【英语早间课堂】A Labour of Love

 【主题】

Today I would like to talk to you about something that is a hard task that you do want to , not because it's necessary. What's it ? Let's listen to a simple situational dialogue and find it . A : I can’t understand why Tom accept his present job. It pays low and occupy much of his free time. B : It’s just a labor¹ of love. A : He is really great.

【答疑解惑】

It is “a labor of love”. In this phrase , "labour" means "a task or period of work" used as a noun. It's often used as plural². For example: He was so exhausted³ from today's work that he went straight to bed. 他工作一天精疲力尽了，便直接上床睡觉了。“Love” means "the strong feeling of enjoyment⁴ that something gives you". For example: I am in love with my house. 我喜欢我的房子。Now it's easy to catch this idiom. A labour of love 是出于爱好而去做的困难的事情，用我们中文里更具有文学性的语言来说就是“心甘情愿做的事情”。It indicates that a person is very willing to do something because he can take a delight in it. 这个习语就指出了一件事情不需要那个人去做，但是能从中得到乐趣，因此他愿意去做。在此强调一点就是这件事而且还是难做的事儿，没有报酬的事情。In addition, a labour of love是一个名词性短语，of love 是介词短语修饰前面的名词labour, 照常理来说，被修饰的词前面理应用定冠词，可是这里是不定冠词。但是这个是不能改的，这是人们生活中约定俗成的说法。 So in oral English, many of idioms cannot be judged if it's right or wrong according to grammar rules. Because it's from people's daily labour and life. It's fine we just cram⁵ it up. 我们死记住它就行了。

【畅聊话题】

Talking of a labour of love, a saying goes that all things are easy that are done willingly. 说道a labour of love , 我就想到一句话：心甘情愿，做事不难。Yeah, if we are in love with something, we would complete some creative jobs of our present imaginations that cannot be put into reality in the future. We could tale our potential to the end so that we might have a bright future. So it's suggested that we should take whatever we do for a labour of love , I 'm convinced that we could be successful in it. 是的，如果我们是怀着一种爱好，兴趣去做一件事情，我们在将来做出我们目前想象中不能把它付诸于现实的事情来，我们可以把我们的潜能发挥到极致，我们将拥有充满阳光的未来，我相信我们一定会成功的。Come on, guys. Let's make our efforts in common. 【视野拓展】

All right, let's look at some more example sentences with "a labour of love" so as to absorb it. Enthusiasm has rendered this biographical task a labour of love. 有了热情，撰写这份传记也就成了自己愿意做的事儿了。I take the children , whose mother is sick , into my family for a labour of love. 这些孩子的母亲生病了，我把他们带回到我家照顾，这是乐意这么做。Of course , we have many way to express "乐于做某事' ， such as : have felicity in something , take felicity to do something , put one's felicity to do something. 这些都是表示在某事中享受到极大的乐趣而非常愿意去做那件事儿。

【温故知新】

Please translat the following sentences into English with the phrase "a labour of love".

1 我不在乎每星期天为教堂插花,我乐意干,不要报酬。 2 这是一次很不专业的尝试,但它出于自愿,而且花了好几个月的功夫。 3 你要是为那件工作而付给她钱,她会生气的。那是她乐意去做的,并不是为了报酬。

4 建一个铁路模型对这位退休的工程师来说是一种乐趣。

习题答案1 I don't mind arranging the flowers for the church every Sunday as it's a labour of love.

2 It was a very amateurish⁶ effort but it was a labour of love and took many months.

3 She would be hurt if you tried to pay her for that work; she intended it as a labour of love.

4 Building the model railroad was a labour of love for the retired⁷ engineer.

 

转自可可英语

 

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 plural   

n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的

参考例句：

• Most plural nouns in English end in's '.英语的复数名词多以s结尾。
• Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。

3 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

4 enjoyment   

n.乐趣；享有；享用

参考例句：

• Your company adds to the enjoyment of our visit. 有您的陪同，我们这次访问更加愉快了。
• After each joke the old man cackled his enjoyment.每逢讲完一个笑话，这老人就呵呵笑着表示他的高兴。

5 cram   

v.填塞，塞满，临时抱佛脚，为考试而学习

参考例句：

• There was such a cram in the church.教堂里拥挤得要命。
• The room's full,we can't cram any more people in.屋里满满的，再也挤不进去人了。

6 amateurish   

n.业余爱好的，不熟练的

参考例句：

• The concert was rather an amateurish affair.这场音乐会颇有些外行客串的味道。
• The paintings looked amateurish.这些画作看起来只具备业余水准。

7 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。