【英语趣味课堂】讲述童年-Talking About Childhood

Todd: Lois, actually how old are you Lois?

 

Lois: I'm 25.

 

Todd: OK, 25, so, do you have any early childhood memories? What's the earliest thing you can remember from Childhood?

 

Lois: Uh, my memories from my choldhood aren't very good. I can't remeber that much, but I do remember one thing. I must have only been about 3 or 4, I'm not sure, and I was on holiday with my family, and my grandparents and I had an ice cream and I wanted to climb to the top of this hill, and my parentes were like," No, No, No. Wait until you finish your ice cream, and then you can go" and I was like, "Nope, I'm going to go now" so I climbed to the top of the hill. It was only a small hill, I was only little and then I dediced it would be great to run down the hill really fast, which I did, and I ran to the bottom of the hill, fell over, ice cream all over me, and I don't think I got another ice cream after that.

 

Todd: Oh that's funny, and other memories from childhood.

 

Lois: I think I also remember pushing my brothers around in my brother's pram¹ and him falling out and banging³ his head and there being lots of blood. I think I might have got is a lot of trouble for that one.

 

Todd: Oh! So you have a younger brother?

 

Lois: I have a younger brother and I have an older brother.

 

Todd: Oh, OK

 

Lois: So I'm the middle child, which is not always good because when we used to go on holiday my brothers would always fight in the car, so I always had to sit in the middle of them so if they were fighting I could stop the fighting, so I didn't like being the middle child.

 

Todd: Well, I sure you served a good purpose for your parents.

 

Lois: Well, I hope so, but still my brothers are now 27 and 23 and they still fight now, so I didn't actually manage to stop that.

 

学习内容：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

bottom of the hill

 

I thought it would be fun to run down to the bottom of the hill.

 

The 'bottom of the hill' is where the hill meets the flat ground.  To run to the bottom of the hill means⁴ to run down the hill until you arrive at flat ground. Notice the following:

 

It is hard to walk all the way up here from the bottom of the hill.

I was almost to the bottom of the hill when my ski⁵ fell off.

fell over or all over

 

I fell over and had ice cream all over me.

 

If you 'fall over' it means that you fall to the ground from a position where you were sitting or standing⁶. To get something 'all over' you means to be covered in it, like on your clothes and skin and in your hair. Notice the following:

 

My chair fell over because it was broken.

I have sand all over me from being at the beach all day.

bang² the head

 

I remember pushing my brother, and he fell and banged⁷ his head.

 

When you 'bang your head' you hit it against something hard. Notice the following:

 

She banged her head pretty hard in the car accident.

He fell down on the ice and banged his head.

middle child

 

I don't like being the middle child.

 

When you have a sibling⁸ that is older and one that is younger we say that you are the 'middle child.' Notice the following:

 

He is a typical middle child.

My brother is a middle child and enjoys the fact that nobody pays a lot of attention to him.

serve a good purpose

 

I'm sure you served a good purpose for your parents.

 

If you 'serve a good purpose' you have a practical⁹ use or are able to help in some way. Notice the following:

 

She always keeps things she thinks could serve a good purpose.

This bicycle served a good purpose for me all through university.

 

1 pram   

n.婴儿车，童车

参考例句：

• She sat the baby up in the pram. 她把孩子放在婴儿车里坐着。
• She ran in chase of the pram. 她跑着追那婴儿车。

2 bang   

n.巨响，猛击；vi.砰砰作响；vt.砰地敲，猛击

参考例句：

• Pack it up, you kids;or I'll bang your heads together!住手，你们这些小孩，再弄就揍你们！
• She fell and got a nasty bang on the knee.她摔倒了，膝盖猛撞在地上。

3 banging   

vt.猛击，猛撞（bang的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• The baby was banging the table with his spoon. 小宝宝用调羹敲打着桌子。
• Stop banging around, children, Father is trying to sleep. 孩子们，别到处乱敲！爸爸想睡觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 ski   

n.滑雪橇，滑雪板；vi.滑雪

参考例句：

• The ski is wooden.这滑雪板是木制的。
• Do you have the skill to ski such a difficult slope?你有沿着这样一个陡坡滑雪的本事吗？

6 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

7 banged   

vt.猛击，猛撞（bang的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Two days after the accident she still looked pretty banged up. 事故过去两天后她看上去伤势仍然很重。
• I've banged into the doorpost and hurt my arm. 我撞着了门柱，把臂伤了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 sibling   

n.同胞手足(指兄、弟、姐或妹)

参考例句：

• Many of us hate living in the shadows of a more successful sibling.我们很多人都讨厌活在更为成功的手足的阴影下。
• Sibling ravalry has been common in this family.这个家里，兄弟姊妹之间的矛盾很平常。

9 practical   

adj.实际的，实践的；实用的，应用的；有实际经验的

参考例句：

• He is a practical person.他是位很讲实际的人。
• Your invention is clever,but not practical.你的发明很巧，但不实用。