unit 2 重点词汇语法

Unit 2 Myths and Legends

●Text Structure:

1.Introduction (Para. 1)

Ekwefi, the favorite and most skillful storyteller, told folk stories.

2.Why the tortoise’s shell is not smooth (Para. 2-21)

A.All the birds were invited to a feast in the sky. (Para. 2)

B. Tortoise planned how he would go to the sky with all the birds. (Para. 3)

C. Tortoise made all the birds agree that he was a changed man, and they all gave him a

feather, with which he made two splendidly colorful wings. (Para. 4-8)

D. Tortoise’s selfish words and deeds at the feast in the sky. (Para. 9-16)

E.The birds’ revenge and Tortoise’s result. (Para. 17-21)

●Sentence Study:

1.His body rattled like a dry stick in his empty shell. (Line 13)

他的身体就像一段枯柴棍在空荡荡的躯壳里咔咔作响。

本句采用了明喻的修辞手法，非常形象地说明了乌龟饥饿的程度。like是介词，表

示“像……一样”，是这个比喻句的比喻词，his body 是本体，a dry stick是喻体。

明喻（simile）就是两个不同类对象之间的相似点进行比喻。明喻中常用like做比

喻词，此外还有as, as if, as though, as … as, similar to等等。

●Her happiness vanished like the morning dew. 她的幸福像晨露一样消失了。

●Beauty is as summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt and cannot last. 美者犹如夏

日蔬果，易腐难存。

●It rained as if the flood-gates of Heaven were opened, and it lighted awfully.雨

倾盆而下，犹如天上的水闸打开了，而且电光闪闪，极其可怕。

2.Slowly but surely he began to plan how he would go to the sky. (Line 14)

于是他稳扎稳打地开始计划如何能到天上去。

slowly but surely: carefully in order to avoid problems 稳扎稳打地

surely: in a sure way 稳当地，踏实地，有把握

副词连用作方式状语，使句意鲜明、思想突出。此处说明乌龟富于心计。这类短语

常位于句首，也可放在句末。

●Slowly but surely the great ship glided into the water. 那艘巨轮缓慢而平稳地下

水了。

●My hometown is slowly but surely changing. 我的家乡正缓慢却实实在在地发

生着变化。

●The power of heaven moves slowly, at the same time surely. 天网恢恢，疏而不

漏。

3.They chose to fly home on an empty stomach. (Line 67)

他们宁可空着肚子飞回去。

choose to do something

表示“选定，决定做某事”, 后面接不定式。

●They choose to ignore her warning. 他们决定不理她的警告。

●Few women, offered the chance of such a career, would choose to stay at home. 如

果有事业机会, 几乎没有妇女会愿意呆在家里。

●I chose to continue with my career as a music teacher. 我决定继续我音乐教师的

生涯。

4.And there he stood in his hard shell full of food and wine but without any wings

to fly home. (Line 69)

乌龟站在那儿，身上只剩了一个硬壳，里面满是佳肴美酒，却没了可飞回家的翅膀。

全句的主要结构是he stood there, there一词置前倒装。full of food and wine 和

without any wings to fly home 两个短语作方式状语，说明乌龟现在酒足饭饱，但是

却没有翅膀回家的窘迫状况。

●Words & Phrases:

1.feast (Line 6, Para. 2)

n. 1) a large meal, especially one for a special occasion 盛宴

2) a day kept in memory of a religious event（宗教的）节日

v. [+ on] eat and drink a lot on a special occasion 尽情地吃喝，饱餐

●圣诞节是基督教的一个重要节日。Christmas is _an important feast for

Christians.

●为了向来访的总统表示敬意，厨师长准备了盛宴。The chef _prepared a feast in

honor of the president’s visit.

●他饱览了落日美景。He _ feasted his eyes on the beautiful sight of sunset.

2.escape one’s notice (Line 10, Para. 3) avoid being noticed by someone 逃过某人的注

意

●我逃过保安的注意,进了档案室. I escaped the notice of the guard and went into

the filing room.

●类似词组:

escape one's memory 被某人遗忘

escape death 脱离死亡

escape danger 脱险

3.cunning (Line 11, Para. 3) crafty; tricky; deceitful; sly; foxy 狡猾的

●as cunning as a fox 象狐狸一样狡猾

● a cunning little pet 机灵的小宠物

●Rats are really cunning. 老鼠真贼。

4.At the (very) thought (Line 12, Para. 3) 一想到某事

●一想到蛇她就惊恐万状。She shuddered at the very thought of a snake.

●She flamed with rage at the very thought of such injustice. 一想到这种不公平之

事她便大怒。

5.ungrateful (adj.) (Line 19, Para. 6) not expressing thanks for something that

someone has given to you or done for you 忘恩负义的；不领情的

●那个忘恩负义的孩子将我的礼物扔到地板上。The ungrateful child threw my gift

on the floor.

●我不想让人觉得我不领情，但我真的不需要任何帮助。I don’t mean to sound

ungrateful, but I really don’t need any help.

6.mischief (n.) (Line 20, Para. 6) playful misbehavior or trouble-making, especially in

children 顽皮；捣蛋；恶作剧

mischievous (adj.) 调皮的；恶作剧的

●告诉孩子们别胡闹。Tell the children to keep out of mischief.

●他需要一个爱好来使自己忙起来并且停止搞恶作剧。He needs a hobby to keep

him busy and stop him from getting into mischief.