英语博客：Build those muscles.

　　The other day, when I stopped to get some free firewood, I realized that I'm not as strong as I would like to be. The owner of the tree that was chopped down, had left huge chunks¹ of wood to be taken away. But, when I say that they were huge, I mean really huge. I'm a fairly muscular female, but some of those pieces were far too heavy for me; I was glad that my brother was with me. He is huge, and very muscular, and not intimidated² at all by heavy stuff. "Okay," I said, "we can lift some of these together." So we did. Now, I don't know why, but when I lift very heavy things, I get the giggles³, especially if I'm with someone else. So, I only managed a few pieces with my brother, but then I started to get silly, so he had to finish loading up the car himself. "It's very handy having a big, strong guy around," I said to him. He seemed to enjoy the work, and tried to fit as many huge chunks as possible inside the car. I wish I was that strong! "I bet you can't hold that piece above your head," I said to him. Oh, it was an easy challenge. He immediately lifted the thing up, right over his head, and posed for a good photo. "Gosh, I hope he doesn't drop that thing on his head," I thought to myself. Of course, he didn't. He just swiftly put it in the car. He told me later that, back in Christchurch, he had to dismantle⁴ three tons of bricks from his house. They had formed the chimney sections, but the earthquakes had separated them from the rest of the house. "I had to take them down, one by one, and stack them in the garden." His muscles have certainly been working a lot. And you know what that means. His bones must be good and dense⁵, full of calcium⁶. They say that the best way to avoid osteoporosis is to lift weights. I don't think that that is a condition my brother will have to worry about. When we got back to the house, again, he did most of the work, lifting the chunks out of the car, and I simply cleaned up.
Grammar notes.
Related vocabulary: muscular, to get the giggles, a challenge, dismantle.
1. After a year of lifting weights, he became very muscular.
2. She seems to get the giggles at the most inappropriate times.
3. Sudoku is a good game to play to challenge your mind.
4. The wall needs to be dismantled⁷ because it is unsafe.

1 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

2 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 giggles   

n.咯咯的笑( giggle的名词复数 )；傻笑；玩笑；the giggles 止不住的格格笑v.咯咯地笑( giggle的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Her nervous giggles annoyed me. 她神经质的傻笑把我惹火了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I had to rush to the loo to avoid an attack of hysterical giggles. 我不得不冲向卫生间，以免遭到别人的疯狂嘲笑。 来自辞典例句

4 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

5 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

6 calcium   

n.钙(化学符号Ca)

参考例句：

• We need calcium to make bones.我们需要钙来壮骨。
• Calcium is found most abundantly in milk.奶含钙最丰富。

7 dismantled   

拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消

参考例句：

• The plant was dismantled of all its equipment and furniture. 这家工厂的设备和家具全被拆除了。
• The Japanese empire was quickly dismantled. 日本帝国很快被打垮了。