《新概念英语》第二册第40课 Food and talk 进餐与交谈
【课文】
First listen and then answer the question.
听录音，然后回答以下问题。
Was Mrs. Rumbold a good companion at dinner?

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!"

【课文翻译】
在上星期的一次宴会上，女主人安排我坐在兰伯尔德夫人的身旁。兰伯尔德夫人是一位身材高大、表情严肃的女人，穿一件紧身的黑衣服。当我在她身旁坐下来的时候，她甚至连头都没有抬一下。她的眼睛盯着自己的盘子，不一会儿就忙着吃起来了。我试图找个话题和她聊聊。
“一出新剧要来‘环球剧场’上演了，”我说，“您去看吗？”
“不，”她回答。
“您今年去国外度假吗？”我又问。
“不，”她回答。
“您就呆在英国吗？”我问。
“不，”她回答。
失望之中我问她饭是否吃得满意。
“年轻人，”她回答说，“如果你多吃点，少说点，我们两个都会吃得好的！”

【生词和短语】
hostess n. 女主人
unsmiling adj. 不笑的，严肃的
tight adj. 紧身的
fix v. 凝视
globe n. 地球
despair n. 绝望

【知识点讲解】
1 Last week at a dinner party, the hostess asked me to sit next to Mrs. Rumbold.
在上星期的一次宴会上，女主人安排我坐在兰伯尔德夫人的身旁。

seat, sit辨析
这两个动词均含“坐”之意。
seat: 及物动词，常与反身代词连用，seat一定要加宾语,如果后面没宾语,后面就用seat的被动形式。
seat yourself 、be seated
sit: 多用作不及物动词，是主动,没有被动语态,后面不能加宾语。用作及物动词时，可与seat换用。

sit down

The farm sits on the side of the hill.
农场位于山坡上。

He seated himself at a writing table.
他在写字台前坐下。

2 She did not even look up when I took my seat beside her.
当我在她身旁坐下来的时候，她甚至连头都没有抬一下。

look up 查阅, 好转, 仰视, 看望
You can look up this word in the vocabulary.
你可以在词汇表里查这个词。

When looking up suddenly , Henry saw a rainbow in the sky .
亨利突然举目仰视时,发现天空有一道彩虹。

Do look me up next time you are in town.
下次进城请一定来看我。

3 Her eyes were fixed on her plate and in a short time, she was busy eating.
她的眼睛盯着自己的盘子，不一会儿就忙着吃起来了。

fix做动词时表示“使 ... 固定, 修理, 确定, 准备”，做名词时，表示“困境, (船只、飞机等的)定方位”
常见短语有：

fix up 安排, 解决, 修理    

She's got herself fixed up with a cosy flat. 她弄到了一套舒适的公寓。

fix on 固定, 确定, 决定...              

fix with vt. 固定

We've fixed the date for the wedding.
我们已决定了结婚的日子。


4 I tried to make conversation.
我试图找个话题和她聊聊。

（1）词义辨析
conversation, dialogue, talk, chat
这些名词均含“交谈”之意。
conversation: 一般用词，指两个或更多人互相交换意见的交谈。
dialogue: 指“对话”。
talk: 普通用词，可与conversation换用，指正式交谈。
chat: 指熟人之间非常随便的交谈，强调谈话的亲密和非正式性。

The professor invited his students to his home for conversation.
教授邀请学生们到自己家里会晤。
They dialogue for three hours failed to come to an agreement.
他们谈了三个小时，没有达成一致。

（2）常见短语
conversation piece 话题, 可作话题的东西
have a conversation with sb. 和 ... 交谈

5 'Will you be spending your holidays abroad this year?' I asked.
“您就呆在英国吗？”我问。

用将来时进行提问，尤其是提出问题但又不想迫使对方作出明确答复时，将来进行时可以显得比一般将来时will更委婉客气。
Will you be coming to the party tomorrow?
你明天会来参加我们的聚会吗？

【上期作业回顾】
翻译以下三个句子。
1 警方将调查他的死因。
→The police will inquire into the cause of his death.
2 他不好意思请求帮助。
→He felt too ashamed to ask for help.
3 我们必须想到火车会晚点的。
→We must allow for the train being late.

【课后作业】
翻译以下三个句子。
1 他坐在桌子旁边工作
2 我给你弄点饮料好吗？
3 我和老师交谈了很久。