33_A_Day_to_Remember
33 A Day to Remember¶
We have all experienced days when everything goes wrong. A day may begin well enough, but suddenly everything seems to get out of control. What invariably happens is that a great number of things choose to go wrong at precisely the same moment. It is as if a single unimportant event set up a chain of reactions. Let us suppose that you are preparing a meal and keeping an eye on the baby at the same time. The telephone rings and this marks the prelude to an unforeseen series of catastrophes. While you are on the phone, the baby pulls the tablecloth off the table, smashing half your best crockery and cutting himself in the process. You hang up hurriedly and attend to baby, crockery, etc. Meanwhile, the meal gets burnt. As if this were not enough to reduce you to tears, your husband arrives, unexpectedly bringing three guests to dinner.
Things can go wrong on a big scale as a number of people recently discovered in Parramatta, a suburb of Sydney. During the rush hour one evening two cars collided and both drivers began to argue. The woman immediately behind the two cars happened to be a learner. She suddenly got into a panic and stopped her car. This made the driver following her brake hard. His wife was sitting beside him holding a large cake. As she was thrown forward, the cake went right through the windscreen and landed on the road. Seeing a cake flying through the air, a lorry driver who was drawing up alongside the car, pulled up all of a sudden. The lorry was loaded with empty beer bottles and hundreds of them slid off the back of the vehicle and on to the road. This led to yet another angry argument. Meanwhile, the traffic piled up behind. It took the police nearly an hour to get the traffic on the move again. In the meantime, the lorry driver had to sweep up hundreds of broken bottles. Only two stray dogs benefited from all this confusion, for they greedily devoured what was left of the cake. It was just one of those days!
Words¶
- prelude /ˈpreˌlud/ 序幕
- unforeseen /ˌənfɔrˈsin/ 意料之外
- catastrophes /kəˈtæstrəfiz/ 灾难
- crockery /ˈkrɑkɚi/ 陶器
- suburb /ˈsʌbɚb/ 郊区
- rush /rʌʃ/ hour /ˈaʊɚ/ 高峰时间
- collided /kəˈlaɪdɪd/ 猛撞
- happened /ˈhæpənd/ to /tu/ be /bi/ 碰巧是
- learner /ˈlɝnɚ/ 初学者
- panic /ˈpænɪk/ 恐慌
- lorry /ˈlɔri/ 卡车
- stray /stre/ 离群的
- greedily /ˈɡridəli/ 贪婪得
- devoured /dɪˈvaʊɚd/ 狼吞虎咽地吃
Expressions¶
- a prelude to something 某事的前奏
- unforeseen + changes/problems/circumstances 未预见的变化/问题/情况
- a series of 一系列
- be a catastrophe for sb. 对某人来说是个灾难。
- in the suburbs / a suburb of city 在郊区
- collide with=run into 与……相撞
- get into a panic 陷入恐慌
- draw up alongside 停在……旁边
- slide off/open 滑落/滑开
- stray dogs 流浪狗
- There is some confusion about sth. 对某事有些困惑
- get out of control 失控
- What invariably happens is that+句子 总是发生的情况是……
- set up a chain of reactions 引发一连串反应
- keep an eye on sb. 照看；留意某人
- be/speak/talk on the phone 打电话
- hang up (on sb.) 挂断电话
- attend to sb./sth. 照料；处理
- reduce sb. to tears 使某人落泪
- on a big/large/small scale 大/小规模地
- rush hour 高峰时间
- pull up 停车；停下
- all of a sudden = suddenly 突然
- pile up 堆积
- get the traffic on the move 让交通动起来
- sweep up 打扫；卷起
- benefit from sth. 从某事中受益