【英语趣味课堂】去阿根廷旅行-Trip to Argentina

Todd: Hey, Jessica, what are your plans for the summer?

 

Jessica: This summer! I think I'm going to go on a trip with my brother to Argentina. Uh, we are still making the plans to go but I think we're going to go for two weeks. And we're probably going to go from Chicago, because that's where he lives, to Buenos Aires and then go north to the city of Cordoba, which is the second largest city in Argentina, so, and then from there I'd really like to go and see some gauchos¹, which are Argentine cowboys², so I think that that would be really cool, and have some barbeque and see everything that we can, so..

 

Todd: Cool! Are you going to work your way down to the southern tip?

 

Jessica: I don't think we're going to just because I have a buddy³ of mine that lives in the north, in Cordoba, and I think it's so far from the north to the south, just cause it's such a long country that he said by bus it would take something like some ungodly amount of hours and so, I don't know, in two weeks, I think that would be a little bit ambitious⁴, to try to cover it all so.

 

Todd: OK, do you know anybody in Argentina?

 

Jessica: Yeah, yeah, my one friend who lives there. I definitely⁵ want to go there and visit him. Oh, so your friend already lives there.

 

学习内容：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

work your way down

 

Are you going to work your way down to the southern tip?

 

Used like this 'work your way down' refers to traveling slowly in a southern direction, stopping to see things along the way. Notice the following:

 

How long do you have to work your way down to Chile?

We are going to work our way down to the southern part of the country and then drive along the coast.

buddy

 

I have a buddy of mine that lives in the north.

 

'Buddy' is an informal⁶ way of saying friend.  This is used more commonly to refer to men. Notice the following:

 

Have you met my buddy John?

He went camping with some buddies⁷ this weekend.

ungodly

 

He said it would take some ungodly number of hours by bus.

 

An 'ungodly' number of hours is a lot. Too many hours for the average person to handle.  It is similar in meaning to outrageous⁸ or intolerable. Notice the following:

 

My professor give us an ungodly amount of homework.

During the summer he works⁹ an ungodly number of hours in the hot sun.

ambitious

 

I think it would be a little bit ambitious to do that.

 

If you have an 'ambitious' goal it is diffult to achieve without a lot of hard work. Notice the following:

 

I think finishing this project in two weeks is a little too ambitious.

He has very ambitious goals for the company.

cover it all

 

I'm not sure if we can cover it all in two weeks.

 

Used to refer to traveling 'cover all of it' means¹⁰ to travel through all of the different parts that you want to see. Notice the following:

 

He covered the whole city in a day on a bicycle.

We want to cover all the area we can in the month that we have to travel.

 

1 gauchos   

n.南美牧人( gaucho的名词复数 )

参考例句：

2 cowboys   

n.牧牛工( cowboy的名词复数 )；牛仔；冒失鬼；（尤指无能的）缺德的商人

参考例句：

• children playing a game of cowboys and Indians 玩美国西部牛仔与印第安人游戏的孩子们
• There are too many cowboys in the business these days. 近来商界中，瞎吵胡闹的家伙太多。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

4 ambitious   

adj.有雄心的，劲头十足的，有野心的

参考例句：

• One may be poor but never ceases to be ambitious.人穷志不穷。
• He is an ambitious young man full of enthusiasm and vitality.他是个充满热情与活力的有远大抱负的青年。

5 definitely   

adv.一定地，肯定地；明确地，确切地

参考例句：

• The team will definitely lose if he doesn't play.如果他不参加比赛，这个队肯定会输。
• I shall definitely be home before six o'clock.6点以前，我一定回家。

6 informal   

adj.非正式的，不拘礼的，通俗的

参考例句：

• I got an informal reception.我受到了非正式接待。
• The leaders met over informal lunches.领袖们在非正式午餐时进行会晤。

7 buddies   

n.密友( buddy的名词复数 )；同伴；弟兄；（用于称呼男子，常带怒气）家伙v.（如密友、战友、伙伴、弟兄般）交往( buddy的第三人称单数 )；做朋友；亲近（…）；伴护艾滋病人

参考例句：

• We became great buddies. 我们成了非常好的朋友。 来自辞典例句
• The two of them have become great buddies. 他们俩成了要好的朋友。 来自辞典例句

8 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

9 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

10 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。