新视野大学英语第三版读写教程第二册Unit4-College-sweethearts课文语法讲解
滁州学院-淮北师范大学分数线
新视野三版 读写 B2 U4 Text A
College sweethearts
1 I smile at my
two lovely daughters and they seem so much more
mature than
we, their parents, when we were
college sweethearts. Linda, who's 21, had a
boyfriend in her freshman year she thought she
would marry, but they're not
together anymore.
Melissa, who's 19, hasn't had a steady boyfriend
yet. My
daughters wonder when they will meet
their father and I had a classic fairy-tale
romance heading for marriage from
the outset.
Perhaps, they're right but it didn't seem so at
the time. In a way,
love just happens when
you least expect it. Who would
have
thought that Butch and I would end up getting
married to each other?
He became my boyfriend
because of my shallow agenda: I wanted a cute
boyfriend!
2 We met through my college
roommate at the university cafeteria. That fateful
night, I was merely curious, but for him I
think it was love at first sight.
have
beautiful eyes
night long. I really wasn't that
interested for two reasons. First, he looked like
he was a really wild boy, maybe even
dangerous. Second, although he was
very cute,
he seemed a little weird.
3 Riding on his
bicycle, he'd ride past my dorm as if
to be
surprised to see me. I liked the attention
but was cautious
about his wild, dynamic
personality. He had a charming way
with words which would charm any girl.
Fear came over me when I
started to fall in
love. His exciting boy image was just too
tempting to resist. What was it that
attracted me? I always had
an excellent
reputation. My concentration was solely on my
studies to
get superior grades. But for what?
College is supposed
to be a time of great
learning and also some fun. I had nearly achieved
a great
education, and graduation was just one
semester away. But I hadn't had any
fun; my
life was stale with no component of fun! I needed
a just
any had to be cute. My goal that
semester became:
Be ambitious and grab the
cutest boyfriend I can find.
4 I worried what
he'd think of me. True, we lived in a time when a
dramatic shift
in sexual attitudes was
taking place, but I was a traditional girl
who wasn't ready
common on
for the
new ways that seemed
campus. Butch looked
superb! I was not
immune to his
personality, but I was scared. The night when
he
announced to the world that I was his
girlfriend, I went along
with him. And
then I suddenly thought:
did that happen?Then
he whispered sweet words in my ear and said,
going to marry you one day and I will be a
lawyer. You will see.
5 I was laughing inside
and said to myself, never marry this guy. He's a
rebel without a good future. He's my
boyfriend because I hate
my boring
student life. I just want to have fun.
6 Sure
enough, the following month, I found out he
had
failed all his
courses.
Consequently, he was going to be expelled from the
university. To
my disgust, he seemed resigned
to his fate. I knew there was hope, so I led
him to the college secretary for
reconsideration.
7 are going to graduate with
a BA in political science
from UPenn and
proceed to the College of Law,
on his behalf,
which was approved. Butch was granted
reconsideration. And,
once we became steadies,
he coordinated his studies and social life,
passing
all of his classes. He eventually
studied law.
8 Despite Butch's somewhat wild
character, at his core, he is always a perfect
gentleman and deserves a lot of credit
for , he'd
sometimes take the liberty of
displaying his love by planting a kiss on my lips
right in front of my astonished friends who
watched and disapproved. But the
truth is we
had a pure and responsible relationship for seven
full years. Sitting
by the palm trees, hand
in hand, we would listen to romantic
songs, watch the sunset, and weave
dreams of being together with
children of our
own, forever.
9 Two years passed in a
blur. One day, Butch took me by
surprise as
he knelt down and proposed
marriage holding a dozen red roses! Filled with
deep emotion, I confessed my love for him,
brain woke up from fantasy land. I cried out,
heavens. No! We're too
young to tie the knot.
We haven't even graduated from college yet! I
really loved him but was pessimistic about our
chances for success.
10 We married five years
later.
11 Our faithful journey of love
and learning took us down
rocky roads
of hardship and on smooth easy-going
highways.
It is a long, romantic,
sometimes crazy, love story that sums up a
29-
year long honeymoon together
as a
couple who are still madly in love with each
other. Our
love commenced with a casual
attraction but bloomed into a mature love and
rich life.
Language Points:
1 I smile at my two lovely daughters and they
seem so much more mature than we,
their
parents, when we were college sweethearts. (Para.
1)
Meaning beyond words: Married to her
college sweetheart, the author now is happy with
her family and two grown daughters.
Note:
College sweethearts refer to someone with whom one
is in love and by whom one
is loved
at college; sweetheart is equivalent to
lover,darling, beloved, or dear. For
example:
Well done, sweetheart, we are all so proud of
you. 做得好，宝贝，我们以你为荣。
My husband is the
greatest guy in the world; he was my college
sweetheart. 我丈夫是世
界上最棒の，大学时他就是我の恋人。
He tries to locate his former sweetheart
Melina from whom he has heard nothing for a very
long time. 他在努力寻找他以前の恋人梅利娜，他已经很久没有她の消息了。
2 Linda, who’s 21, had a boyfriend in her
freshman year she thought she
would marry, but
they’re not together anymore. Melissa, who’s 19,
hasn’t
had a steady boyfriend yet. My
daughters wonder when they will meet “The
One”, their great love.(Para. 1)
Meaning
beyond words: Her two daughters are at the age of
just dating, but they seem
to be very
mature wondering when they will meet their true
love.
3 They think their father and
I had a classic fairy tale romance heading for
marriage
from the outset. (Para. 1)
Meaning beyond words: Her daughters consider
their parents’ marriage a typical
conventional
romance because they think it aimed at marriage
from the very beginning.
Usage note: classic,
classical
1 classic
用作形容词表示“经典の；精彩の；一流の”。例如：
Death on the Nile
is one of the classic works of Agatha Christie.
《尼罗河上の惨案》是阿
加莎·克里斯蒂の经典作品之一。
口语中也会用到
classic 这个词。当你看到一场精彩の演出时，就可以说“That’s classic!”来
表
达赞美。
classic 用作形容词也表示“典型の；标准の”。例如：
London is the classic example of the scattered
city. 伦敦是标准分散型の城市。
This statement was a
classic illustration of British politeness.
这项陈述是对英国礼貌の一 个
典型说明。
classic
也可用作名词，表示“文学名著；经典作品；杰作”。例如：
We have all the
standard classics of Hayao Miyazaki at home.
我们家有宫崎骏の所有の
经典作品。
2 classical
不能用作名词，只能用作形容词，表示“古典の；经典の”。例如：
I spend a lot
of time reading and listening to classical music.
我花了很多时间阅读和聆听 古
典音乐。
Classical music is
music written by composers such as Mozart and
Beethoven. 像莫扎特
和贝多芬所创作の音乐称为古典音乐。
莫扎特和贝多芬所创作の音乐属于古典音乐(classical music),
但这些古典音乐经久不衰， 有
永久の意义和价值，所以这些音乐也可称为经典の音乐（classic
music）。反之，在前面
有一
例中说可口可乐瓶子の设计是精彩の，一流の，所以是经典（classic）之作，但很明显
可口可乐瓶子の设计不是古典の
（classical）设计。所以，经典の（classic）作品不一定
就
是古典の（classical）作品。
Note: Classic fairy-
tale romance is used to describe a romance blessed
with unusual
happiness. Colloquially, a fairy
tale can also refer to any story extremely
unlikely to be
true.
4 Perhaps,
they’re right but it didn’t seem so at the time.
(Para. 1)
Meaning: My daughters’ perception
may be right, yet our romance back then was
actually
not like what they have assumed.
5 In a way, love just happens when you least
expect it. Who would have thought
that Butch
and I would end up getting married to each other?
He became my
boyfriend because of my shallow
agenda: I wanted a cute boyfriend! (Para. 1)
Meaning: Love comes your way when you don’t
really expect it. No one thought that
Butch and I would finally get married. He
became my boyfriend simply because I would
like to fulfill my shallow wish: to have an
attractive boyfriend in college.
Meaning beyond words: Here is the suspense of
the story – the author gives a broad
hint
that she will tell us how she and her husband got
married at last.
6 We met through my
college roommate at the university cafeteria. That
fateful
night, I was merely curious, but for
him I think it was love at first sight. (Para. 2)
Meaning: At the school dining hall that
important night, we were introduced to each other
through my roommate. I met Butch just out of
curiosity, but he seemed to fall in love with
me as soon as he saw me.
7 “You
have beautiful eyes,” he said as he gazed at my
face. (Para. 2)
Meaning beyond words: The
author was obviously attractive to Butch since he
tried to
please her by praising her eyes.
8 He kept staring at me all night long.
(Para. 2)
Note: Both gaze at and stare at
mean “looking at something fixedly for a long time
because of being attracted, surprised, or
thinking, etc.”. Stare at usually has the
additional
meaning of “with eyes widely open”.
Also, it usually implies “with great attention”;
gaze
at usually implies “in a dreamy and
unaware state of mind”.
9 I really
wasn’t that interested for two reasons. First, he
looked like he was a
really wild boy, maybe
even dangerous. Second, although he was very cute,
he
seemed a little weird. (Para. 2)
Meaning beyond words: She wasn’t interested in
him because she got the impression
that he was wild and strange, which
illustrates that she didn’t know much about him at
the
beginning. Therefore, it’s not true that
their romance was heading for marriage from the
start.
10 Riding on his bicycle, he’d
ride past my dorm as if “by accident”
pretend
to
and
be surprised to see me. I liked
the attention but was cautious about his wild,
dynamic personality. (Para. 3)
Meaning
beyond words: She understood his little trick:
trying to see her by
manufacturing
excuses. Though she was happy to be the focus of
his attention, she was
also very alert to his
wild and dynamic personality.
11 He had a
charming way with words which would charm any
girl. (Para. 3)
Meaning: He knew how to please
and attract girls because what he said was always
pleasant to their ears.
12 Fear
came over me when I started to fall in love. His
exciting “
image”
bad boy
was just too
tempting to resist. What was it that attracted
me?(Para. 3)
Meaning: I was in an awkward
position: I started to fall in love with him, but
I was also
afraid of that. His bad boy image
was too attractive to resist, but at the same time
it was
somewhat fearful. So, what exactly was
it in him that attracted me?
Note: Tempting is
a present participle of the verb tempt, used as an
adjective to describe
the effect that
something has on someone’s feelings. For example,
if you find something
temptingcharmingdisgustingfrightening, it
means it temptscharmsdisgustsfrightens
you. In
English there are a group of words describing an
effect that something has on your
feelings and
ideas. For example:
a tempting job offer
一个诱人の工作机会
an alarming increase in racial
hostility 种族仇视の惊人增长
a welcoming smile
热情の微笑
a surprising number of 数量惊人の
13 I always had an excellent reputation.
My concentration was solely on my studies
to
get superior grades. But for what? (Para. 3)
Meaning: I was an outstanding student who only
concentrated on studies in order to get
excellent grades. But so what? Shouldn’t a
good student also have fun?
14 College is
supposed to be a time of great learning and also
some fun. I had
nearly achieved a great
education, and graduation was just one semester
away. But
I hadn’t had any fun; my life was
stale with no component of fun! I needed a
boyfriend. (Para. 3)
Meaning: College is
definitely a nice place for education but should
have some fun as
well. Throughout my years at
college, I had devoted all my time to study but
hadn’t had
any fun yet. Now that I was
graduating, I wanted to have a boyfriend to enrich
my college
life.
15 Not just any
boyfriend. He had to be cute. My goal that
semester became: Be
ambitious and grab the
cutest boyfriend I can find. (Para. 3)
Meaning: The one I wanted to date was not just
an ordinary boy; he had to be handsome,
pleasant and attractive. My ambition for that
semester, therefore, was to find the cutest
boyfriend at college.
16 I worried
what he’d think of me. (Para. 4)
Meaning
beyond words: Her concern about how Butch would
look at her shows that she
was becoming more
interested in him and cared about his real
thinking.
17 True, we lived in a time
when a dramatic shift in sexual attitudes was
taking place,
but I was a traditional girl who
wasn’t ready for the new ways that seemed
common on campus. (Para. 4)
Meaning: It is
true that we lived in an era when sexual attitudes
were changing
dramatically, but since I was
traditional, I wasn’t ready for the new sexual
practice
seemingly common on campus.
18 Butch looked superb! I was not immune to
his personality, but I was scared.
(Para. 4)
Meaning: Butch looked extremely wonderful. I
was surely influenced by his personality,
but
I felt scared.
19 The night
when he announced to the world that I was his
girlfriend, I went along
with him. (Para.
4)
Meaning: That night when my boyfriend
announced publicly I was his girlfriend, I did not
have any objection.
Meaning beyond words:
She has apparently changed her perception of
Butch, from
being merely curious about
him at first to becoming cautious about his wild,
dynamic
personality later; from being fearful
of failing to resist his “bad boy image” to
approving of
being his girlfriend.
20
And then I suddenly thought: “Oh my gosh! Am I his
girlfriend? How did that
happen?” (Para. 4)
Meaning beyond words: All of a sudden, she
realized that she had made a mistake
because
she was not really ready to have a boyfriend yet.
Note: “Gosh”, as an interjection, is used to
express surprise. For example:
Gosh, I didn’t
expect to see you here! 天哪，我没想到在这里见到你！
Gosh, it’s so cold. 天哪，太冷了！
Gosh, there’s
a lot of noise. 天哪，这儿真吵。
21 Then he
whispered sweet words in my ear and said, “
one
day and I will be a lawyer. You will see.” (Para.
4)
I’m going to marry you
Meaning: Then he
quietly said sweet words in my ear and said that
he would marry me
and I could eventually see
him become a lawyer.
22 I was laughing
inside and said to myself, “I’d never marry this
guy. He’s a
rebel without a good future. He’s
my boyfriend because I hate my boring student
life. I
just want to have fun.” (Para. 5)
Meaning: Though I agreed to be his girlfriend,
from my heart, he was just a rebellious boy
without a bright future. Therefore, I was not
very serious about our relationship. To me, the
only purpose to date him was to get away from
my boring student life.
23 Sure enough,
the following month, I found out he had failed all
his courses. (Para.
6)
Meaning: Just as I
had expected, he didn’t pass any of his courses.
24 Consequently, he was going to be
expelled from the university. (Para. 6) Meaning:
As a consequence, the university was going to
dismiss him from the school.
25 To my
disgust, he seemed resigned to his fate. I knew
there was hope, so I led
him to the
college secretary for reconsideration. (Para. 6)
Meaning: What upset me was that he seemed to
accept his fate. As I knew there was still
a hope, I took him to the college secretary to
see whether the decision could be changed.
26 “You are going to graduate with a BA
in political science from UPenn and
I told
him, lodging an appeal on his behalf, which
proceed to the College of Law,”
was approved.
(Para. 7)
Meaning beyond words: What she did
for her boyfriend indicated their relationship had
come to a new stage. Besides encouraging him
to consult with the college secretary and
submitting the appeal on his behalf, she also
planned for his future career. She told him
he had to continue his studies at law school.
Note: Besides a noun, “proceed to” can also be
followed by a verb phrase. For example:
Having
said how much she liked my idea, she then
proceeded to make critical comments
about it.
说完她是多么喜欢我の点子，她接着就提出了批评性の意见。
27 Butch
was granted reconsideration. And, once we became
steadies, he
coordinated his studies and
social life, passing all of his classes. He
eventually
studied law. (Para. 7)
Meaning
beyond words: Here we see the turning point of the
relationship between the
two. Her suggestions
did work well with Butch since he was granted
reconsideration. As
soon as they became steady
lovers, Butch balanced his studies and social life
and passed
every course. Finally, he studied
law as had been planned.
Note: Steady can
also be used as a noun, as is in the text. It’s an
old-fashioned American
way to describe a
boyfriend or girlfriend that someone has been
having a romantic
relationship with.
28 Despite Butch’s somewhat wild character, at
his core, he is always a perfect
gentleman and
deserves a lot of credit for that. (Para. 8)
Meaning: In spite of Butch’s a little wild
character, he was always a perfect gentleman in
essence, for which he should be given
recognition.
29 True, he’d sometimes take
the liberty of displaying his love by planting a
kiss on
my lips right in front of my
astonished friends who watched and disapproved.
(Para.
8)
Meaning: Without my permission,
sometimes he would press a kiss on my lips to show
his love in front of my friends, who were
astonished and resented what he did.
Note: “Plant a kiss” is a figurative
use of the word plant, which means an intimate
and
publicly demonstrative kiss
showing his love to all who are watching.
30 But the truth is we had a pure and
responsible relationship for seven full years.
Sitting by the palm trees, hand in hand, we
would listen to romantic songs, watch
the
sunset, and weave dreams of being together with
children of our own, forever.
(Para. 8)
Meaning beyond words: Butch showed much
respect for her conservative perception of
love. For seven years, they just enjoyed their
romance in a traditional way.
31 Two
years passed in a blur. One day, Butch took me by
surprise as he knelt
down and proposed
marriage holding a dozen red roses! (Para. 9)
Meaning: Two years passed so quickly that I
didn’t really remember everything clearly.
One
day, I was startled when Butch, holding a dozen
red roses, knelt down to propose
marriage.
Note: propose to sb. = propose marriage to sb.
32 Filled with deep emotion, I
confessed my love for him, “
roooomaaaantic!!”
(Para. 9)
How
Meaning: I admitted my
love for him with deep affection. It was super
romantic!
Meaning beyond words: She was so
happy and thrilled to accept Butch’s marriage
proposal that she said the word romantic in a
slow and exaggerated way.
Note: In informal
writing, people would emphasize something in a
similar way. For
example:
Thank you
soooooo much! 真是太太太感谢您了！
33 Then my
brain woke up from fantasy land. I cried out,
“Good heavens. No! We’
re
too young to tie
the knot. We haven’t even graduated from college
yet!” I
really loved him but was pessimistic
about our chances for success.(Para. 9)
Meaning beyond words: All of a sudden, she
woke up from the romantic scene. Though
she
already accepted love from Butch and confessed her
love for him, she was not sure
whether they
would get married and have a happy ending as they
were still college students.
Note: It isn’t
clear whether this expression tie the knot derives
from an actual knot used in
marriage
ceremonies or whether the knot is merely symbolic
of a lasting unity. Knots have
a place in
many cultures and usually symbolize unbreakable
pledges. Actual knots have
certainly
been used in marriage ceremonies for some time.
The word knot, although not in
the phrase tie
the knot, has been associated with marriage since
at least the 13th century.
34 We married
five years later. (Para 10)
Meaning beyond
words: Though she was pessimistic about their
chance for success of
love, she accepted
Butch’s proposal. They got married five years
later, which illustrates
their deep and true
love for each other.
35 Our faithful
journey of love and learning took us down rocky
roads of hardship
and on smooth easy-going
highways. (Para. 11)
Meaning: Our devoted and
faithful love guided us both in times of happiness
and also in
times of hardship.
Note: The
word rocky comes from the noun rock combining with
-y. A rocky road refers to
a road full of
rocks, uneven or not flat. Words of this group
include: muddy, stony, grassy, snowy, rainy,
etc.
36 It is a long, romantic, sometimes
crazy, love story that sums up a 29-year long
honeymoon together as a couple who are still
madly in love with each other. (Para.
11)
Meaning beyond words: She felt very proud of
her long-lasting romantic, sometimes
even
crazy love, which was just like a 29-year long
honeymoon for her and her husband.
37 Our love commenced with a casual attraction
but bloomed into a mature love
and rich life.
(Para. 11)
Meaning beyond words: Completely
beyond her expectation, love came to her as she
started with a casual date but ended up
growing into a mature love and rich life.
Note: We usually use commence doing sth. or
commence with sth. Also, in the US, the
official collegeuniversity graduation ceremony
is called “commencement”. The word
refers to
the completion of one’s education and the
beginning of one’s new adult life.
Note:
The phrase “bloomed into a mature love and rich
life” in the text is used figuratively,
meaning their love was just like blossoms on a
tree.
新视野三版 读写 B2 U4 Text A
College sweethearts
1 I smile at
my two lovely daughters and they seem so much more
mature than
we, their parents, when we were
college sweethearts. Linda, who's 21, had a
boyfriend in her freshman year she thought she
would marry, but they're not
together anymore.
Melissa, who's 19, hasn't had a steady boyfriend
yet. My
daughters wonder when they will meet
their father and I had a classic fairy-tale
romance heading for marriage from
the outset.
Perhaps, they're right but it didn't seem so at
the time. In a way,
love just happens when
you least expect it. Who would
have
thought that Butch and I would end up getting
married to each other?
He became my boyfriend
because of my shallow agenda: I wanted a cute
boyfriend!
2 We met through my college
roommate at the university cafeteria. That fateful
night, I was merely curious, but for him I
think it was love at first sight.
have
beautiful eyes
night long. I really wasn't that
interested for two reasons. First, he looked like
he was a really wild boy, maybe even
dangerous. Second, although he was
very cute,
he seemed a little weird.
3 Riding on his
bicycle, he'd ride past my dorm as if
to be
surprised to see me. I liked the attention
but was cautious
about his wild, dynamic
personality. He had a charming way
with words which would charm any girl.
Fear came over me when I
started to fall in
love. His exciting boy image was just too
tempting to resist. What was it that
attracted me? I always had
an excellent
reputation. My concentration was solely on my
studies to
get superior grades. But for what?
College is supposed
to be a time of great
learning and also some fun. I had nearly achieved
a great
education, and graduation was just one
semester away. But I hadn't had any
fun; my
life was stale with no component of fun! I needed
a just
any had to be cute. My goal that
semester became:
Be ambitious and grab the
cutest boyfriend I can find.
4 I worried what
he'd think of me. True, we lived in a time when a
dramatic shift
in sexual attitudes was
taking place, but I was a traditional girl
who wasn't ready
common on
for the
new ways that seemed
campus. Butch looked
superb! I was not
immune to his
personality, but I was scared. The night when
he
announced to the world that I was his
girlfriend, I went along
with him. And
then I suddenly thought:
did that happen?Then
he whispered sweet words in my ear and said,
going to marry you one day and I will be a
lawyer. You will see.
5 I was laughing inside
and said to myself, never marry this guy. He's a
rebel without a good future. He's my
boyfriend because I hate
my boring
student life. I just want to have fun.
6 Sure
enough, the following month, I found out he
had
failed all his
courses.
Consequently, he was going to be expelled from the
university. To
my disgust, he seemed resigned
to his fate. I knew there was hope, so I led
him to the college secretary for
reconsideration.
7 are going to graduate with
a BA in political science
from UPenn and
proceed to the College of Law,
on his behalf,
which was approved. Butch was granted
reconsideration. And,
once we became steadies,
he coordinated his studies and social life,
passing
all of his classes. He eventually
studied law.
8 Despite Butch's somewhat wild
character, at his core, he is always a perfect
gentleman and deserves a lot of credit
for , he'd
sometimes take the liberty of
displaying his love by planting a kiss on my lips
right in front of my astonished friends who
watched and disapproved. But the
truth is we
had a pure and responsible relationship for seven
full years. Sitting
by the palm trees, hand
in hand, we would listen to romantic
songs, watch the sunset, and weave
dreams of being together with
children of our
own, forever.
9 Two years passed in a
blur. One day, Butch took me by
surprise as
he knelt down and proposed
marriage holding a dozen red roses! Filled with
deep emotion, I confessed my love for him,
brain woke up from fantasy land. I cried out,
heavens. No! We're too
young to tie the knot.
We haven't even graduated from college yet! I
really loved him but was pessimistic about our
chances for success.
10 We married five years
later.
11 Our faithful journey of love
and learning took us down
rocky roads
of hardship and on smooth easy-going
highways.
It is a long, romantic,
sometimes crazy, love story that sums up a
29-
year long honeymoon together
as a
couple who are still madly in love with each
other. Our
love commenced with a casual
attraction but bloomed into a mature love and
rich life.
Language Points:
1 I smile at my two lovely daughters and they
seem so much more mature than we,
their
parents, when we were college sweethearts. (Para.
1)
Meaning beyond words: Married to her
college sweetheart, the author now is happy with
her family and two grown daughters.
Note:
College sweethearts refer to someone with whom one
is in love and by whom one
is loved
at college; sweetheart is equivalent to
lover,darling, beloved, or dear. For
example:
Well done, sweetheart, we are all so proud of
you. 做得好，宝贝，我们以你为荣。
My husband is the
greatest guy in the world; he was my college
sweetheart. 我丈夫是世
界上最棒の，大学时他就是我の恋人。
He tries to locate his former sweetheart
Melina from whom he has heard nothing for a very
long time. 他在努力寻找他以前の恋人梅利娜，他已经很久没有她の消息了。
2 Linda, who’s 21, had a boyfriend in her
freshman year she thought she
would marry, but
they’re not together anymore. Melissa, who’s 19,
hasn’t
had a steady boyfriend yet. My
daughters wonder when they will meet “The
One”, their great love.(Para. 1)
Meaning
beyond words: Her two daughters are at the age of
just dating, but they seem
to be very
mature wondering when they will meet their true
love.
3 They think their father and
I had a classic fairy tale romance heading for
marriage
from the outset. (Para. 1)
Meaning beyond words: Her daughters consider
their parents’ marriage a typical
conventional
romance because they think it aimed at marriage
from the very beginning.
Usage note: classic,
classical
1 classic
用作形容词表示“经典の；精彩の；一流の”。例如：
Death on the Nile
is one of the classic works of Agatha Christie.
《尼罗河上の惨案》是阿
加莎·克里斯蒂の经典作品之一。
口语中也会用到
classic 这个词。当你看到一场精彩の演出时，就可以说“That’s classic!”来
表
达赞美。
classic 用作形容词也表示“典型の；标准の”。例如：
London is the classic example of the scattered
city. 伦敦是标准分散型の城市。
This statement was a
classic illustration of British politeness.
这项陈述是对英国礼貌の一 个
典型说明。
classic
也可用作名词，表示“文学名著；经典作品；杰作”。例如：
We have all the
standard classics of Hayao Miyazaki at home.
我们家有宫崎骏の所有の
经典作品。
2 classical
不能用作名词，只能用作形容词，表示“古典の；经典の”。例如：
I spend a lot
of time reading and listening to classical music.
我花了很多时间阅读和聆听 古
典音乐。
Classical music is
music written by composers such as Mozart and
Beethoven. 像莫扎特
和贝多芬所创作の音乐称为古典音乐。
莫扎特和贝多芬所创作の音乐属于古典音乐(classical music),
但这些古典音乐经久不衰， 有
永久の意义和价值，所以这些音乐也可称为经典の音乐（classic
music）。反之，在前面
有一
例中说可口可乐瓶子の设计是精彩の，一流の，所以是经典（classic）之作，但很明显
可口可乐瓶子の设计不是古典の
（classical）设计。所以，经典の（classic）作品不一定
就
是古典の（classical）作品。
Note: Classic fairy-
tale romance is used to describe a romance blessed
with unusual
happiness. Colloquially, a fairy
tale can also refer to any story extremely
unlikely to be
true.
4 Perhaps,
they’re right but it didn’t seem so at the time.
(Para. 1)
Meaning: My daughters’ perception
may be right, yet our romance back then was
actually
not like what they have assumed.
5 In a way, love just happens when you least
expect it. Who would have thought
that Butch
and I would end up getting married to each other?
He became my
boyfriend because of my shallow
agenda: I wanted a cute boyfriend! (Para. 1)
Meaning: Love comes your way when you don’t
really expect it. No one thought that
Butch and I would finally get married. He
became my boyfriend simply because I would
like to fulfill my shallow wish: to have an
attractive boyfriend in college.
Meaning beyond words: Here is the suspense of
the story – the author gives a broad
hint
that she will tell us how she and her husband got
married at last.
6 We met through my
college roommate at the university cafeteria. That
fateful
night, I was merely curious, but for
him I think it was love at first sight. (Para. 2)
Meaning: At the school dining hall that
important night, we were introduced to each other
through my roommate. I met Butch just out of
curiosity, but he seemed to fall in love with
me as soon as he saw me.
7 “You
have beautiful eyes,” he said as he gazed at my
face. (Para. 2)
Meaning beyond words: The
author was obviously attractive to Butch since he
tried to
please her by praising her eyes.
8 He kept staring at me all night long.
(Para. 2)
Note: Both gaze at and stare at
mean “looking at something fixedly for a long time
because of being attracted, surprised, or
thinking, etc.”. Stare at usually has the
additional
meaning of “with eyes widely open”.
Also, it usually implies “with great attention”;
gaze
at usually implies “in a dreamy and
unaware state of mind”.
9 I really
wasn’t that interested for two reasons. First, he
looked like he was a
really wild boy, maybe
even dangerous. Second, although he was very cute,
he
seemed a little weird. (Para. 2)
Meaning beyond words: She wasn’t interested in
him because she got the impression
that he was wild and strange, which
illustrates that she didn’t know much about him at
the
beginning. Therefore, it’s not true that
their romance was heading for marriage from the
start.
10 Riding on his bicycle, he’d
ride past my dorm as if “by accident”
pretend
to
and
be surprised to see me. I liked
the attention but was cautious about his wild,
dynamic personality. (Para. 3)
Meaning
beyond words: She understood his little trick:
trying to see her by
manufacturing
excuses. Though she was happy to be the focus of
his attention, she was
also very alert to his
wild and dynamic personality.
11 He had a
charming way with words which would charm any
girl. (Para. 3)
Meaning: He knew how to please
and attract girls because what he said was always
pleasant to their ears.
12 Fear
came over me when I started to fall in love. His
exciting “
image”
bad boy
was just too
tempting to resist. What was it that attracted
me?(Para. 3)
Meaning: I was in an awkward
position: I started to fall in love with him, but
I was also
afraid of that. His bad boy image
was too attractive to resist, but at the same time
it was
somewhat fearful. So, what exactly was
it in him that attracted me?
Note: Tempting is
a present participle of the verb tempt, used as an
adjective to describe
the effect that
something has on someone’s feelings. For example,
if you find something
temptingcharmingdisgustingfrightening, it
means it temptscharmsdisgustsfrightens
you. In
English there are a group of words describing an
effect that something has on your
feelings and
ideas. For example:
a tempting job offer
一个诱人の工作机会
an alarming increase in racial
hostility 种族仇视の惊人增长
a welcoming smile
热情の微笑
a surprising number of 数量惊人の
13 I always had an excellent reputation.
My concentration was solely on my studies
to
get superior grades. But for what? (Para. 3)
Meaning: I was an outstanding student who only
concentrated on studies in order to get
excellent grades. But so what? Shouldn’t a
good student also have fun?
14 College is
supposed to be a time of great learning and also
some fun. I had
nearly achieved a great
education, and graduation was just one semester
away. But
I hadn’t had any fun; my life was
stale with no component of fun! I needed a
boyfriend. (Para. 3)
Meaning: College is
definitely a nice place for education but should
have some fun as
well. Throughout my years at
college, I had devoted all my time to study but
hadn’t had
any fun yet. Now that I was
graduating, I wanted to have a boyfriend to enrich
my college
life.
15 Not just any
boyfriend. He had to be cute. My goal that
semester became: Be
ambitious and grab the
cutest boyfriend I can find. (Para. 3)
Meaning: The one I wanted to date was not just
an ordinary boy; he had to be handsome,
pleasant and attractive. My ambition for that
semester, therefore, was to find the cutest
boyfriend at college.
16 I worried
what he’d think of me. (Para. 4)
Meaning
beyond words: Her concern about how Butch would
look at her shows that she
was becoming more
interested in him and cared about his real
thinking.
17 True, we lived in a time
when a dramatic shift in sexual attitudes was
taking place,
but I was a traditional girl who
wasn’t ready for the new ways that seemed
common on campus. (Para. 4)
Meaning: It is
true that we lived in an era when sexual attitudes
were changing
dramatically, but since I was
traditional, I wasn’t ready for the new sexual
practice
seemingly common on campus.
18 Butch looked superb! I was not immune to
his personality, but I was scared.
(Para. 4)
Meaning: Butch looked extremely wonderful. I
was surely influenced by his personality,
but
I felt scared.
19 The night
when he announced to the world that I was his
girlfriend, I went along
with him. (Para.
4)
Meaning: That night when my boyfriend
announced publicly I was his girlfriend, I did not
have any objection.
Meaning beyond words:
She has apparently changed her perception of
Butch, from
being merely curious about
him at first to becoming cautious about his wild,
dynamic
personality later; from being fearful
of failing to resist his “bad boy image” to
approving of
being his girlfriend.
20
And then I suddenly thought: “Oh my gosh! Am I his
girlfriend? How did that
happen?” (Para. 4)
Meaning beyond words: All of a sudden, she
realized that she had made a mistake
because
she was not really ready to have a boyfriend yet.
Note: “Gosh”, as an interjection, is used to
express surprise. For example:
Gosh, I didn’t
expect to see you here! 天哪，我没想到在这里见到你！
Gosh, it’s so cold. 天哪，太冷了！
Gosh, there’s
a lot of noise. 天哪，这儿真吵。
21 Then he
whispered sweet words in my ear and said, “
one
day and I will be a lawyer. You will see.” (Para.
4)
I’m going to marry you
Meaning: Then he
quietly said sweet words in my ear and said that
he would marry me
and I could eventually see
him become a lawyer.
22 I was laughing
inside and said to myself, “I’d never marry this
guy. He’s a
rebel without a good future. He’s
my boyfriend because I hate my boring student
life. I
just want to have fun.” (Para. 5)
Meaning: Though I agreed to be his girlfriend,
from my heart, he was just a rebellious boy
without a bright future. Therefore, I was not
very serious about our relationship. To me, the
only purpose to date him was to get away from
my boring student life.
23 Sure enough,
the following month, I found out he had failed all
his courses. (Para.
6)
Meaning: Just as I
had expected, he didn’t pass any of his courses.
24 Consequently, he was going to be
expelled from the university. (Para. 6) Meaning:
As a consequence, the university was going to
dismiss him from the school.
25 To my
disgust, he seemed resigned to his fate. I knew
there was hope, so I led
him to the
college secretary for reconsideration. (Para. 6)
Meaning: What upset me was that he seemed to
accept his fate. As I knew there was still
a hope, I took him to the college secretary to
see whether the decision could be changed.
26 “You are going to graduate with a BA
in political science from UPenn and
I told
him, lodging an appeal on his behalf, which
proceed to the College of Law,”
was approved.
(Para. 7)
Meaning beyond words: What she did
for her boyfriend indicated their relationship had
come to a new stage. Besides encouraging him
to consult with the college secretary and
submitting the appeal on his behalf, she also
planned for his future career. She told him
he had to continue his studies at law school.
Note: Besides a noun, “proceed to” can also be
followed by a verb phrase. For example:
Having
said how much she liked my idea, she then
proceeded to make critical comments
about it.
说完她是多么喜欢我の点子，她接着就提出了批评性の意见。
27 Butch
was granted reconsideration. And, once we became
steadies, he
coordinated his studies and
social life, passing all of his classes. He
eventually
studied law. (Para. 7)
Meaning
beyond words: Here we see the turning point of the
relationship between the
two. Her suggestions
did work well with Butch since he was granted
reconsideration. As
soon as they became steady
lovers, Butch balanced his studies and social life
and passed
every course. Finally, he studied
law as had been planned.
Note: Steady can
also be used as a noun, as is in the text. It’s an
old-fashioned American
way to describe a
boyfriend or girlfriend that someone has been
having a romantic
relationship with.
28 Despite Butch’s somewhat wild character, at
his core, he is always a perfect
gentleman and
deserves a lot of credit for that. (Para. 8)
Meaning: In spite of Butch’s a little wild
character, he was always a perfect gentleman in
essence, for which he should be given
recognition.
29 True, he’d sometimes take
the liberty of displaying his love by planting a
kiss on
my lips right in front of my
astonished friends who watched and disapproved.
(Para.
8)
Meaning: Without my permission,
sometimes he would press a kiss on my lips to show
his love in front of my friends, who were
astonished and resented what he did.
Note: “Plant a kiss” is a figurative
use of the word plant, which means an intimate
and
publicly demonstrative kiss
showing his love to all who are watching.
30 But the truth is we had a pure and
responsible relationship for seven full years.
Sitting by the palm trees, hand in hand, we
would listen to romantic songs, watch
the
sunset, and weave dreams of being together with
children of our own, forever.
(Para. 8)
Meaning beyond words: Butch showed much
respect for her conservative perception of
love. For seven years, they just enjoyed their
romance in a traditional way.
31 Two
years passed in a blur. One day, Butch took me by
surprise as he knelt
down and proposed
marriage holding a dozen red roses! (Para. 9)
Meaning: Two years passed so quickly that I
didn’t really remember everything clearly.
One
day, I was startled when Butch, holding a dozen
red roses, knelt down to propose
marriage.
Note: propose to sb. = propose marriage to sb.
32 Filled with deep emotion, I
confessed my love for him, “
roooomaaaantic!!”
(Para. 9)
How
Meaning: I admitted my
love for him with deep affection. It was super
romantic!
Meaning beyond words: She was so
happy and thrilled to accept Butch’s marriage
proposal that she said the word romantic in a
slow and exaggerated way.
Note: In informal
writing, people would emphasize something in a
similar way. For
example:
Thank you
soooooo much! 真是太太太感谢您了！
33 Then my
brain woke up from fantasy land. I cried out,
“Good heavens. No! We’
re
too young to tie
the knot. We haven’t even graduated from college
yet!” I
really loved him but was pessimistic
about our chances for success.(Para. 9)
Meaning beyond words: All of a sudden, she
woke up from the romantic scene. Though
she
already accepted love from Butch and confessed her
love for him, she was not sure
whether they
would get married and have a happy ending as they
were still college students.
Note: It isn’t
clear whether this expression tie the knot derives
from an actual knot used in
marriage
ceremonies or whether the knot is merely symbolic
of a lasting unity. Knots have
a place in
many cultures and usually symbolize unbreakable
pledges. Actual knots have
certainly
been used in marriage ceremonies for some time.
The word knot, although not in
the phrase tie
the knot, has been associated with marriage since
at least the 13th century.
34 We married
five years later. (Para 10)
Meaning beyond
words: Though she was pessimistic about their
chance for success of
love, she accepted
Butch’s proposal. They got married five years
later, which illustrates
their deep and true
love for each other.
35 Our faithful
journey of love and learning took us down rocky
roads of hardship
and on smooth easy-going
highways. (Para. 11)
Meaning: Our devoted and
faithful love guided us both in times of happiness
and also in
times of hardship.
Note: The
word rocky comes from the noun rock combining with
-y. A rocky road refers to
a road full of
rocks, uneven or not flat. Words of this group
include: muddy, stony, grassy, snowy, rainy,
etc.
36 It is a long, romantic, sometimes
crazy, love story that sums up a 29-year long
honeymoon together as a couple who are still
madly in love with each other. (Para.
11)
Meaning beyond words: She felt very proud of
her long-lasting romantic, sometimes
even
crazy love, which was just like a 29-year long
honeymoon for her and her husband.
37 Our love commenced with a casual attraction
but bloomed into a mature love
and rich life.
(Para. 11)
Meaning beyond words: Completely
beyond her expectation, love came to her as she
started with a casual date but ended up
growing into a mature love and rich life.
Note: We usually use commence doing sth. or
commence with sth. Also, in the US, the
official collegeuniversity graduation ceremony
is called “commencement”. The word
refers to
the completion of one’s education and the
beginning of one’s new adult life.
Note:
The phrase “bloomed into a mature love and rich
life” in the text is used figuratively,
meaning their love was just like blossoms on a
tree.