英语短文精读【89】只有中国人才吐痰吗？ The History of Spitting

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【开篇小问】

在中世纪的欧洲，下面那些行为是不被允许的？
a. spit on the ground and immediately rub out（擦掉） the sputum
b. spit under the table
c. spit across the table
d. spit to the spittoon

答案：c.

吐痰的历史

在哈佛大学，有一条很大的标语：“请不要随地吐痰，不要乱扔废物”，它是用中文写的，而且只用了中文。难道吐痰是中国人的“专利”？

Spitting was mostly associated（联系） with smoking, both denounced（指责、谴责） by women as bad habits. Every time I saw a spittoon（痰盂）, I felt sorry for the poor housewife（家庭主妇） who had to clean it out every day. I also remember that schoolboys would start to spit at the same age as they took to smoking on the sly, just to show what grown-ups and tough guys（硬汉子） they were.

吐痰大多与吸烟有关，二者都被妇女斥为陋习。每一次我看见痰盂，就会为那些每天都要清洗痰盂的家庭主妇悲叹。我还记得，学校里的男孩子们在开始偷偷吸烟的年龄也开始随地吐痰，以显示他们已经是成人，已经成为粗悍的小伙子。

In the European Middle Ages it was permitted（允许） to spit under the table, but never across it. While standing, one could spit on the ground and immediately rub out（擦掉） the sputum（唾液） with one's foot. Spitting on the floor in 19th-century factories, hospital waiting rooms and barber shops（理发店） was tolerated（可以容忍的）. "Where do you want them to spit? In their pockets?" was the attitude.

在中世纪的欧洲，允许人们将痰吐在桌子底下，但决不可以将痰“远射”到桌子的另一边；站着的时候，可以把痰吐在地上，并立即用脚蹭了。在19世纪的工厂、医院候诊室和理发馆，人们容忍随地吐痰， “你让他们把痰吐到哪儿呢？吐到他们的衣服兜里吗？”这就是人们当时的态度。

So you see, the West has its own history of spitting, which it took time and effort to eradicate（连根拔除）. But if Westerners were able to break themselves of the habit, why not the Chinese?

你看，西方国家也有他们的吐痰历史，他们付出了时间，付出了努力，才根除了这一陋习。如果说西方人能够与这种陋习决裂，难道中国人就不能？

【世博读书笔记】

1．sorry

sorry通常指“抱歉”，不小心碰到别人时，说句I’m sorry.走到那里都不会错。不过可别以为它只有这一个意思，别以为美国为“误炸”中国驻南斯拉夫大使馆一事feel sorry是出于“歉意”，因为feel sorry for…完全没有道歉的意思，它是指“为……而感到难过”。比如：
Tina felt sorry for Pat; she seemed so lonely.
Tina为Pat感到难过，她看起来太孤单了。

另外，be sorry to…句型和feel sorry类似，后面常跟动词原形。比如，同样是表达“为你母亲感到难过”的意思，用两种句式分别说出来就是：
I feel sorry for your mother．我为你妈妈感到难过。
I＇m sorry to hear that your mother is ill．听到你妈妈生病了我很难过。

2．tough是形容词，在口语中很常用，主要有以下用法。

（1）表示“困难的、艰难的”，如：
Life as a single mother can be tough and depressing.
单身母亲的生活是艰难而又压力重重的。

（2）表示“强壮的、坚强的”，如：
The men who work on the oil rigs are a tough bunch.
在钻井平台工作的那些男人是一群硬汉。

（3）口语中的tough luck，意思是“真倒霉”，有点同情别人的意思，如：
You didn’t get the job? Oh, tough luck.
没得到那份工作？哦，倒霉。

【世博句型留言板】

on the sly
偷偷摸摸地……

其中，sly意思是“狡猾的、狡诈的”意思，它是非正式使用的短语，只适合在口语或朋友之中使用。来看几个例子：

She is having an affair with her Japanese teacher on the sly.
她和她的日文老师偷偷有了恋情。

When she thought no one was looking she opened the cupboard and took a few sweets on the sly.
当她觉得没人看见时,她打开壁橱偷偷拿了几块糖。

练习：
1．他暗中偷喝威士忌酒（whiskey）三十年了。
2．学校禁止（prohibit）吸烟，可有些学生还在偷偷摸摸地做。

练习答案：
1．He's been drinking whiskey on the sly for thirty years.
2．Smoking was prohibited in school, but some students did it on the sly.