有声英文阅读-英文万花筒

Fun with English

Hotshot Eddie's Adventure with Idioms
Eddie's Lucky Day  埃迪走运了？

Hotshot Eddie was on his way to school. As usual, he was taking his time and thinking about his future life as an international superstar.  And as usual, he was not paying attention to where he was going.

Walking through the school gates, Eddie bumped into "Gorgeous" Georgia Green, the prettiest girl on campus. In an instant, he was on cloud nine. "It's my lucky day!" he thought.
"I've been dying to talk to her for weeks."

Gorgeous Georgia did not look pleased, but Eddie was not a guy to pass up a good opportunity. He was also not a guy to beat around the bush. "Hey, Gorgeous," he said, helping² her pick up her books that he had accidentally knocked to the ground. "Want to have lunch with me today?"

"No, thanks," replied Georgia. "Since you seem to be as clumsy as an ox, I'm afraid you might stab me with a fork or something."  With that, she stood up and walked away quickly. 

Story
The Bundle of Sticks   团结力量大

A farmer had several sons who always argued with each other. The farmer tried many times to get the boys to cooperate, but they would not. One day the farmer decided³ to teach them a lesson. He put a bundle of sticks in front of the brothers. "I want each of you to try and break this." One by one, the brothers tried to break the bundle, and each failed. Then, the father untied⁴ the bundle and gave them the sticks to break one by one.  The brothers broke them easily. "Learn from this example," he father said. "Together you are as strong as the bundle. Divided, you are as weak as the sticks." 

-based on a story from "Aesop's Fables"
MORAL: In unity¹ there is strength.

Landmark⁵ Laughter Corner
In the Eye of the Tiger  虎视眈眈

One day, while on vacation, a man was captured by a crazy robber. The robber put the man in a net and hung him from a tree with a rope. The rope went over a branch and was tied to a stake in the ground. The robber put a burning candle under the rope near the stake. When the candle burned through the rope, the man would fall from the tree. It just so happened that a tiger showed up and waited under the tree. The man was very scared and thought about what to do. 

Q: What do you think the man did to save himself from being eaten? 
A: He sang the "Happy Birthday" song to the tiger, and the tiger blew
out the candle. 

英文万花筒

埃迪走运了？

吹牛大埃迪正在去学校的路上。和平常一样，他慢悠悠地走着，想着未来身为国际巨星的日子。也和平常一样，他没留意自己在往哪儿走。走过学校门口时，埃迪碰到了全校最美的女孩—"漂亮女孩"乔治娅·格林。霎那间埃迪简直飞上了云霄。"今天我可真走运！"他想，"几个星期来我一直很想跟她聊一聊。"

漂亮女孩乔治娅看起来有点不高兴，但埃迪不会是个坐失良机的人。他也不是说话拐弯抹角的人。"嘿，漂亮女孩，"他边说边帮她捡起被他不小心碰掉在地上的书，"今天想和我一起吃午饭吗？""不，谢了，"乔治娅答道，"你看起来笨手笨脚的像头牛，我怕你可能拿叉子或别的什么会戳到我。"说完她站起来迅速地离开了。

团结力量大

有个农夫有几个儿子，他们彼此总是争论不休。农夫试了好多次让孩子们合作，但他们总是不愿意。一天农夫决定教训儿子们一顿。他在儿子面前放了一捆筷子。"我要你们每个人都试着去折断这捆筷子"。这几兄弟一个接一个地去折这捆筷子，但都失败了。接着父亲解开那捆筷子，让他们一支一支地去折断。兄弟们很容易就把筷子全折断了。"要从这个例子中吸取教训，"父亲说，"如果你们团结一致，就会像这捆筷子一样坚固。分开了，你们就像一根根筷子一样脆弱"。
─根据《伊索寓言》故事改编
寓意：团结力量大。

虎视眈眈

一天，一个人在度假时被一名疯狂的强盗抓了起来。那强盗用网把他罩住，然后用绳子把他吊在树上。绳子绕过树枝绑在地面的木桩上。强盗在木桩附近的绳子下面放了根点燃的蜡烛。当蜡烛烧断绳子时，这个人就会从树上掉下来。这时一只老虎正好出现了，虎视眈眈地在树下等着。这个人吓坏了，想着怎样才能逃生。
问题：你认为这个人用了什么方法才能虎 口脱险？
答案：他对着老虎唱"生日快乐歌"，唱完老虎就把蜡烛吹灭了。

1 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 untied   

松开，解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 )； 解除，使自由； 解决

参考例句：

• Once untied, we common people are able to conquer nature, too. 只要团结起来，我们老百姓也能移山倒海。
• He untied the ropes. 他解开了绳子。

5 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。