n.  a party attended by members of the same family, school, or other group who have not seen each other for a long time

- Before she went abroad for further study, the whole family had a big family reunion.

- The soccer club holds an annual / a yearly reunion.

Collocation:

a class reunion                 毕业后的同班同学聚会

a family reunion      家人团聚

hang out:

1. (infml; used mainly in AmE) stay in or near a place, for no particular reason, not doing very much

- I often hung out in coffee bars while I was unemployed.

- We can just hang out and have a good time.

- That’s the corner where all the kids hang out.

2. hang clothes on a piece of string outside in order to dry them

- I was worried that I had no time to hang out my washing.

- What a pain! — It’s raining and I’ve just hung the washing out.

Collocation:

hang about / around                          （在…）闲逛

hang on                                                                  （打电话时用语）不挂断；坚持下去

hang over                                                                挂在…上；笼罩，威胁

hang up                                                                    挂断电话；搁置，拖延

Put into each gap one of the above phrases. Change the form where necessary.

1. I was so angry that I hung up on her.

2. I’m afraid that the line is busy. Would you like to hang on?

3. The danger of war hung over Europe for 21 years.

4. Don’t hang about / around. We have a train to catch!

(every) now and then:  (every) now and again; sometimes; at times

- Every now and then I have a desire to quit my tedious job.

- I still see Jane for lunch every now and then, but not as often as I used to.

Collocation:

now and again                           不时地

now or never                              勿失良机

NB:

表示“偶尔、有时”的词和短语：

1. at times                                                                                                                                 5. from time to time

2. (every) now and then                                                                             6. sometimes

3. (every) now and again                                                                           7. on occasion

4. (every) once in a while                                                                           8. occasionally

mostly: adv.  almost all; generally

- They have invested their money mostly in expensive real estate.

- The guests at the wedding party are mostly friends of the bride.

awful: adj.  (used to add force) very great; very bad or unpleasant

- I have got an awful lot of work to do.

- I can’t bear the awful smell of cigarette smoke.

choke up:  become too upset to speak

- Losing my job left me completely choked up.

- When he learned the news of his friend’s sudden death, he was so choked up that he couldn’t say a thing.

skip: vt.  pass from (one point, etc.) to another, disregarding or failing to act on what comes between

- 报纸读者可以选择自己感兴趣的新闻,略过自己认为是枯燥的或无关的消息。 (A newspaper reader can select what he is interested in and skip what he thinks is boring or irrelevant. )

- The teacher said: “First skim the text to obtain a general impression of it. Then scan the first three paragraphs and locate the birth dates of the main characters. And as time is limited, we will have to skip some of the exercises.”

right away:  at once

- Tom has got a high fever; he should go and see a doctor right away.

- I wrote him a letter and posted it right away.

NB:

表示“立即、马上”的词和短语：

1. at once                                                                           5. promptly

2. directly                                                                 6. right away

3. immediately                                               7. straight away

4. instantly