英语短文精读【24】第一次约会（2）First Date(2)

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【开篇小问】

美国口语中，cheapskate的意思是：
a. 便宜货
b. 冒牌货
c. 吝啬鬼
d. 浪荡的人

答案：c.

第一次约会（2）

By the middle of the movie I was still trying to figure（考虑、算计） just how to do that. “I' m thirsty（渴了）,” Karen said suddenly.

电影过半，我仍在考虑该怎么做。突然卡伦说：“我渴了。”

“I' ll get us something!” I said, almost leaping（跳跃） out of the car. I wound through the dark rows to the concession stand（货摊） thinking, I' ll show her that I' m no cheap skate. So I bought Cokes and popcorn（爆米花） and M&Ms. My arms loaded with the goodies, I turned to head back to my car.

“我去买点东西！”我说着，几乎是跳出了车外。我绕过黑乎乎的一排排车到了货摊，心想，我不能让她觉得我是个吝啬鬼。我买了可乐 、爆米花和M&M豆。我抱着满满一兜好吃的，转身往自己的车返回。

And that' s when I realized...I had no idea where my car was! A sea of automobiles（汽车<美>） surrounded me. I couldn' t even remember which direction（方向） I' d come from!

忽然，我意识到……我找不到我的车了。茫茫一片车海围绕着我。我甚至记不得我从哪个方向来的！

So I began walking around looking for a baby blue Chevy convertible（敞篷车）. Aisle（过道） after aisle. Dead end（死路） after dead end. Then...could it be? Yes! I headed for the blue convertible, hoping the Cokes weren' t too warm or the popcorn too cold for Karen' s liking.

我开始到处走，寻找我的蓝色敞篷宝时捷。 一排接着一排，一条死路接着一条死路。然后，那是……是的！我直奔那辆蓝色敞篷车，希望就卡伦的喜好来说，可乐还不算太热，爆米花也不算太冷。

I flung（猛地打开） open the door of the car --- only to discover a couple engaged in some serious necking in the back seat. “Sorry,” I muttered（低声叨咕）, spilling（散落） popcorn as I banged the door shut.

我猛地打开车门——不料发现一对恋人正在后座上沉醉在亲吻中。 “对不起”我咕哝说，关车门时把爆米花撒了一地。

Finally, after bumping about（碰撞） in the dark so long that I ate the popcorn myself and downed（吃下） both Cokes, I found the car. Karen glanced（瞥） over at me, her eyes icy. “Where' s my drink?” she asked. I tossed（扔） her the M&Ms. “This is all they had.” I slid（悄悄地走） into my seat, and we watched the rest of the movie in silence（沉默）.

最后，在吃完了爆米花，喝光了两瓶可乐，在黑暗中碰碰撞撞了很久以后，我终于找到了我的车。卡伦瞥了我一眼，目光冰冷。 “我的饮料呢？”她问。我把M&M豆扔给她， “他们只有这个。”我悄悄地移到座位上，我们在沉默中看完了剩下的电影。

I never went out with Karen again, although one time she did ask to borrow my car. (I said no.) And the next time I took a date to the drive-in, I took an extra（额外的） pack of M&Ms with me...and dropped（扔） them all the way to the concession stand, just so I could find my way back.

我再没和卡伦约会过，尽管有一次她问我借车。（我说不。）下次去“免下车”剧场约会，我给自己另外准备了一份M&M豆，把它们扔在去货摊的路上，这样我就能找到回来的路了。

【世博读书笔记】

1．cheapskate是美式口语，意思是吝啬鬼（尤指逃避付费的人），goodie在口语中指好吃的东西。

2．engaged in，意思是“从事于、忙于、埋头致力于”，显然，他说对这对恋人engaged in some serious necking有点调侃的意思。其实，这是个很正式的短语，常用在简历中，比如下面这个人就写道：
As a lecturer, I have been engaged in English teaching for ten years.
作为讲师，我已经从事了十年的英语教学工作了。

这个短语也可以指做不好的事，比如：
Robert is engaged in drug trafficking.
Robert从事贩毒活动。

其实，engaged这个词最常用的还是下面这种情况：
We're engaged. 我們訂婚了。
与某人订婚，要说be engaged to sb.比如：
He was engaged to Lucy ten days ago.
十天前他與露西訂了婚。

【世博句型留言板】

今天的句型来自原文中的Aisle after aisle. Dead end after dead end.

Sth. after sth. 在句中作状语，表示动作的连续重复。

比如高中课本Disneyland里面有句话说：
Day after day the mouse came back and was given more bread．
老鼠天天都回来，而迪斯尼也天天给老鼠吃面包。

这里的day after day; = for a number of days; continuously 天天地，日复一日地。把day换成其他词，就有：week after week; month after month; year after year; generation after generation等许多表达法。

练习：
1．过去我们每年都去海边度假。
2．有些民歌被一代接一代地传唱。

练习答案：
1．We used to go to the seaside for a holiday year after year.
2．Some folk songs are passed on generation after generation.