新概念英语 第二册 Lesson 40课文讲解

Lesson 40

Food and talk

一

阅读课文

课文内容：

Last week at a dinner party, the hostess asked me to sit next to Mrs. Rumbold. Mrs. Rumbold was a

large, unsmiling lady in a tight black dress. She did not even look up when I took my seat beside

her. Her eyes were fixed on her plate and in a short time, she was busy eating.

I

tried to make

conversation.

‘A new play is coming to “The Globe” soon,’ I said. ‘Will you be seeing it?’

‘No,’ she answered.

‘Will you be spending your holidays abroad this year?’ I asked.

‘No,’ she answered.

‘Will you be staying in England?’ I asked.

‘No,’ she answered.

In despair, I asked her whether she was enjoying her dinner.

‘Young man,’ she answered, ‘if you ate more and talked less, we would both enjoy our dinner!’

二

单词解析

1. Mrs. Rumbold was a large, unsmiling lady in a tight black dress.

（

1

）

large

adj.

修饰人时，指身材高大，并且往往丰满或肥胖。

He’s a very large child for his age.

就其年龄来说，这孩子个头很大。

Who’s the rather large lady in the hat?

那位戴帽子的丰满女士是谁？

（

2

）

unsmi ling

不苟言笑的；表情冷漠的

,

不友好的

He was unsmiling and silent.

他十分严肃，一言不发。

2. I tried to make conversation.

conversation

（非正式）交谈，谈话

make conversation

找话题闲聊。一般指出于 礼貌和你不熟悉的人找话题闲谈，而不是你真的

想和他们聊。这类交谈在英语中也称为< /p>

small talk

。

Nice party, isn’t it? I said, trying to make conversation.

聚会不错，是吗？我说，试着找个话题聊聊。

3. In despair, I asked her whether she was enjoying her dinner.

(1) despair

n

.

绝望，常与< /p>

in

搭配构成短语

in despair

在句中做状语。

He gave up the struggle in despair.

他绝望地放弃了斗争。

也构成习语

be the despair of sb.

令某人担心或绝望

My handwriting was the despair of my teachers.

我的字写得很差，使老师们感到十分失望。

< br>（

2

）

despair

v

.

绝望；失去希望；丧失信心，常 与

of

搭配，构成

despair of sth/sb./doing sth.

He wished to earn a living through writing but despaired of doing so.

他原想通过写作谋生，但却对此绝望了。

三

语法解析

1.

重点句型

（

1

）

Mrs. Rumbold was a large, unsmiling lady in a tight black dress.