新视野大学英语第三版第二册课文语法讲解-U(00002)
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新视野大学英语第三版第二册
课文语法讲解-Unit4
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 col ege 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
wil 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 shal ow agenda: I
wanted a cute boyfriend!
2 We met through my
col ege 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 real y wasn't that
interested for two reasons. First, he looked like
he was a real y 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 fal in love. His
exciting
attracted me?
I always had an excel ent reputation. My
concentration was
solely on my studies to get
superior grades. But for what? Col ege 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 for the new
ways that seemed common on 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?
going to marry
you one day and I wil be a lawyer. You wil
see.
5 I was laughing inside and said to
myself,
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 fol owing month, I found out he had failed al
his
courses. Consequently, he was going to be
expel ed from the university. To
my disgust,
he seemed resigned to his fate. I knew there was
hope, so I led
him to the col ege secretary
for reconsideration.
*7
from UPenn and
proceed to the Col ege 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
al of his classes. He eventual y
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 ful 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! Fil ed with
deep emotion, I confessed my love for him,
brain woke up from fantasy land. I cried out,
young to tie the knot. We haven't even
graduated from col ege yet!
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 stil
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 col ege 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 col ege;
sweetheart is equivalent to lover,darling,
beloved, or dear. For
example:
*Wel 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 col ege sweetheart.
我丈
夫是世
界上最棒的，大学时他就是我的恋人。
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的恋人梅利娜，他已经很久没有她的消息了。
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“经典的；精彩的；一流的”。例如：
*Death
on the Nile is one of the classic works of Agatha
Christie. 《尼罗河上的惨
案》是阿
加莎?克里斯蒂的经典作品之一。
*口语中也会用到 classic 这个词。当你看到一场精彩的演出时，就可以说“That’s
classic!”来
表达赞美。
classic
用作形容词也表示“典型的；标准的”。例如：
*London is the classic
example of the scattered city. 伦敦是标准分散型的城市。
*This statement was a classic il ustration of
British politeness. 这项陈述是对英国
礼貌的一
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 al the standard classics of Hayao Miyazaki at
home. 我们家有宫崎骏的
所有的
经典作品。
2 classical
不能用作名词，只能用作形容词，表示“古典的；经典的”。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
和贝多芬所创作的音乐称为古典音乐。
*莫扎特和贝多芬所创作的音乐属于古典音乐(classical music),
但这些古典音乐经
久不衰，
有永久的意义和价值，所以这些音乐也可称为经典的音乐（classic
music）。反之，
在前面
有一例中说可口可乐瓶子的设计是精彩的，一流的，所以是经典
（classic）之作，
但很明显
可口可乐瓶子的设计不是古典的
（classical）设计。所以，经典的（classic）作品
不一定
就是古典的（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 real y expect it. No one
thought that
Butch and I would finally get
married. He became my boyfriend simply because I
would
like to fulfil my shallow wish: to
have an attractive boyfriend in col ege.
Meaning beyond words: Here is the suspense of
the story – the author gives a broad
hint that
she wil 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 hal
that important night, we were introduced to each
other
through my roommate. I met Butch
just out of curiosity, but he seemed to fal 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 il ustrates 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” and
pretend to
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 “bad boy image”
was just
too tempting to resist. What was it that attracted
me?(Para. 3)
Meaning: I was in an awkward
position: I started to fal 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 一个诱人的工作机会
an alarming
increase in racial hostility 种族仇视的惊人增长
*a welcoming smile 热情的微笑
*a surprising number of 数量惊人的
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 col ege, 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
col ege
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 col ege.
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
dramatical
y, 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: Al of a sudden, she realized that she had
made a mistake
because she was not real y
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, “I’m going to marry you
one
day and I will be a lawyer. You will see.”
(Para. 4)
Meaning: Then he quietly said sweet
words in my ear and said that he would marry
me
and I could eventual y 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
stil
a hope, I took him
to the col ege secretary to see whether the
decision could be
changed.
26
“You are going to graduate with a BA in political
science from UPenn and
proceed to the College
of Law,” I told him, lodging an appeal on his
behalf, which
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 col ege 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
fol owed 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的点子，她接着就提出了批评性的意见。
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. Final y, 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 real y 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, “How
roooomaaaantic!!”
(Para. 9)
Meaning: I
admitted my love for him with deep affection. It
was super romantic!
Meaning beyond words: She
was so happy and thril ed 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: Al 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 stil col ege
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 il
ustrates
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 ful 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 col egeuniversity graduation ceremony
is cal ed “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.
新视野大学英语第三版第二册
课文语法讲解-Unit4
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
col ege 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 wil 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
shal ow agenda: I wanted a cute boyfriend!
2
We met through my col ege 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 real y wasn't that
interested for two reasons. First, he looked like
he was a real y 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 fal in love. His
exciting
attracted me?
I always had an excel ent reputation. My
concentration was
solely on my studies to get
superior grades. But for what? Col ege 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 for the new
ways that seemed common on 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?
going to marry
you one day and I wil be a lawyer. You wil
see.
5 I was laughing inside and said to
myself,
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 fol owing month, I found out he had failed al
his
courses. Consequently, he was going to be
expel ed from the university. To
my disgust,
he seemed resigned to his fate. I knew there was
hope, so I led
him to the col ege secretary
for reconsideration.
*7
from UPenn and
proceed to the Col ege 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
al of his classes. He eventual y
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 ful 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! Fil ed with
deep emotion, I confessed my love for him,
brain woke up from fantasy land. I cried out,
young to tie the knot. We haven't even
graduated from col ege yet!
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 stil
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 col ege 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 col ege;
sweetheart is equivalent to lover,darling,
beloved, or dear. For
example:
*Wel 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 col ege sweetheart.
我丈
夫是世
界上最棒的，大学时他就是我的恋人。
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的恋人梅利娜，他已经很久没有她的消息了。
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“经典的；精彩的；一流的”。例如：
*Death
on the Nile is one of the classic works of Agatha
Christie. 《尼罗河上的惨
案》是阿
加莎?克里斯蒂的经典作品之一。
*口语中也会用到 classic 这个词。当你看到一场精彩的演出时，就可以说“That’s
classic!”来
表达赞美。
classic
用作形容词也表示“典型的；标准的”。例如：
*London is the classic
example of the scattered city. 伦敦是标准分散型的城市。
*This statement was a classic il ustration of
British politeness. 这项陈述是对英国
礼貌的一
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 al the standard classics of Hayao Miyazaki at
home. 我们家有宫崎骏的
所有的
经典作品。
2 classical
不能用作名词，只能用作形容词，表示“古典的；经典的”。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
和贝多芬所创作的音乐称为古典音乐。
*莫扎特和贝多芬所创作的音乐属于古典音乐(classical music),
但这些古典音乐经
久不衰，
有永久的意义和价值，所以这些音乐也可称为经典的音乐（classic
music）。反之，
在前面
有一例中说可口可乐瓶子的设计是精彩的，一流的，所以是经典
（classic）之作，
但很明显
可口可乐瓶子的设计不是古典的
（classical）设计。所以，经典的（classic）作品
不一定
就是古典的（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 real y expect it. No one
thought that
Butch and I would finally get
married. He became my boyfriend simply because I
would
like to fulfil my shallow wish: to
have an attractive boyfriend in col ege.
Meaning beyond words: Here is the suspense of
the story – the author gives a broad
hint that
she wil 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 hal
that important night, we were introduced to each
other
through my roommate. I met Butch
just out of curiosity, but he seemed to fal 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 il ustrates 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” and
pretend to
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 “bad boy image”
was just
too tempting to resist. What was it that attracted
me?(Para. 3)
Meaning: I was in an awkward
position: I started to fal 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 一个诱人的工作机会
an alarming
increase in racial hostility 种族仇视的惊人增长
*a welcoming smile 热情的微笑
*a surprising number of 数量惊人的
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 col ege, 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
col ege
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 col ege.
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
dramatical
y, 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: Al of a sudden, she realized that she had
made a mistake
because she was not real y
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, “I’m going to marry you
one
day and I will be a lawyer. You will see.”
(Para. 4)
Meaning: Then he quietly said sweet
words in my ear and said that he would marry
me
and I could eventual y 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
stil
a hope, I took him
to the col ege secretary to see whether the
decision could be
changed.
26
“You are going to graduate with a BA in political
science from UPenn and
proceed to the College
of Law,” I told him, lodging an appeal on his
behalf, which
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 col ege 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
fol owed 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的点子，她接着就提出了批评性的意见。
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. Final y, 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 real y 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, “How
roooomaaaantic!!”
(Para. 9)
Meaning: I
admitted my love for him with deep affection. It
was super romantic!
Meaning beyond words: She
was so happy and thril ed 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: Al 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 stil col ege
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 il
ustrates
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 ful 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 col egeuniversity graduation ceremony
is cal ed “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.