Te xt A
Families
家庭
Study of the text
1..“ all those people descended from a common ancestor ”. ..“
共同拥有一个祖先的所有的人。”
1 )descend from (代代)传下来
This custom descended from generation to generation.
这种习惯是一代一代流传下来的。
This house has descended from our ancestors.
这栋房子是我们祖上传下来的。
descendant 用作名词, 指“ 子孙, 后代”等。
He has left descendants living at this day.
他的子孙一直繁衍到现在。
They are descendants of the early settlers. 他们是早期移民的后裔。
2 )辨异: ancestor, ancestry, n.
二者都是“祖先”的意思。
ancestor 指(单个的)祖先, 复数形式加“ -s”。
We should worship our a ncestors. 我们必须祭拜我们的祖先。
ancestry(集合名词)先祖, 祖先, 它没有复数形式。
He is an American of Chinese ancestry. 他是一个华裔美国人。
2.No matter if it is young or old, large or small, traditional or modern,
every family has a sense of what a family is. 不管每个家庭
的历史是长是短, 规模是大是小, 是传统的还是现代的, 每个家庭对家都有一种认同感。
1 )no matter.“ 无论, 不管”这里接“it”引导的一个让步状语从句。
No matter how hard he tries, he never seems able to do the work
satisfactorily. 无论他多么努力, 他似乎从来不能令人满意地完成工作。
No matter what you say, she never listens.
不管你说什么, 她都不听。
2 )sense 用作名词, 这里意为“ 观念, 见识”。
Sense comes with age. 见识随年龄而增长。
When moral sense disappears from a nation, the whole social structure
commences to crumble away.
当道德观念从一个国家消失时, 整个社会结构就开始瓦解。
3.It is that feeling of belonging, of love and security that comes from living together , helping and sharing. 这种认同感就是归属和共
同生活、相互帮助、同甘共苦所带来的相爱和安全感。
1 )在“ It is .”中,“ it”指前面的“ a sense of what a family is”, 作主语。“ .that comes from.”是一个定语从句, 其先行词为“ love and security”。
2 )come from 出自, 来自；由..造成
That disease usually comes from infection.
那种疾病通常是传染来的。
That’s what comes from trying to be a good neighbour.
这就是想做一个好邻居的结果。
4.The nuclear family usually consists of two parents (mother and fa- ther)and the children.
核心家庭通常由父母(父亲和母亲)和孩子组成。
1 )nuclear 在这里用作形容词, 意为“ 核心的”;“ 核子的”。
例如: the nuclear part of the city 城市的中心部分nuclear energy 核能
2 )辨异: consist of, consist in consist of 其含义为“ 由..组成”
Our team consists of 15 members. 我们球队由15 个选手组成。
The paper consists of eight pages. 该论文共有8 页。
consist in 其含义为“ 在于, 存在于”。
Happiness consists in good health. 幸福在于健康。
Leadership consists largely in knowing people.
领导(能力)主要在于知人(善任)。
5.The children stay in the nuclear family until they grow up and marry.
孩子们一直住在核心家庭里直到他们长大成家。
1 )连词until 引导一个时间状语从句。由until 引导的从句如果主句的谓语动词表示一个能延续的动作时主句通常用肯定形式；如果该动词表示一个不能延续的动作, 该主句多用否定形式。
Go straight on until you come to the post-office and then turn left.
一直向前走, 到邮局再向左转。
She won’t go away until you promise to help her.
在你答应帮助她之前, 她不会走的。(你答应帮助她, 她才会走。)
2 )grow up 成长, 长大成人, 发展
The boy grew up a great musician.
那男孩成长为一个伟大的音乐家。
He grew up on a farm. 他是在一个农场长大的。
As time went on, a genuine friendship grew up between us.
随着时间的推移, 我们之间产生了一种真挚的友谊。
grown-up 是一个复合词, 用作形容词, 意为“ 成年的”, 用作名词意为“成人, 大人”。
She is a grown-up woman. 她是一个成年女性。
The boy looked like a grown-up. 那个少年看似成人。
3 )marry 在这里用作动词, 意为“ 成家, 结婚”, 该词还有“ 娶, 嫁” 之意。
He ma rried well and happily and was a devoted father and husband.
他婚姻美满幸福, 是位尽职的父亲, 忠实的丈夫。
She married into a rich family. 她嫁给了富人家。
He married Lihua. 他娶了丽华。
6.They are all related, so the members of an extended family are
called relatives. 他们都有亲戚关系, 因此, 大家庭的成员被称作亲戚。
1 )relate 用作动词, 意为“ 使有关系”,“ 使有亲戚关系”等。
He is related to my family. 他和我家有亲戚关系。
It is difficult to relate the two cases.
要使这两种事情联系起来是很困难的。
They are nearly rela ted. 他们是近亲。
2 )辨异: relative, relation, relationship n.
relative 用作名词是“ 亲属, 亲戚”之意。
I have no relatives in this town. 在这个镇上我什么亲戚也没有。
He is a distant relative of mine. 他是我的一个远亲。
该词也可用作形容词, 表示“ 有关系的, 成比例的”。
This is not relative to the accident. 这和那个意外无关。
Supply is rela tive to demand. 供给与需求是成比例的。
relation 是一个名词, 有“ 关系, 交往”的含义, 也可指“ 亲属(关系)”。
He invited all his relations to dinner. 他邀请了所有的亲戚赴宴。
I hope that our pleasant business relations will continue.
我希望我们之间令人愉快的业务往来将继续下去。
relationship 用作名词, 意为“ 关系, 联系, 亲属关系”。
其中“-ship“ 是一个名词后缀, 常表示“ 状况性质、关系、身份” 等, 构成抽象名词。
The rela tionship between the army and the people is as close as fish to water. 军民关系如鱼水。
What is the relationship of clouds to rain？云和雨有什么联系？
7.The nuclear family is becoming smaller as parents want fewer children, and the number of childless families is increasing. 核心家庭变得越来越小, 因为父母们只想要较少的孩子, 不要孩子的家庭越来越多。
1 )连词“as”在这里引导一个原因状语从句, 表原因, 意为“ 由于..”
As the weather was fine, we decided to climb the mountain.
因为天气好, 我们决定爬山。
As it rained, I stayed home. 由于下雨, 我就呆在家里。
2 )childless 是一个形容词, 意为“ 无小孩的, 没孩子的”。其中“-less”是一个形容词后缀, 表示“ 无..的”,“ 不..的”。
例如: homeless 无家可归的；sleepless 不眠的；colourless 无色的；countless 数不清的；waterless 无水的；fruitless 不结果的；
tireless 不倦的；hopeless 无望的等。
3 )辨异: the number of, a number of, 它们都与数量有关。
the number of 指“ ..的数量”, 如the number of people 人数；the number of the motor -vehicles 机动车数目。它的谓语动词用单数。
In this city, the number of illiterates exceeds ninety per cent of the
population. 这个城市的文盲数超过了该城市人口的百分之九十。
a number of 表示“大量, 许多, 若干”等意, 它的谓语动词用复数。
There are a number of places to see in Xian.
在西安有许多地方可以参观。
A number of books are missing. 丢了许多书。
8.Traditionally, the father of a nuclear family earned money for the family while the mother cared for the house and the children. 传统上, 核心家庭中的父亲挣钱养家, 母亲照料孩子及管家务。
1 )earn money 赚钱, 挣钱。如: earn money to support one’s family 挣钱养家；money earned by hard work 辛苦工作挣来的钱。也可用make money, get money 等表达。
2 )辨异: care for , care about 二者都有关心之意:
care for 意为:“照顾, 照料, 爱好, 对..操心”。
Who ca res for the sick？谁照顾病人？
I don’t much ca re for a car.我不太喜欢汽车。
He always ca res for my health. 他一直关心我的健康。
care about 主要指“ 介意, 关心, 在意”等含义。
I don’t care a bout the matter.我对这事毫不介意。
She doesn’t care about our opinions. 她不把我们的意见当回事。
9.Many nuclear families are also“ splitting up”-more and more parents are getting divorced.
许多核心家庭也正在分裂, 因为越来越多的父母离婚。
1 )split up (使)关系破裂, (使)分开, (使)分裂
The party split up into two groups. 该党分裂为两派。
They split up after a year of marriage. 他们结婚一年后就离异了。
2 )divorce, 这里用作动词, 意为“ 离婚, 使..脱离”。
This famous actress ha s been divorced from three husbands.
这个着名女演员已和3 个丈夫离过婚。
He divorced himself from the party. 他脱离了该党。
10. Most single parents find it very difficult to take care of a family alone,
so they soon marry again and form remarried families. 大多数单亲发现独自照料家是很困难的, 因此, 他们很快又再婚, 形成再婚家庭。
1 ).find it difficult to do.中,“ it”作“find”的形式宾语, 真正的宾语是“to”引导的不定式短语。very difficult 在这里作it 的宾语补足语。
You will find it delightful to stay here.
你会发现呆在这儿是很愉快的。
They found it a hard nut to crack. 他们发现这问题很棘手。
2 )take care of 照料, 看管, 收拾, 处理
He is well ta ken ca re of. 他受到很好的照顾。
Matters can not be left to ta ke care of themselves.
万事不能听其无人照管。
Here, let me ta ke care of the cleaning. 让我来打扫吧。