Lesson 2 Thirteen equals one

hi~我又来了，分享一个我很喜欢的播客节目《谐星聊天会》，气氛很chill。刚刚把L1精听了一遍，错的比较多的是时态部分，词汇部分基本没有错误。嘻嘻

今天的L2有比较长的对话，大家也可以从中学到一些描述对话情境的知识

---

Our vicar is always raising money for one cause or another, but he has never managed to get enough money to have the church clock repaired. The big clock which used to strike the hours day and night was damaged many years ago and has been silent ever since.

---

·vicar 〔英国国教的〕教区牧师，表示“牧师”的单词还有pastor，clergy（*clerical work  行政工作）

·cause也是一个常用的词汇，主要有“引起”（比如 cause problems，cause damages to，cause confusion）和“原因”（the leading cause of death，the cause of the fire）两个意思。

·used to 元老级知识点，注意前面不要加be，后面用的是动词原形，表示“过去常常”。

·strike 这个词在我脑海里是很有力度的，“敲击”、“击打”、“罢工”这几个意思比较常见，比如：The victim had been struck with some kind of wooden implement.受害人遭到某种木器的击打。

但是strike引申出来的含义非常多，下面简单讲几个：

①一个突然蹦进你脑里的事情：it strikes sb (that)。It struck her that losing the company might be the least of her worries.她突然意识到失去公司或许是她最不用担心的一件事。

②两者兼顾：strike a balance。He was finding it difficult to strike a balance between his family and his work.他觉得家庭和工作两者很难兼顾。

③整点报时：strike the hours.

·ever since 从那以后

---

One night, however, our vicar woke up with a start: the clock was striking the hours! Looking at his watch, he saw that it was one o'clock, but the bell struck thirteen times before it stopped. Armed with a torch, the vicar went up into the clock tower to see what was going on. In the torchlight, he caught sight of a figure whom he immediately recognized as Bill Wilkins, our local grocer.

---

·start ：也有“因为被吓到而突然动了一下”的意思，因此 with a start 经常被翻译为“被吓了一跳”，原文可译为被“惊醒”（越翻越短，中文赛高~）

·torch：手电筒，这是英式叫法。美式为 flashlight 。另外还有火炬的意思，比如我们熟悉的奥运火炬 the Olympic torch；火炬接力 torch relay。

·caught sight of 突然看到你要找的那个人/东西。

·figure：身影。

figure当名词用的常用意思也很多，比如：“数据”（unemployment figures for December）“位数”（single figures个位数；six figures六位数；注意都有s）；“身体、身形”相关的比如 keep your figure 保持身材、a leading/key/central figure 重要人士等

figure作动词除了常见的“figure out”，也可以学习一下美剧里常听到的that figures 料到了；it figures that 不出所料/有道理

·grocer：杂货店店主。grocery 杂货店本店~

---

'Whatever are you doing up here Bill?' asked the vicar in surprise.

'I'm trying to repair the bell,' answered Bill. 'I've been coming up here night after night for weeks now. You see, I was hoping to give you a surprise.'

'You certainly did give me a surprise!' said the vicar. 'You've probably woken up everyone in the village as well. Still, I'm glad the bell is working again.'

'That's the trouble, vicar,' answered Bill. 'It's working all right, but I'm afraid that at one o'clock it will strike thirteen times and there's nothing I can do about it."

‘We'll get used to that, Bill,' said the vicar. "Thirteen is not as good as one, but it's better than nothing. Now let's go downstairs and have a cup of tea.'

---

这一段有挺多短语，先一起讲了~

·night after night  一晚又一晚，即“每晚” ，把  night 换成 day 就是“日复一日”

·as well “也”，通常放在句末。书面语常用的是likewise。

*may as well 不妨（拆开来应该是“还是xxx好”）I suppose we may as well get started.我想我们不妨开始吧。

·all right：除了我们常听到“are u all right”，即“顺利的、不错的”的意思外，还有“okay”类似的意思，比如：Is it all right to bring my dog?我带狗来行吗？

---

今天附赠的内容是符号的英文表达方法