听播客学英语 35 穿衣打扮

 　　I think I told you in an earlier podcast that my daughter, who is 16 years old, attends a secondary¹ school for girls. She has now completed Year 11, and has finished her GCSE exams. In September she will start at a sixth form college. Most of the other girls in her year at school are in the same position. Naturally, they all want to celebrate the end of their time at secondary school.

　　So, one day last week was “Dress to Impress Day”. All the girls dressed up in party dresses, high heels² and too much make-up. First they went to school for a leaving ceremony and to say goodbye to their teachers. Then they left in cars, taxis or (in some cases) pink stretch limos, to go to parties or restaurants. I am sure that they all had a good time, and that many of them found it difficult to get out of bed the next morning.

　　“Dress to Impress Day” has given me the idea for this podcast – the word “impress” – what does it mean and how do we use it? If you want to impress somebody, it means³ that you want that person to think good things about you. When you sit an exam, you want to impress the examiners. You want them to think that you are a good student with an excellent understanding. If you go for a job interview, you want to impress the people who are interviewing you. You want them to think that you are exactly the right person for the job. And if you go on a date, you want to impress the boy or girl you are with.

　　Kevin has a friend called James. For years, Kevin and his friends have been trying to find James a girlfriend. The trouble is that James is not very good at impressing girls. He has recently been on a date with Sarah. This is what happened. He arrived late. He had been watching football on the television, and the match went to extra time. He forgot to have a shower or to change his clothes. He talked to Sarah all evening about his hobby – computer games. And, when they went to a restaurant, he ordered spaghetti⁴. That was a big mistake. No-one looks good when they are eating spaghetti.

　　James tells Kevin about his date with Sarah. Kevin sighs. “So, she wasn’t impressed, then,” he says. “Well, she must have been a bit impressed,” says James. “She is coming with me to the computer games exhibition on Saturday. She is a great fan of Manic Street Racer 2. And she likes spaghetti.” Kevin is amazed⁵. Women can be very strange sometimes.

　　So James, surprisingly, has impressed Sarah. She has never before met a man who shares her passion⁶ for Manic Street Racer 2 and spaghetti. She thinks good things about James, even though he was late and forgot to have a shower. James has made a good impression on her. If the date had been a disaster, we could say that James had made a bad impression on Sarah.

　　You will sometimes hear the expression “to have the impression that …” For instance⁷, you might say “I have the impression that James is keen⁸ on football”. Why do I have this impression? Why do I think this? Because James stayed to watch the football on TV instead of meeting Sarah.

　　Or I could say, “I have the impression that Sarah likes men who play computer games and eat spaghetti”. This means, simply, that “I think that Sarah likes men of this sort. I am not completely⁹ sure. There are a lot of things about Sarah that I do not know. But, from what I have seen so far, I think that she likes men like James.”

　　There is an adjective¹⁰ impressive¹¹ as well. If something is impressive, it is big, or beautiful, or clever – it impresses you. For example, the Eiffel Tower in Paris is very impressive – it is over 300 meters high. The Tate Gallery in London has a very impressive collection of 20th century art. And Sarah’s top score in Manic Street Racer 2 is 436,117, and that really is impressive!

1 secondary   

adj.中级的，中等的，次要的；n.次要位置，副手

参考例句：

• It's a question of secondary importance.这是个次要的问题。
• Secondary school means junior school and high school.中学是指初中和高中。

2 heels   

n.高跟鞋；紧随某人；跟捬；飞奔逃跑；（袜子等的）后跟( heel的名词复数 )；足跟；有…后跟的；女高跟鞋

参考例句：

• Her heels clacked on the marble floor. 她的鞋后跟在大理石地面上发出咔嗒咔嗒的响声。
• The dogs yapped at his heels. 几只狗跟在他后面汪汪乱叫。

3 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。

4 spaghetti   

n.意大利式细面务

参考例句：

• I think you like spaghetti.我以为你喜欢意大利面条。
• People served a spaghetti supper in the parish house.人们在教堂交谊厅吃意大利面晚餐。

5 amazed   

adj.吃惊的，惊奇的v.使大为吃惊，使惊奇( amaze的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Just the size of the place amazed her. 仅仅地方之大就使她十分惊奇。
• I was amazed at her knowledge of French literature. 她的法国文学知识之丰富使我大为惊奇。

6 passion   

n.热爱，强烈的感情，热情，耶稣的受难

参考例句：

• He had a passion for music.他酷爱音乐。
• In his passion,he tore the letter into pieces.在盛怒之下，他把那封信撕得粉碎。

7 instance   

n.例，例证，实例

参考例句：

• Can you quote me a recent instance?你能给我举一个最近的例子吗？
• He's a greedy boy,yesterday,for instance,he ate all our biscuits!他是个贪吃的孩子――比如，他昨天把我们的饼干都吃了！

8 keen   

adj.热心的；敏锐的；激烈的；锋利的

参考例句：

• There is keen competition between the two motorcar firms.两家汽车公司之间存在着激烈的竞争。
• The children are mad keen to go to the zoo.孩子们非常想去动物园。

9 completely   

adv.完全地，十分地，全然

参考例句：

• She never completely gave up hope.她从不完全放弃希望。
• I feel completely in the dark on this question.这件事使我感到茫然。

10 adjective   

n.形容词；adj.形容词的，用作形容词的

参考例句：

• Don't apply that adjective to me.不要用那个字眼来形容我。
• The adjective loose has several senses. 形容词loose有几个义项。

11 impressive   

adj.给人深刻印象的，感人的

参考例句：

• This cinema is so impressive that we can't help crying.这影片如此感人以至我们禁不住流下泪来。
• The suit made him look especially impressive.他穿上这套衣服真精神。