【英语趣味课堂】他的公寓-His Apartment

Ginger¹: So, what about you? You're still in the same place right?

 

Nabeel: Yeah, I'm still there.

 

Ginger: Good. How's it going?

 

Nabeel: Oh, it's great. I'm actually quite satisfied with it now.

 

Ginger: Oh, good because I though you wanted to move at one point.

 

Nabeel: Yeah, I thought about it for awhile but then I decided² to stay there. There's a lot of good points there. It's a quite neighborhood. It's not too far from the train, so I can get to work easily. For awhile I thought it might be a little too expensive, just slightly above my budget, but I've gotten used to it, and my cats love it. They're really comfortable there, so I think I'm going to stay.

 

Ginger: Oh, great. I love your cats. Do they have a lot of room to roam around?

 

Nabeel: They have enough room. Of course, they're better off in the house. I was living there last year but they've adapted pretty well, so there's a roof there. I can take them up and roam around. There's plenty of places for them to hide.

 

Ginger: Now, what about your neighbors. Are you still living near Matt and Laura.

 

Nabeel: Matt and Laura.

 

Ginger: Right, right.

 

Nabeel: Actually, it's really funny. They'd been there for about four months, and last weekend they invited some people over, about five or six of their colleagues. They had a little party. They played poker³, had lots of booze around, but unfortunately, the neighbors complained to the landlord, and the landlords were just really angry.

 

Ginger: Oh, no.

 

Nabeel: And sent them this really harsh e-mail and said they wanted them out by the end of the week, so yeah, Matt and Laura have been kicked out of the building.

 

Ginger: You are kidding.

 

Nabeel: No.

 

Ginger: Wow, and just five people over.

 

Nabeel: Yeah, it was like five or six people and apparently⁴ it was loud enough. I think it is because the neighborhood is kind of family-oriented, so people are used to people having parties.

 

Ginger: Mm, right. Maybe the voices carry a lot.

 

Nabeel: Yeah, there's a lot of echo in the building actually for some reason.

 

Ginger: Well, that's too bad for them. Where did they move?

 

Nabeel: They just moved down the street to another apartment building. It's smaller so I don't think they're happy about it. Oh, well.

 

Ginger: Well, tell them I said 'Hey' when you see them.

 

Nabeel: I will.

 

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson

room to roam

 

 

Do they have room to roam around?

 

In this context, "room" means space and "roam" means to wander or walk casually⁵ and aimlessly.

 

When I go to a new city, I like to roam around for the first few days just to get the feel of the place.

The Louvre is a huge museum, there's room to roam around for days.

better off

 

 

They're better off in the house.

 

"Better off" means a superior situation or condition to the present.

 

It's going to rain tonight, the visitors will be better off in the house than outside in the tent.

Your health will be better off if you choose the fruit salad rather than the chocolate cake.

harsh e-mail

 

 

They sent them this harsh e-mail.

 

"Harsh" means hard or critical and "e-mail" is short for electronic mail, meaning it is a message sent via a 

computer.

 

The response to Janet's job application was a harsh email saying only "do not apply again".

Yesterday I got a virus in my computer from a message sent by a friend, so I sent a harsh email telling them to be more careful.

kicked out

 

 

They have been kicked out.

 

To be "kicked out" of somewhere means to be expelled or thrown out of a place.

 

Jack⁶ was so drunk on Saturday night he was kicked out of the pub for bad behavior.

When I was five I was kicked out of ballet class because I was too dreamy and kept bumping into the other girls.

voices carry

 

 

Maybe the voices carry a lot.

 

When "voices carry" it means they can be heard from a distance, the sound is carried further than expected.

 

The couple's voices carried across the lake and everyone heard Tom ask Melanie to marry him.

The concert hall has very good acoustics⁷ and the singer's voice carried clearly to the back of the room.

1 ginger   

n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气

参考例句：

• There is no ginger in the young man.这个年轻人没有精神。
• Ginger shall be hot in the mouth.生姜吃到嘴里总是辣的。

2 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。

3 poker   

n.扑克；vt.烙制

参考例句：

• He was cleared out in the poker game.他打扑克牌，把钱都输光了。
• I'm old enough to play poker and do something with it.我打扑克是老手了，可以玩些花样。

4 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

5 casually   

adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地

参考例句：

• She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
• I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。

6 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

7 acoustics   

n.声学，(复)音响效果，音响装置

参考例句：

• The acoustics of the new concert hall are excellent.这座新音乐厅的音响效果极好。
• The auditorium has comfortable seating and modern acoustics.礼堂里有舒适的座椅和现代化的音响设备。