English Intensive Reading 吉林大学远程教育学院
Introduction Text Language Points Grammar
				Lesson 8   Language Points  ( Page 6)
			… --- she enunciated clearly … Meaning: In order to pull her son back from his shock, his embarrassment, she pronounced each of her word as clearly possible to ensure that he understood her and knew what to do at that moment. ……她吐字清晰…… A wink and a one-liner instantly changed the dinner from a red-faced embarrassment to a conspiracy of fun. Meaning: When the boy dropped the turkey, which was the main course of this formal dinner, everyone was embarrassed, especially the boy who was in an agony of shame. The hostess helped her son out of the difficult situation by humorously suggesting something that everyone new could not be true, but which the guests were willing to go along with (to pretend about) in order to help the boy. By bringing the guests into the pretense, she turned an unfortunate situation into a funny one. 一个眼神，一句妙语立刻把这次晚宴中的尴尬处境变成了共谋的玩笑。 wink a hint or a signal given by winking one eye 眼神 a one-liner a one-sentence joke or witty remark 一句玩笑，妙语 … let me off the hook … Meaning: … get me out of trouble … The idiom comes from fishing. 让我摆脱困境，别让我为难。 The trick is to assign friendly motives to your opponent, to smile just a little --- but not too much. Meaning: The secret is that you can assume that those who opposed you might mean well. 这里的奥秘是使对方感受到你的友好动机，即向对方微微一笑 --- 但可不要笑得过分。 trick secret to success 取胜的奥秘 assign to assume, to consider 假定,认为 … was faced with … to force to meet or deal with; bring face to face with 使面临，把…摆在…的面前 1. When we faced her with all the evidence, she admitted the crime. 当我们把所有证据摆在她面前时，她认罪了。 2. He is facing with a difficult situation. 他正面临着一个艰难的局面. maintenance personnel 维修工人 If he backed away from the line, he would seriously diminish his office’s image; Meaning: His withdraw would be a sign of weakness and that the government he represented was not powerful. 如果退缩，就显得他本人以及他的政府软弱无能。 …if he crossed it, he might put the government smack into a hot labor issue. Meaning: … if he crossed it, he might cause the government involving in the controversial matter concerning the workers and the management. 如果他闯过去，又可能使政府一下子陷入到激烈的劳工争之中。