听播客学英语 96 拆散

 　　There is an English phrasal verb “to break up”. It means to break into pieces. Here are some examples of ways in which we can use it.

　　Imagine a storm at sea. The wind and the waves drive a ship onto the rocks. The waves smash¹ the ship into pieces. The ship breaks up.

　　Or, think about the great ice sheets in the Arctic² and the Antarctic³. Many scientists say that, because the world’s climate is getting warmer, the ice sheets are starting to break up.

　　Or, think about a really old car. You have had it for many years. You and it have had some fine adventures together. But now the engine does not start. And when, eventually, it does start, there are horrible clunking sounds and a cloud of black smoke comes out of the exhaust⁴ pipe. The car is finished. You take the car to the scrap⁵ yard where they break it up, so that the metal and some of the parts can be re-used.

　　And sometimes we say that a relationship breaks up. For instance⁶, Joe and Mary have been going out together for a few months. They are boyfriend and girlfriend. But then they disagree and argue. Joe starts to think that he really doesn’t like Mary very much. Mary starts to think that Joe is selfish and boring. They break up. They decide that they are not going to be boyfriend and girlfriend any more.

　　You may be thinking that “break up” is a rather sad expression. We use it to talk about shipwrecks⁷, and cars that have reached the end of their lives, and relationships which come to an end. But there is at least one really happy use of “break up”. We can say that a school breaks up. That means, simply, that it is the end of term. It is the beginning of the holidays.

　　There is a primary school behind my house. The school breaks up today. Today is the last day of the school term. The children are very happy. They are making even more noise in the school playground than they usually do. After today, there will be six weeks with no school. Six weeks to stay late in bed. Six weeks to play in the garden. Six weeks to watch rubbish programmes on daytime television and to play on the computer. Six weeks to visit your grandparents, or to go on holiday. Six weeks to argue with your older sister. Six weeks to drive your parents mad.

　　Listen to English is going on holiday too. This will be my last podcast for this term. But don’t worry – I will be back with a new podcast on 10 September. I am going to spend part of the holiday in Wales, so here is some Welsh music for you to listen to. It is played on the Welsh harp⁸ by Cheryl Ann Fulton. I will put an extra posting on the website with a flash player where you can listen to more of her music if you like it. Until September, goodbye.

1 smash   

v.粉碎，打碎；n.轰动的演出，巨大的成功

参考例句：

• We heard the smash of plates breaking in the kitchen.我们听到厨房里盘子破碎的声音。
• The gifted author wrote one smash after another.这个天才作家创作了一篇又一篇轰动一时的作品。

2 Arctic   

adj.北极的；n.北极

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• The sort of animal lived in the Arctic Circle.这种动物生活在北极圈里。

3 Antarctic   

adj.南极(区)的；n.(the A-)南极洲，南极圈

参考例句：

• The Antarctic is a mountainous area.南极洲是一个多山的地区。
• It is well known that penguins live in the Antarctic.企鹅生活在南极洲是众所周知的。

4 exhaust   

vt.使衰竭，使筋疲力尽；用尽，耗尽，用完

参考例句：

• The climb will exhaust the boys.爬山会使那些男孩们疲惫不堪的。
• It will exhaust the nation's oil reserves.它会耗尽国家的石油储备。

5 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

6 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！

7 shipwrecks   

海难，船只失事( shipwreck的名词复数 )； 沉船

参考例句：

• Shipwrecks are apropos of nothing. 船只失事总是来得出人意料。
• There are many shipwrecks in these waters. 在这些海域多海难事件。

8 harp   

n.竖琴；天琴座

参考例句：

• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
• He played an Irish melody on the harp.他用竖琴演奏了一首爱尔兰曲调。