【英语时差8,16】麦克和亚曼达正在聊猫

Mike: I'm dead tired. My sister's cat kept me up almost all night! My sister's just gone to college so now the cat's taken to me, but I hate cats.

Amanda: I love cats, and they're usually so quiet. What does the cat do?

Mike: Well, it purrs really loud so I can't go to sleep. Then when I finally do go to sleep, it gets up and chases its tail or anything else it can find and runs into walls. Then, as if that's not disturbing my sleep enough, it demands to be fed at 5:30 in the morning.

Amanda: You've got to be kidding! I can barely¹ hear my cat purring, and anyway, it's a very pleasant, relaxing sound. Maybe the running around could be a bit noisy, but what do you mean it demands to be fed?

Mike: It pounced² on my face! Then, when I wouldn't get up, it scratched me, so I shoved³ it off the bed. Then it hissed⁴ at me, and then it started howling like it was starving to death.

Amanda: I'm sure it was offended with you for pushing it. Cats are very sensitive.

Mike: I wish it would be offended enough to leave me alone. I'm sick of it.

1 barely   

adv.仅仅，几乎没有，几乎不

参考例句：

• The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
• He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。

2 pounced   

v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击）

参考例句：

• As soon as I opened my mouth, the teacher pounced on me. 我一张嘴就被老师抓住呵斥了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The police pounced upon the thief. 警察向小偷扑了过去。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 shoved   

推，猛推，乱推( shove的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱放； 随便放； 胡乱丢

参考例句：

• The people shoved to get on the bus. 人们你推我挤争着上公共汽车。
• He shoved me roughly aside. 他粗暴地把我推到了一边。

4 hissed   

发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对

参考例句：

• Have you ever been hissed at in the middle of a speech? 你在演讲中有没有被嘘过？
• The iron hissed as it pressed the wet cloth. 熨斗压在湿布上时发出了嘶嘶声。