听播客学英语 92 丢失和寻找

 　　Alexandre Monteiro has sent me an e-mail asking about the difference between the words “seek”, “find” and “look”. I hope that this podcast will help him, and other people.

　　I guess you know the English verb¹ “to lose”. The past tense is “lost”. If you lose your pen, you do not know where you left it or where you put it. The pen is lost.

　　When you lose something, probably you want to find it again. So you look for it, or you search for it, or you hunt for it. We also have a verb “to seek” which has a similar meaning to “search”. But we generally use “seek” when we are talking about abstract² things. We can say, for example, “I am seeking happiness”. But we probably would not say “I am seeking my car keys”.

　　And that brings us to our story today, which is about Joanne, and she has lost her car keys.

　　Joanne is looking after her nephew Nick, who is two and a half years old. They have a happy afternoon together in the park. Then they come home and draw some pictures. Then Nick helps Joanne to make some biscuits. Nick eats most of the biscuits, until Joanne says, “No more, Nick. Your Mum will be cross if you eat too many biscuits and then can’t eat your tea.” Then Nick watches a video, and then it is time for him to go home. Joanne helps Nick to put on his shoes and coat. She looks in her handbag for her car keys.

　　The keys are not there. They are not in the pockets of her jacket, either. “Where can I have put them?” she says. She looks for the keys in the kitchen. Perhaps she left them on the kitchen table when they were making biscuits. But the keys are not there.

　　She searches for the keys in the sitting room. Perhaps they have fallen down the back of the sofa. But the keys are not there.

　　She hunts for the keys in the bedroom. Perhaps she put them down on the dressing-table. But the keys are not there.

　　She searches high and low, but the keys are nowhere to be found.

　　“Have you seen my car keys, Nick?” says Joanne.

　　“Down the toilet”, says Nick.

　　“What?” says Joanne. “Nick, did you put the keys down the toilet?”

　　“Don’t know”, says Nick, helpfully. “Can I have another biscuit?”

　　Joanne rushes to the bathroom and looks into the toilet. No keys.

　　By this time, Joanne is getting desperate³. She told her sister that Nick would be home at 5.30. It is now 5.45. The door opens. Kevin comes in. He is in a good mood. He has been to a football match, where his team won 2-0. And he is carrying Joanne’s car keys.

　　“Where did you find them?” asks Joanne.

　　“You left them in the car ignition“, says Kevin. “You are lucky that no-one drove⁴ your car away. Oh, I smell biscuits. Can I have one?”

1 verb   

n.[语]动词

参考例句：

• The sentence is formed from a verb and two nouns.这句子由一个动词和两个名词构成。
• These are the finite forms of a verb.这些是一个动词的限定形式。

2 abstract   

adj.抽象的；n.摘要，梗概；vt.提取；摘录要点

参考例句：

• He is an abstract painter.他是一个抽象派画家。
• He made an abstract of a long article.他对一篇长文章做了摘要。

3 desperate   

adj.不顾死活的，危急的，令人绝望的，极渴望的

参考例句：

• They made a desperate attempt to save the company.他们为挽救公司作孤注一掷的努力。
• The city is suffering a desperate shortage of water.这个城市严重缺水。

4 drove   

vbl.驾驶，drive的过去式；n.畜群

参考例句：

• He drove at a speed of sixty miles per hour.他以每小时60英里的速度开车。
• They drove foreign goods out of the market.他们把外国货驱逐出市场。