Wednesday 67-79页

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最终晚上还是下雪了。Greg准备去帮人铲雪赚钱啦。

Today I realized there’s just too much history between me and the people in my neighborhood. 

他找了一圈，觉得自己和自己的邻居们有太多尴尬的往事，都不太合适，于是去了另一条街道。 

Greg遇见的第一个人是Mrs Melcher。

must’ve been in there for an hour before I was finally able to steer the conversation back to the subject of me shoveling her driveway.

Greg出于礼貌，在人家坐了将近一个小时，最后才决定把话题转到铲雪这件事。

这里面用了个有意思的小词，steer the conversation

我们常见的steer的搭配有 steer the car/boat/plane, 就是驾驶汽车、轮船、飞机的意思。

我们还会说steer someone，指的是把某人引向某个防线。

那这里的steer the conversation是什么意思呢？对了，就是说把话题转移到某个方向的意思。

结果，对于这份工，Mrs Melcher是怎么回应的呢？ 

But Mrs Melcher said her son was coming by in his pickup truck any minute and he ploughs her driveway for free.

所以她有儿子免费给自己铲雪了，Greg的尝试失败。

接下来Greg终于找到一个人可以帮他有偿铲雪了。

I got to work and was making pretty good progress. But it started snowing again while I was shoveling. By the time I’d finished, it had snowed so much that you could barely tell I’d done any work.

这里面有个短语make a good progress, 就是进展不错的意思。

我们可以来尝试造一个句子看看。

你在下个月希望在哪方面有所进展呢？ 

比如，Allie想说, I hope all of my students can make a good progress in the new term! 

回到原文，Greg铲雪遇到的一个大困难是，铲完雪又下雪了。结果雇主不承认。他还给大家一条血的教训：

See, this is why it’s a good idea to have a contract before you start working for someone.

打工前要签合同啊！保护自己的权益啊！ 

这里面，have/sign a contract 是签合同的意思。

好了，那么Greg是如何解决自己的这个困难呢？ 

Attempt 1

尝试1

I got back out there and started shoveling, but so much snow was falling that I was getting nowhere.

继续回去铲雪，但是雪多到going nowhere就是说一点进展都没有。

失败告终。。。

Attempt 2

尝试2

So I walked over to her place and pushed the mower back to the driveway I was working on.

常住中国的公寓楼的小朋友们可能不熟悉mower是什么东西，这是割草机，里面有刀片，割草机走过路过会把草割下来到两侧。书中的一些人物住在带有花园的房子，这样的家庭一般都会有，用来修剪草坪。当然，如果你住在像大头儿子家一样的别墅，上句话当我没说。。。

所以，用割草机来铲雪？好像略机智？看看结果呢？

Unfortunately, it didn’t go as smoothly as I hoped it would. I thought the snow would shoot out of the side, but the blade cut right through it and the snow stayed where it was.

Smooth常见意思为： 

A smooth surface has no roughness, lumps, or holes. 

就是光滑平滑的意思。

如果说某个动作很smooth：

A smooth line or movement has no sudden breaks or changes in direction or speed. 

就是很顺，没有突然的变换方向或增减速度的意思。

例如：

This exercise is done in one smooth motion.

这里面Greg讲这件事go smoothly就是很顺利的意思。

比如，Allie老师又来祝福你们啦：Hope the next term goes smoothly. 希望新学期顺顺利利！

你们希望什么顺顺利利呢？ 

对于Greg来说，铲雪这件事就没有想象中的顺利啦。

他以为the snow would shoot out of the side, 就是雪会被冲击到边上，the side。但是实际上，the blade （刀片）cut right through it。

Through这个介词带有穿过的意思，这里面就是说刀片从雪中间徒然地穿过，the snow stayed where it was，积雪还是原地不动，留在Greg在风中凌乱。。。

失败告终。。。

Attempt 3

尝试3

I could see that his garden hose（花园软管） was attached to the house, so I turned it on, put the nozzle（喷嘴）to the ‘shower’ setting and sprayed down the snow in the driveway.

我知道，你们看到那些园艺词汇又被吓到了，Allie已经把中文给你们了。不过这里有几个词你们还是需要掌握的。

Attach to 

If you attach something to an object, you join it or fasten it to the object.

就是连接起来或者贴上的意思，比如下面这个句子，我们在把东西归档前贴上标签。

You can say: We attach labels to things before we file them away. 

回到原文，the garden hose was attached to the house, 那说明了什么呢？水管和房子连着，水管的房子那头连着水龙头哦，打开会有水出来哦。于是Greg turned it on，打开了，水管开始向车道喷水。Spray是喷洒的意思。是个比较常用的词汇。

所以，用水喷来铲雪？好像略机智？看看结果呢？

It was GREAT. The water melted the snow on contact, and I was cruising. Then I saw a sprinkler （洒水器） leaning up against the house, and I got an even BETTER idea.

我们来看下melt这个词：

When a solid substance melts or when you melt it, it changes to a liquid, usually because it has been heated.

融化的意思，我们可以讲something melts/melted，某物融化

或者我们可以说A melts/melted B  A让B融化

我们来练习一下：

雪融化了。

The snow had melted. 

水使雪融化了。 

The water melted the snow. 

回到原文，Greg发现,the water melted the snow on contact, on contact就是一接触的意思。Nani？？好像有用？等等，你确定吗？这不是来搞笑的吗？

果真,

By the time I’d walked back down Prentice Lane, the driveway I’d hit with the sprinkler was frozen over.

be frozen, 冻住了。果真，这条被洒水器喷了的车道冻住了。

失败告终。。。

最后谁来帮Greg收了这个烂摊子呢？

When Dad got home, we had to go out and buy five big bags of rock salt to melt the guy’s driveway. So now, instead of having money in my pocket for all my hard work, I’m twenty bucks in the hole.

是的，爸爸花了20刀买了5袋子粗盐拿去化冰了。

看来，Greg最后不仅没有赚到钱还反倒赔了20刀。所以说，嗯，知识很重要啊，哈哈哈。

好了，到最后，你们还能回忆起来Greg对于铲雪时下大雪的3个attempt和其结果都是什么吗？试着用一个导图画出来吧。

答案如下

最后我们来总结一下本次课的几个核心表达，一起来复习一下吧 你们还记得他们是什么意思吗？ 

Be supposed to do/be something  

Fundraiser

Steer the conversation 

Have a contract 

Go smoothly

Attach to 

Melt 

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