新概念英语第三册笔记：第31课

　　新概念英语第三册课堂笔记第三十一课 A lovable eccentric 可爱的怪人

　　True eccentrics never deliberately set out to draw attention to themselves. They disregard social conventions without being conscious that they are doing anything extraordinary. This invariably wins them the love and respect of others, for they add colour to the dull routine of everyday life.

　　Up to the time of his death, Richard Colson was one of the most notable figures in our town. He was a shrewd and wealthy businessman, but most people in the town hardly knew anything about this side of his life. He was known to us all as Dickie and his eccentricity had become legendary long before he died.

　　Dickie disliked snobs intensely. Though he owned a large car, he hardly ever used it, preferring always to go on foot. Even when it was raining heavily, he refused to carry an umbrella. One day, he walked into an expensive shop after having been caught in a particularly heavy shower. He wanted to buy a ￡300 watch for his wife, but he was in such a bedraggled condition that an assistant refused to serve him. Dickie left the shop without a word and returned carrying a large cloth bag. As it was extremely heavy, he dumped it on the counter. The assistant asked him to leave, but Dickie paid no attention to him and requested to see the manager. Recognizing who the customer was, the manager was most apologetic and 'reprimanded the assis-

　　tant severely. When Dickie was given the watch, he presented the assistant with the cloth bag. It contained ￡300 in pennies. He insisted on the assistant's counting the money before he left---- 30,000 pennies in all! On another occasion, he invited a number of important critics to see his private collection of modern paintings. This exhibition received a great deal of attention in the press, for though the pictures were supposed to be the work of famous artists, they had in fact been painted by Dickie. It took him four years to stage this elaborate joke simply to prove that critics do not always know what they are talking about.

　　参考译文

　　真正古怪的人从不有意引人注意。他们不顾社会习俗，意识不到自己所作所为有什么特殊之处。他们总能赢得别人的喜爱与尊敬，因为他们给平淡单一的日常生活增添了色彩。

　　理查德.科尔森生前是我们镇上最有名望的人之一。他是个精明能干、有钱的商人，但镇上大部分人对他生活中的这一个方面几乎一无所知。大家都管他叫迪基。早在他去世前很久，他的古怪行为就成了传奇故事了。

　　迪基痛恨势利小人。尽管他有一辆豪华小轿车，但却很少使用，常常喜欢以步代车。即使大雨倾盆，他也总是拒绝带伞。一天，他遇上一场瓢泼大雨，淋得透湿。他走进一家高级商店，要为妻子买一块价值300英镑的手表。但店员见他浑身泥水的样子，竟不肯接待他。迪基二话没说就走了。一会儿，他带着一个大布口袋回到店里。布袋很沉，他重重地把布袋扔在柜台上。店员让迪基走开，他置之不理，并要求见经理。经理认出了这位顾客，表示了深深的歉意，还严厉地训斥了店员。店员为迪基拿出了那块手表，迪基把布口袋递给他，口袋里面装着300镑的便士。他坚持要店员点清那些硬币后他才离去。这些硬币加在一起共有 30,000枚! 还有一次，他邀请一些著名评论家来参观他私人收藏的现代画。这次展览引起报界广泛注意，因为这些画名义上是名家的作品，事实上是迪基自己画的。他花了4年时间策划这出精心设计的闹剧，只是想证明评论家们有时并不解他们所谈论的事情。

　　【New words and expressions】 生词和短语

　　●lovable adj. 可爱的

　　●eccentric n. (行为)古怪的人

　　●disregard v. 不顾，漠视

　　●convention n. 习俗，风俗

　　●conscious adj. 感觉到的，意识到的

　　●invariably adv. 总是，经常地

　　●routine n. 常规;惯例

　　●shrewd adj. 精明的

　　●eccentricity n. 怪僻

　　●legendary adj. 传奇般的

　　●snob n. 诌上欺下的人

　　●intensely adv. 强烈地

　　●bedraggled adj 拖泥带水的

　　●dump v. 把……砰的一声抛下

　　●apologetic adj. 道歉的

　　●reprimand v. 训斥

　　●stage v. 暗中策划

　　●elaborate adj. 精心构思的

　　■lovable adj. 可爱的

　　lovable == worthy of love

　　lovely = beautiful 可爱的

　　lovable 惹人爱

　　Eg: What he does is lovable.

　　I like the lovely boy/girl.

　　A large number of eccentrics are lovable. 许多怪人惹人喜爱。

　　■eccentric n. (行为)古怪的人

　　eccentric: a person whose behaviou is peculiar, unusual, rather strange.

　　eccentric: adj. peculiar, unusual; strange

　　strange因为陌生而奇怪

　　Eg.: The modern building looks strange to the villages.

　　eccentric 行为举止古怪

　　Eg.: I can’t get on well with him, because he is eccentric.

　　odd 强调因为少见而多怪

　　Eg.: Look, he is wearing an odd hat.

　　peculiar 奇异的，不同寻常的

　　The house is peculiar.

　　I feel peculiar today. ==I feel uncomfortable / ill. == I’m not myself today.

　　eccentricity n. 怪癖

　　■disregard v. 不顾，漠视

　　disregard: ignore; pay no attention to

　　Disregard noise and keep working

　　disregard n.

　　have disregard of / for

　　He has complete disregard of / for my feelings.

　　in disregard of

　　He did the work in disregard of my 包含uctions.

　　treat sb. with disregard 怠慢某人

　　Anyway, don’t treat your friends with disregard.

　　■convention n. 习俗，风俗

　　convention: generally accepted practice.

　　Shaking hands when meeting people is normal convention in China.

　　custom 历史悠久的社会习俗

　　It’s a custom of giving presents at Christmas.

　　He always does exactly what he wants and does not care about convention.

　　practice 某团体的传统做法或令他人无法接受的习俗

　　Eg.: The normal practice in the company is to send bill as soon as the job is done.

　　Your stomach would turn at the idea of frying potatoes in animal fat- -the normally accepted practice in many northern countries.(三册L23)

　　tradition 传统

　　Spending Christmas Day is a tradition for western people.

　　habit 个人习惯

　　I have a habit of reading English aloud in the morning.

　　■conscious adj. 感觉到的，意识到的

　　conscious ==aware

　　be conscious of / that

　　be aware of / that

　　He is quite unaware of the danger.

　　He is not conscious of the danger.

　　class conscious 有阶级意识的

　　family conscious 有家庭观念的

　　clothes conscious 注重衣着的

　　stairs conscious 注重地位的

　　aware, conscious的反义词直接加un-

　　unaware, unconscious

　　subconscious 下意识的

　　consciousness n.

　　■invariably adv. 总是，经常地

　　■routine n. 常规;惯例

　　routine: the regular fixed way of sth. / doing things

　　follow the routine 墨守常规

　　break the routine 打破常规

　　start the daily routine 开始每天的日常生活

　　■shrewd adj. 精明的

　　shrewed: showing good practical judgement 精明的，狡滑的，敏锐的，机灵的

　　He is a shrewed observer.

　　We have got shrewed common sense.

　　Sb. is shrewed. == He has good judgement.

　　shrewed brained

　　shrewed headed 头脑机灵的

　　shrewed looking 看起来机灵的

　　cunning: clever at deceiving 善于歉骗的

　　sly 用更隐秘的办法来达到目的

　　a sly old fox

　　■eccentricity n. 怪僻

　　■legendary adj. 传奇般的

　　■snob n. 诌上欺下的人

　　■intensely adv. 强烈地

　　intense adj. very strong ; violent; extreme; sharp; etc.

　　intense cold 严寒

　　intense heat 酷暑

　　intense discussion 激烈的讨论

　　intensify vt. 使增强

　　You must intensify your sense of responsibility.你必须加强责任感。

　　intensity n.

　　Losing jobs are growing in intensity.

　　sth are growing in intensity ……(某种程度)在加强

　　Eg: Losing jobs are growing in intensity.

　　■bedraggled adj 拖泥带水的

　　■dump v. 把……砰的一声抛下

　　■reprimand v. 训斥

　　reprimand: scold officially and severely

　　blame 责备(语气程度很弱)

　　Eg.: The teacher blamed him for his coming late.

　　scold 斥责(语气稍重一点)

　　Don’t scold me for a trifle.

　　reproach 斥责 (语气最严重)

　　He often reproached his children.

　　reprimand: scold officially and severely

　　The boss reprimanded his employees severely.

　　■apologetic adj. 道歉的

　　apologize v.

　　He apologized to his boss.

　　The boss apologized to his employees.

　　He was apologetic. 他致以歉意

　　apology n. 歉意

　　make apology to sb. for sth.

　　■stage v. 暗中策划

　　He stage a joke.

　　■elaborate adj. 精心构思的

　　elaborate == carefully worked out

　　an elaborate design 精心的设计

　　elaborate vt.

　　He elaborated a system of computer.

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