【英语趣味课堂】我爷爷的故事-My Grandfather's Story

One of my favorite things to do when I was a little girl was to stay with my granddad, so I'd go to stay with him on the holidays, and he would often tell me stories, or sing songs for me, so I learned¹ a lot from him, but one of my favorite things, like I said was to listen to his stories and around Halloween sometimes, or if we asked him at other times when it was getting dark or a bit scary² we'd ask him to tell us a ghost story, so one of, yeah, one of the first ghost stories I remember was him telling us about a time when he was quite young, I think he was in his early twenties maybe, and he was already married but he went back to his parents house one night to just, to meet his family and friends, have a game of cards maybe with friends who were gathered there, so it got pretty late because they had been playing cards for a long time having some fun so he didn't want to leave and then eventually, he and his friends decided³, OK, we'd better leave and better go back home, so the two of them were walking together towards their house but in between his parents house and his new home they had to pass a graveyard⁴, so these two guys, young men, I suppose, they weren't very happy with the idea of going past a graveyard very late at night, because you know, they're lots of stories about ghosts and spirits hanging around at that time of night, so they were approaching the graveyard and they were a bit scared and they were wondering whether they should turn back or keep going. Be strong and brave about it. So they were approaching the graveyard and suddenly my granddad saw what he thought was a priest⁷ sitting on the wall. So he say a man dressed in black, with a white collar⁸, and he was so frightened, I mean, I can't imagine what he must have said at the time, but he and his friend were really, really scared, and they were talking between themselves, "Oh, my God! What should we do? What should we do?" but they were so frightened they couldn't move. So eventually, my granddad decided, OK, I'm just going to run for it. I'm going to make a run for it. So all of a sudden⁶, he decided and he just ran straight past the graveyard, and then suddenly, this big dog came jumping down from the wall of the graveyard, and my granddad was so scared, he was like screaming, and everything, but as it turned out it was just a sheep dog that he'd seen so in the dark of night, in those days of no road lights and street lights or anything what he'd actually seen with his friend was a black sheep dog with a white collar, so not a ghost after all. 

学习内容：

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

tell stories

 

My granddad would tell me stories.

 

To 'tell someone a story' is to verbally⁹ describe something that happened.  Sometimes these stories are true or sometimes they are invented.  Notice the following:

 

Tell me a story about when you were a child.

He used to tell the most ridiculous¹⁰ stories about what he did with his brothers when he was young.

graveyard

 

They had to pass a graveyard.

 

'Graveyard' is another word for 'cemetery¹¹.'  It is a place where people bury their dead.  Notice the following:

 

How often do you visit the graveyard?

Graveyards¹² scare⁵ me.

couldn't move

 

They were so frightened they couldn't move.

 

If you 'can't move' you stay in one position, in this case because you are so afraid that you are frozen¹³.  Notice the following:

 

The subway was so full of people that I couldn't move.

After the car accident, she felt like she couldn't move from the car.

make a run for it

 

I'm going to make a run for it.

 

To 'make a run for it' is to try to escape from something quickly.  Notice the following:

 

When my mom looks the other direction, I am going to make a run for it.

After pulling the girl's hair, the boys made a run for it.

collar

 

A black sheep dog with a white collar.

 

A 'collar' is like a necklace for a dog.  It goes around the dog's neck so you can tie the animal up or take it for walk.  Collars also usually have the phone number of the owner.  Notice the following:

 

I bought my cat a new collar yesterday.

 

Does your dog have a collar?

1 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

2 scary   

a.引起惊慌的；害怕的

参考例句：

• What animal do you think is the most scary?你认为什么动物最可怕？
• Are you afraid of scary movies?你害怕恐怖电影吗？

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 graveyard   

n.坟场

参考例句：

• All the town was drifting toward the graveyard.全镇的人都象流水似地向那坟场涌过去。
• Living next to a graveyard would give me the creeps.居住在墓地旁边会使我毛骨悚然。

5 scare   

vt.恐吓；vi.受惊吓

参考例句：

• I like reading scare stories.我喜欢读恐怖故事。
• The sound of the explosion gave me quite a scare.爆炸声把我吓了一跳。

6 sudden   

n.突然，忽然；adj.突然的，意外的，快速的

参考例句：

• All of a sudden he turned about and saw me.他突然转过身来看见了我。
• The horse was badly frightened by the sudden noise.那匹马被突然而来的嘈杂声吓坏了。

7 priest   

n.神父，牧师，司铎，司祭，领导者，神甫；vt.使成为神职人员

参考例句：

• He confessed to a priest that he had sinned.他向神父忏悔他犯了罪。
• The priest visited all the old people in the parish.牧师探望了教区里的所有老人。

8 collar   

n.衣领，项圈；vt.抓住，为...戴上项圈

参考例句：

• The collar was cut away according to the fashion.领子是根据流行的款式剪成的。
• He turned up the collar of his coat.他把大衣领子翻起来。

9 verbally   

ad.用文字地；口头上

参考例句：

• The company had received complaints both verbally and in writing. 这家公司收到了口头和书面的投诉。
• He verbally laced into his son for his misbehaviour. 他严厉斥责儿子的行为不端。

10 ridiculous   

adj.荒谬的，可笑的；荒唐的

参考例句：

• It is simply ridiculous to attempt such a thing.试图干这种事，简直可笑。
• It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life.这是我有生以来听到的最为荒唐可笑的事。

11 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

12 graveyards   

墓地( graveyard的名词复数 )； 垃圾场； 废物堆积处； 收容所

参考例句：

• He takes a macabre interest in graveyards. 他那么留意墓地，令人毛骨悚然。
• "And northward there lie, in five graveyards, Calm forever under dewy green grass," 五陵北原上，万古青蒙蒙。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学

13 frozen   

adj.冻结的，冰冻的

参考例句：

• He was frozen to death on a snowing night.在一个风雪的晚上，他被冻死了。
• The weather is cold and the ground is frozen.天寒地冻。