September 26th, 2009 
ghostlei } So great is our passion for doing things for ourselves, that we are becoming increasingly less dependent on specialized labour. No one can plead ignorance of a subject any longer, for these are countless do-it-yourself publications. Armed with the right tools and materials, newlyweds gaily embark on the task of decorating their own homes. Men, particularly, spend hours of their leisure time installing their own fireplaces, laying out their own gardens; building garages and making furniture.
} Suggested publication categories
上架建议。比如说一本书，你要放在书店的哪个分类，学科里面卖
} Armed with a torch, the vicar went up into the clock tower to see what was going on.（lesson2）
本课的armed with 和第二课出现过的这个，不要把它翻译成装备，把它理解成带着，拿着就行了，把它当成分词伴随。
} Some really keen enthusiasts go so far as to build their own computers. Shops cater for the do-it-yourself craze not only by running special advisory services for novices, but by offering consumers bits and pieces which they can assemble at home. Such things provide an excellent outlet for pent up creative energy, but unfortunately not all of us are born handymen.
} go so far:
这是几个表示太过分的说法——
That’s going too far.
You’ve gone too far.
That’s too much.
} Some wives tend to believe that their husbands are infinitely resourceful and can fix anything. Even men who can hardly drive a nail in straight are supposed to be born electricians, carpenters, plumbers and mechanics. When lights fuse, furniture gets rickety, pipes get clogged, or vacuum cleaners fail to operate, some women assume that their husbands will somehow put things right. The worst thing about the do-it-yourself game is that sometimes even men live under the delusion that they can do anything, even when they have repeatedly been proved wrong. It is a question of pride as much as anything else.
} born :
it‘s not really something you can learn, It’s pretty much something you‘re born with.
这不是你能学的，这基本上是天生的。
Do you think I was born yesterday?
你认为我是昨天刚出生吗；就是说，你认为我是傻子吗，你以为我是三岁小孩吗？
} Last spring my wife suggested that I call in a man to look at our lawn mower. It had broken down the previous summer, and though I promised to repair it, I had never got round to it. I would not hear of the suggestion and said that I would fix it myself.
} get round/around to
抽空；找时间做某事
did you ever get around to cashing that refund check from the bookstore?
你有没有去，把退款的支票变成现金？Refund check 是以支票的方式退换；如果把支票在银行直接换成现金，这个动词是cash。
I’ve been meaning to get my eyes checked. I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
我一直想去检查一下眼睛，但一直都没有空。
} One Saturday afternoon, I hauled the machine into the garden and had a close look at it. As far as I could see, it needed only a minor adjustment: a turn of a screw here, a little tightening up there, a drop of oil and it would be as good as new. Inevitably the repair job was not quite so simple. The mower firmly refused to mow, so I decided to dismantle it. The garden was soon littered with chunks of metal which had once made up a lawn mower.
} I’m not quite sure.
Not quite yet.
这两句话的not quite 意思是——
Not completely/totally/entirely/really/actually
} But I was extremely pleased with myself. I had traced the cause of the trouble. One of links in the chain that drives the wheels had snapped. After buying a new chain I was faced with the insurmountable task of putting the confusing jigsaw puzzle together again. I was not surprised to find that the machine still refused to work after I had reassembled it, for the simple reason that I was left with several curiously shaped bits of metal which did not seem to fit anywhere.
} M:what‘s wrong with Herald today? he snapped even no reason.
W:don‘t worry, it’s just the end of the semester pressure. he‘ll be his old self next week.
M：Herald 今天怎么了？好像没有什么原因地蹦快了/泄气了。
W: 不要担心，现在是学期末，大家压力都很大。下个星期他就会变成原来的自己。
} M: Harry seems to be in a bad mood today.
W: He’ll snap out of it when he finishes his biology project this afternoon.
M：Harry 今天好像心情不大好。
W：等他自己完成了他的生物project，他就会从这种不好的状态跳出来。
snapped 这个词本来是指拉链，链条掉了这样的一个动作，但从这两个口语对话中可以看出，不同的用法，它表达的意思是大大不一样的。
} I gave up in despair. The weeks passed and the grass grew. When my wife nagged me to do something about it, I told her that either I would have to buy a new mower or let the grass grow. Needless to say our house is now surrounded by a jungle. Buried somewhere in deep grass there is a rusting lawn mower which I have promised to repair one day.
} Nagging works.
nag 唠叨，罗嗦。如果你经常唠叨你的朋友，然后有一天发现他真的改进了，这种就叫做 nagging works。
} rust
A: I hear you’re quite proficient on the violin.
B: I’m pretty rusty after all these years.
A: 我听说你的violin 玩得不错。
B: 那么多年没碰了，现在也生疏了。
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