新视野大学英语第三版第二册课文语法讲解Unit4

Language Points:

1 I smile at my two lovely daughters and they seem so much more mature than we, their parents, when we were college sweethearts. (Para. 1)

Meaning beyond words: Married to her college sweetheart, the author now is happy with her family and two grown daughters.

Note: College sweethearts refer to someone with whom one is in love and by whom one

is loved at college; sweetheart is equivalent to lover,darling, beloved, or dear. For example:

Well done, sweetheart, we are all so proud of you. 做得好，宝贝，我们以你为荣。

My husband is the greatest guy in the world; he was my college sweetheart. 我丈夫是世 界上最棒的，大学时他就是我的恋人。

He tries to locate his former sweetheart Melina from whom he has heard nothing for a very long time. 他在努力寻找他以前的恋人梅利娜，他已经很久没有她的消息了。

2 Linda, who’s 21, had a boyfriend in her freshman year she thought she would marry, but they’re not together anymore. Melissa, who’s 19, hasn’t had a steady boyfriend yet. My daughters wonder when they will meet “The One”, their great love.(Para. 1)

Meaning beyond words: Her two daughters are at the age of just dating, but they seem

to be very mature wondering when they will meet their true love.

3 They think their father and I had a classic fairy tale romance heading for marriage from the outset. (Para. 1)

Meaning beyond words: Her daughters consider their parents’ marriage a typical conventional romance because they think it aimed at marriage from the very beginning. Usage note: classic, classical

1 classic 用作形容词表示“经典的；精彩的；一流的”。例如：

Death on the Nile is one of the classic works of Agatha Christie. 《尼罗河上的惨案》是阿 加莎·克里斯蒂的经典作品之一。

口语中也会用到 classic 这个词。当你看到一场精彩的演出时，就可以说“That’s classic!”来 表达赞美。

classic 用作形容词也表示“典型的；标准的”。例如：

London is the classic example of the scattered city. 伦敦是标准分散型的城市。

This statement was a classic illustration of British politeness. 这项陈述是对英国礼貌的一 个典型说明。

classic 也可用作名词，表示“文学名著；经典作品；杰作”。例如：

We have all the standard classics of Hayao Miyazaki at home. 我们家有宫崎骏的所有的

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经典作品。

2 classical 不能用作名词，只能用作形容词，表示“古典的；经典的”。例如：

I spend a lot of time reading and listening to classical music. 我花了很多时间阅读和聆听 古典音乐。

Classical music is music written by composers such as Mozart and Beethoven. 像莫扎特 和贝多芬所创作的音乐称为古典音乐。

莫扎特和贝多芬所创作的音乐属于古典音乐(classical music), 但这些古典音乐经久不衰， 有永久的意义和价值，所以这些音乐也可称为经典的音乐（classic music）。反之，在前面 有一例中说可口可乐瓶子的设计是精彩的，一流的，所以是经典（classic）之作，但很明显 可口可乐瓶子的设计不是古典的 （classical）设计。所以，经典的（classic）作品不一定 就是古典的（classical）作品。

Note: Classic fairy-tale romance is used to describe a romance blessed with unusual happiness. Colloquially, a fairy tale can also refer to any story extremely unlikely to be true.

4 Perhaps, they’re right but it didn’t seem so at the time. (Para. 1)

Meaning: My daughters’ perception may be right, yet our romance back then was actually not like what they have assumed.

5 In a way, love just happens when you least expect it. Who would have thought that Butch and I would end up getting married to each other? He became my boyfriend because of my shallow agenda: I wanted a cute boyfriend! (Para. 1) Meaning: Love comes your way when you don’t really expect it. No one thought that

Butch and I would finally get married. He became my boyfriend simply because I would like to fulfill my shallow wish: to have an attractive boyfriend in college.

Meaning beyond words: Here is the suspense of the story – the author gives a broad hint that she will tell us how she and her husband got married at last.

6 We met through my college roommate at the university cafeteria. That fateful night, I was merely curious, but for him I think it was love at first sight. (Para. 2) Meaning: At the school dining hall that important night, we were introduced to each other through my roommate. I met Butch just out of curiosity, but he seemed to fall in love with

me as soon as he saw me.

7 “You have beautiful eyes,” he said as he gazed at my face. (Para. 2)

Meaning beyond words: The author was obviously attractive to Butch since he tried to please her by praising her eyes.

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8 He kept staring at me all night long. (Para. 2)

Note: Both gaze at and stare at mean “looking at something fixedly for a long time

because of being attracted, surprised, or thinking, etc.”. Stare at usually has the additional meaning of “with eyes widely open”. Also, it usually implies “with great attention”; gaze at usually implies “in a dreamy and unaware state of mind”.

9 I really wasn’t that interested for two reasons. First, he looked like he was a really wild boy, maybe even dangerous. Second, although he was very cute, he seemed a little weird. (Para. 2)

Meaning beyond words: She wasn’t interested in him because she got the impression

that he was wild and strange, which illustrates that she didn’t know much about him at the beginning. Therefore, it’s not true that their romance was heading for marriage from the start.

10 Riding on his bicycle, he’d ride past my dorm as if “by accident” and pretend to be surprised to see me. I liked the attention but was cautious about his wild, dynamic personality. (Para. 3)

Meaning beyond words: She understood his little trick: trying to see her by

manufacturing excuses. Though she was happy to be the focus of his attention, she was also very alert to his wild and dynamic personality.

11 He had a charming way with words which would charm any girl. (Para. 3) Meaning: He knew how to please and attract girls because what he said was always pleasant to their ears.

12 Fear came over me when I started to fall in love. His exciting “bad boy image” was just too tempting to resist. What was it that attracted me?(Para. 3)

Meaning: I was in an awkward position: I started to fall in love with him, but I was also afraid of that. His bad boy image was too attractive to resist, but at the same time it was somewhat fearful. So, what exactly was it in him that attracted me?

Note: Tempting is a present participle of the verb tempt, used as an adjective to describe

the effect that something has on someone’s feelings. For example, if you find something tempting/charming/disgusting/frightening, it means it tempts/charms/disgusts/frightens you. In English there are a group of words describing an effect that something has on your feelings and ideas. For example:

a tempting job offer 一个诱人的工作机会

an alarming increase in racial hostility 种族仇视的惊人增长

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a welcoming smile 热情的微笑 a surprising number of 数量惊人的

13 I always had an excellent reputation. My concentration was solely on my studies to get superior grades. But for what? (Para. 3)

Meaning: I was an outstanding student who only concentrated on studies in order to get excellent grades. But so what? Shouldn’t a good student also have fun?

14 College is supposed to be a time of great learning and also some fun. I had nearly achieved a great education, and graduation was just one semester away. But I hadn’t had any fun; my life was stale with no component of fun! I needed a boyfriend. (Para. 3)

Meaning: College is definitely a nice place for education but should have some fun as well. Throughout my years at college, I had devoted all my time to study but hadn’t had any fun yet. Now that I was graduating, I wanted to have a boyfriend to enrich my college life.

15 Not just any boyfriend. He had to be cute. My goal that semester became: Be ambitious and grab the cutest boyfriend I can find. (Para. 3)

Meaning: The one I wanted to date was not just an ordinary boy; he had to be handsome, pleasant and attractive. My ambition for that semester, therefore, was to find the cutest boyfriend at college.

16 I worried what he’d think of me. (Para. 4)

Meaning beyond words: Her concern about how Butch would look at her shows that she was becoming more interested in him and cared about his real thinking.

17 True, we lived in a time when a dramatic shift in sexual attitudes was taking place, but I was a traditional girl who wasn’t ready for the new ways that seemed common on campus. (Para. 4)

Meaning: It is true that we lived in an era when sexual attitudes were changing dramatically, but since I was traditional, I wasn’t ready for the new sexual practice seemingly common on campus.

18 Butch looked superb! I was not immune to his personality, but I was scared. (Para. 4)

Meaning: Butch looked extremely wonderful. I was surely influenced by his personality, but I felt scared.

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