听播客学英语 287 噩梦

 　　Someone who manages a museum is called a curator. Imagine that you are a curator. What problems could you possibly have? What nightmares¹ about your work could wake you in the night? Surely, museum curators have jobs with little stress or worry.

　　Perhaps the curator of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge thought this as he went to work one day last week. On his way into the office, perhaps he passed a group of three beautiful and valuable Chinese vases. For years the museum had displayed the vases on a windowsill on a staircase². But they are not there now. For, later that morning a visitor came into the museum. One of his shoelaces was undone³. He tripped on the shoelace. He fell down the stairs and crashed into the three vases on the windowsill. He smashed⁵ – not one, not two – but all three of the vases into smithereens.

　　Other visitors took photographs of the accident on their mobile phones. The next day many of the newspapers carried pictures of the man lying on the floor, surrounded by pieces of the broken vases. Fortunately he was not badly hurt. The museum say that they hope to repair the vases. I wish them luck.

　　Note: “to smash⁴ something into smithereens” means to smash it into hundreds of tiny pieces.

1 nightmares   

n.噩梦( nightmare的名词复数 )；可怕的事情，无法摆脱的恐惧

参考例句：

• He still has nightmares about the accident. 他仍然做噩梦梦见这场事故。
• Art thou not afraid of nightmares and hideous dreams?\" 你难道不怕睡魇和凶梦吗？” 来自英汉文学 - 红字

2 staircase   

n.楼梯，楼梯间

参考例句：

• Footsteps on the staircase interrupted his train of thought.楼梯上传来脚步声，打断了他的思路。
• I crossed the staircase landing,and entered the room she indicated.我经过一个楼梯平台，走进她说的那个房间。

3 undone   

a.未做完的，未完成的

参考例句：

• He left nothing undone that needed attention.所有需要注意的事他都注意到了。

4 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。

5 smashed   

adj.喝醉酒的v.打碎，捣烂( smash的过去式和过去分词 )；捣毁；重击；撞毁（车辆）

参考例句：

• Several windows had been smashed. 几扇窗户劈里啪啦打碎了。
• In time-honoured tradition, a bottle of champagne was smashed on the ship. 依照由来已久的传统，对着船摔了一瓶香槟。 来自《简明英汉词典》