#字词篇
1. I have been able to keep that nickname quiet for five years, and now all of the sudden the whole town knew it. I could feel about 300 pairs of eyeballs pointed my way.
all of the sudden =suddenly
300 pairs of eyeballs pointed my way这个说法非常形象,表示众人瞩目的焦点一下子转移到了自己身上。
keep something quiet保持……默默无闻/不为所知
造句:All of the sudden, thousands of pairs of eyeballs pointed Jane's way, she felt so embarrassed because what she has kept for 5 years was exposed to the public.
2. So I did some quick ad-libbing and I was able to deflect the embarrassment over to Archie Kelly.
ad-lib: (演奏时)即时穿插,即兴撰造,这里也可以理解为“临时救场”
deflect: 转向,转移,引开
be able to 和can 的区别:can 和be able to 经常可以互换,比如some people are able to/can walk on their hands.
但是他们之间也有区别。be able to is used in cases(e.g. future, present perfect将来时,现在完成时) where can/could is not grammatically possible because it has no infinitive or participles.
例如我们可以说One day scientists will be able to find a cure for cancer.
但是不能说One day scientists will can find a cure to cancer.
造句:She ad-libbed her way through the whole speech, and it turned out to deflect the previous embarrassment successfully.
3. But the major embarrassment was still on the way. When I heard Mrs. Norton playing the first few bars of "We Three Tress," I felt my stomach jump.
bar: one of the small equal parts into which a piece of music is divided, containing a fixed number of beats
on the way: to be close to doing something
造句:I know the final exam is on the way, but I still want to polish a few bars of my songs first.
4. You'd figure that someone whose job it was to sit on the stage and do nothing could just suck it up for one performance.
suck something up: to deal with something unpleasing without complaining
造句:I sucked it up and didn't cry.
5. I was peeking through the curtain to check out how many people showed up to see the play...wearing a clip-on tie.
peek through: to glimpse through something
check out: have a look at, inspect
此外check out还有开支票(提款),(旅馆)付帐后离开,以及俚语中的“死”的意思
show up出现,到场。类似于attend
a clip-on tie 卡夹式领结
造句:Wearing a clip-on tie, My brother peeked through the window to check out whether our folks have showed up.
6. The play is only a couple of days away, and I have no idea how we're going to pull this thing off.
pull something off: to succeed in doing something difficult or unexpected
造句:The central bank has pulled off one of the biggest financial rescues of recent years.
#句子篇
1. For a few seconds there, thing went OK. I figured that if I didn't technically sing the song, the Rodrick wouldn't have anything to hold over my head, But after a few seconds, the other Trees noticed I wasn't singing.
分析:went(go)这里表示“进行得……”,同样的表达还有Everything goes well.
I figured that if I didn't technically sing the song. 一般来说副词在句中的位置比较灵活,昨天在朋友圈里看到"...that's when I started to really miss you."这句话,在这句话中,副词really的位置切割了原来的不定式结构start to do something. 而在本句中technically的位置也是类似的用法,值得在以后的写作中借鉴,使句式更加灵活。
造句:Everything basically goes well.
2. Then I noticed that Patty Farrell standing in the wings. And if looks could kill, us Trees would be dead. She probably thought we were ruining her chances of making it to Broadway or something.
分析:wing: one of the parts of a building that project from the main part.
And if look could kill, us Trees would be dead. 这个表达很妙。我们可以借鉴写一些类似的表达,比如要是眼神/话语能杀人的话……if eyes/words could kill...
造句:If words can kill, we all are dead for a thousand years.
#作文篇
Today my younger brother did something that really humiliated me. You know that I have been dressed like a boy for nearly 20 years until I fell in love with Tim. And I also have kept the secret quiet for such a long time. I intended to invite Tim to our house tonight but the whole thing was totally screwed up by my brother. Wearing a clip-on tie, Tim showed up when 7:00 rolled around. When we started to romantically dance on the dance floor, my brother all of the sudden shouted that I must be a boy because he found all my clothes I hid under my bed, which were all designed for boys. Well, as you can imagine, couples of eyeballs pointed my way and Tim was just frightened to run...
其他:
出洋相,出丑 humiliate/embarrass somebody
ruin the whole "dog‘ effect 以后也可以用这个短语表示“破坏……的气氛/效果”
hop into/off 跳上,跳下
line: 台词