39_Nothing_to_Worry_About
39 Nothing to Worry About¶
The rough road (across the plain) soon became so bad that we tried to get Bruce to drive back to the village (we had come from). Even though the road was littered with boulders and pitted with holes, Bruce was not in the least perturbed. Glancing at his map, he informed us that the next village was a mere twenty miles away. It was not that Bruce always underestimated difficulties. He simply had no sense of danger at all. No matter what the conditions were, he believed that a car should be driven as fast as it could possibly go.
As we bumped over the dusty track, we swerved to avoid large boulders. The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. We felt sure that sooner or later a stone would rip a hole in our petrol tank or damage the engine. Because of this, we kept looking back, wondering if we were leaving a trail of oil and petrol behind us.
What a relief it was when the boulders suddenly disappeared, giving way to a stretch of plain where the only obstacles were clumps bushes. But there was worse to come. Just ahead of us there was a huge fissure. In response to renewed pleadings, Bruce stopped. Though we all got out to examine the fissure, he remained in the car. We informed him that the fissure extended for fifty yards and was two feet wide and four feet deep. Even this had no effect. Bruce went into a low gear and drove at a terrifying speed, keeping the front wheels astride the crack as he followed its zigzag course. Before we had time to worry about what might happen, we were back on the plain again. Bruce consulted the map once more and told us that the village was now only fifteen miles away. Our next obstacle was a shallow pool of water about half a mile across. Bruce charged at it, but in the middle, the car came to a grinding halt. A yellow light on the dashboard flashed angrily and Bruce cheerfully announced that there was no oil in the engine!
Words¶
- rough /rʌf/ 崎岖的
- boulders /ˈboldɚz/ 大石块
- pitted /ˈpɪtɪd/ 坑使洼
- perturbed /pɚˈtɝbd/ 不安
- bumped /bʌmpt/ 颠簸
- track /træk/ 小道
- swerved /swɝvd/ 急转变
- scooped /skupt/ 挖出
- hammered /ˈhæmɚd/ 击打
- ominously /ˈɑmənəsli/ 有预兆的
- rip /rɪp/ 划破
- petrol /ˈpɛtrol/ 汽油
- relief /rɪˈlif/ 安慰
- stretch /strɛtʃ/ 一大片
- obstacles /ˈɑbstəkəlz/ 障碍
- clumps /klʌmps/ 丛
- fissure /ˈfɪʃɚ/ 裂缝
- renewed /rɪˈnud/ 重复
- pleadings /ˈplidɪŋz/ 恳求
- gear /ɡɪr/ 档位
- astride /əˈstraɪd/ 骑跨
- crack /kræk/ 缝隙
- zigzag /ˈzɪɡzæɡ/ 之字形
- shallow /ˈʃælo/ 浅的
- grinding /ˈɡraɪndɪŋ/ 摩擦
- halt /hɔlt/ 停
Expressions¶
- be pitted with 布满（坑洼）
- be/seem perturbed by 被……搅得不安
- be/seem perturbed that +句子 因……而心烦
- underestimate how/what ... 低估……
- underestimate the power of something 低估某物的力量
- swerve to avoid 急转躲避
- scoop up 舀起；捧起
- rip... off/up/out 撕掉/撕碎/撕出
- a stretch of land/river/road 一片土地/一段河流/一段路
- overcome obstacles 克服障碍
- clumps of 一丛丛
- go into a low/high gear 挂低速/高速挡
- grind to a halt=come to a grinding halt 慢慢停下来
- bring... to a halt 使……停下
- come to a halt 停下来
- There was worse to come. 还有更糟糕的
- get sb. to do 说服某人做某事
- not in the least 一点也不
- it was not that... 不是...
- have a sense of 有……的感觉
- sooner or later 迟早
- what a relief it was when 当……时真是松了一口气
- give way to 被...代替
- ahead of 在……之前
- a shallow pool of 一浅滩的……
- charge at 冲向
- sb. announced that 某人宣布……