书城外语笑死你的英文书
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第34章 Beware of Dog

As a stranger entered a little country store,he noticed a sign warning,“Danger!Beware of dog!”posted on the glass door。

Inside,he noticed a harmless old hound dog asleep on the floor beside the cash register。

“Is that the dog folks are supposed to beware of?”he asked the owner。

“Yep,that’s him”came the reply。

The stranger couldn’t help but be amused。“That certainly doesn’t look like a dangerous dog to me。Why in the world would you post that sign?”

“Because”the owner explained,“before I posted that sign,people kept tripping over him!”

小心有狗

一名陌生人走进一家乡间小商店,看到玻璃门上贴着的一个告示牌上写着:“危险!小心有狗!”

进去后,他看到一条样子一点都不凶的老狗趴在收款机旁边的地板上睡觉。

“这就是大伙都得留神的那只狗啊?”陌生人问店主。

“是,就是它,”店主回答。

听到这个回答,陌生人觉得很好笑。“我觉得那条狗一点都不可怕。你贴那个告示做什么?”

“因为,”店主解释说,“在我贴告示之前,大伙老被它绊倒。”

beware[biw]vi。谨防,当心

例:Beware of pickpockets。提防扒手。

hound[haund]n。猎狗,猎犬vt。不断侵扰,烦扰

例:I must finish the work so my boss will stop hounding me。我必须做完工作,以免老板总是纠缠着我。

cash register n。〈美〉收银机,现金出纳机

trip over被……绊倒;读错,说错

例:The speaker answered most questions well,except one that he tripped over because he didn’t have the necessary facts。发言人对绝大多数问题都回答得很好,只是在一个问题上有失误,那是因为他没有掌握必要的证据。

表示“应该”的词和短语

文中的be supposed to意为“应该,被期望”,如:

They were supposed to be here an hour ago。他们应该在一小时以前到达这里。

另外,表示“应该”的还有,should和ought to。ought to和should都表示义务,意为“应该,本该”。但ought to强调道义、法律所规定的职责;而should一般是表示说话者的一种主观看法。如:

We ought to respect our teachers and parents。我们应该尊敬老师和父母亲。

You should give it a try。你应该试一试。

ought to和should接动词的完成时,表示该做的事而未做,常含有对对方的责备。如:

You ought to/should have completed your work last Friday。你本应该在上周五就把工作完成了。

He should have paid a visit to you if he had known your address。要是他知道你的地址,他早该来拜访你了。

表示“同意”的英文表达

Yep是俚语,意为“是”,表示同意的说法还有Right,You’re right,You got it,I agree,Yes,Yeah等。

要说得热诚一点,表示“完全同意”,则可以说I agree with you100%。(我百分之百同意你的话。)

We see eye to eye on this matter。/I see eye to eye with you on this matter。(我完全同意你对这件事的看法。)注意to see eye to eye和eyeball to eyeball(眼球对眼球)不同。

eyeball to eyeball是“面对面”的意思,有时有“怒目相对”的含义。如:I had an eyeballtoeyeball confrontation with my boss。(我和老板怒目相对。)

此外,还可以说I couldn’t agree with you more。(赞成到了极点,无以复加。)

“完全同意”的其他说法有:

You took the words right out of my mouth。(我要说的话,都给你说了。)

I’ll drink to that!(我为此举杯!)