Lesson 1
My wife gave me a piece of her mind1again.
我老婆又把我臭骂一通。
【Daniel’s
Note】
If your wife gives you a piece of her mind, you should give
her a taste of the back of your hand. No, of course I’m joking. Under no
circumstances can Wife Beating be condoned(宽恕) orforgiven. Only a lousy two-bit punk would ever hit a woman.
要是你老婆敢骂你，你就让她尝尝手背的滋味。不，可别动真格的，我不过是开个玩笑。任何情况下打老婆都不可饶恕。只有二半调子才（二货）才敢打老婆。
[1] This morning Marston seemed to be a little angry at
something,furrowing his brow2, so I
didn’t want to bug him with the further discussion of American idioms and
slang. I was afraid ofadding fuel to the fire3and offending him a little more.
[1]早上马斯顿哭丧着脸，好像有啥烦心的事儿。所以，我不敢和他继续讨论美国习语和俚语。我生怕火上浇油，惹他更加不快。
[2] All of a sudden,he utteredin
anguish4, “My wife gave me a piece of her mind last night.Sheaccused me of5indifference towards her. And moreover, she threatens to
get divorced if I take it for granted or I don’ttake
it into serious consideration6.”
[2]突然，他痛苦地嚷道：“昨晚我老婆又数落了我一通，骂我对她冷淡，而且还威胁道：如果我再不当回事儿，她就要跟我离婚。”
[3] Hearing that, I replied with a joke,“Women are spoiled all over the world by men whoput
women on a pedestal7. Your wife is no different. And of course she hopes to bedoted
upon8or tenderly babied or pampered. Perhaps there is something
to be desired in your attitude towards her, or she wouldn’tfly
off the handle9. What you have to do is to go on spoiling oraffectionately petting her. No care, no love.”
[3]听到这里，我开着玩笑说：“全世界的女人都被男人们宠坏了，他们把女人都宠为女皇。你妻子也不例外呀。她当然希望受宠娇惯。或许你对待她的态度有问题，不然她也不会发那么大的火。现在你只能继续娇宠她。没有宠爱，就没有爱嘛！”
【指点迷津】
give
sb a piece of one’s mindscold or reprimand sb.谴责；严厉训斥
Tomhas been drunk for a few nights in a row, so his wife gave him a piece of hermind yesterday.
汤姆连续几天晚上都喝得酩酊大醉，所以昨天他老婆臭骂了他一顿。
furrow
one's brow哭丧着脸；不高兴
My
sister furrowed her brow and kept to herself（不与人交往；离群独居）without saying even a singleword the whole morning.
整个上午，我妹妹都哭丧着脸，独自呆在一边，一句话都不说。
add
fuel to the firepour oil on the flames; add to the confusion火上浇油；添乱
Leaveit to me and don’t meddle with my business. You are just adding fuel to thefire.
我自个来吧！别管我的闲事。你只会添乱。
in
anguishin great distress极度痛苦；懊恼不已
Judaslost all his money in gambling, so now he is in anguish and regret.
犹大赌博输光了钱，所以他现在十分痛苦，懊恼不已。
accuse
sb. of指控；指责某人
TheAmerican government accusesNorth
Koreaof nuclear development.
美国政府指责北朝鲜从事核武器开发。
take
sth. into serious consideration严肃（认真）考虑某事
Wecan put the plan into practice, but first of all we must take every possiblefactor into serious consideration.
我们可以实施这项计划，不过我们首先必须认真考虑每个可能的因素。
put
someone on a pedestal喜爱；宠信
Mary thinks she’s specialbecause all the boys put her on a pedestal.玛丽自我感觉很特别，因为所有的男孩都对她宠爱有加。
dote
on溺爱；宠爱
Theparents dote on their only daughter and try to satisfy her desires at allcosts.
这对父母溺爱独生女儿，不惜一切代价满足她的要求。
fly
off the handle激动；发脾气
Seeingthe window broken into pieces, Father flew off the handle and demandedfiercely, “Who on earth broke the window?”
看见窗户破成碎片，父亲恼羞成怒，厉声问道：“是哪个把窗户打碎的？”
【情景会话】
Jane:Hi, Tom! Would you like to play poker with ustonight?
Tom:Oh, I’d love to, but I’m really sorry that Ihave to finish off my term paper that is due tomorrow.
Jane:A far-fetched (牵强的)excuse indeed. You are trying to excuse yourself from getting together for funwith us.
Tom:Absolutely not! The thing is, last time I wasnot through with my paper prior to the deadline, the professor gave me afailing grade on the final test. Plus, hegave me a piece of his mind.
Jane:In that case, you just stay in the dorm. Butwe’d like to amuse ourselves playing cards.
詹尼：喂，汤姆！今晚一起玩扑克牌好吗？
汤姆：哦，我倒是挺乐意的，不过我非常抱歉。学期论文明天就要上交了，我还没写完呢。
詹尼：这个理由未免牵强了点吧！不想和我们一起开心，也别找借口呀。
汤姆：绝对不是！问题是上次我没有按时完成论文，期末考试教授就没让我及格。而且，他还把我骂得狗血喷头的。
詹尼：那就呆在寝室里吧。不过，我们可要打牌消磨时光。