现代大学英语精读1

现代大学英语精读1

Unit 1

1. They did not make me happy, however, as this was the day

I was to be thrown into school for the first time. (1)

Paraphrase:

But my new clothes did not bring any happiness to me,

because it was the day I was forced to go to school for the first

time.

2.“Why school?” I asked my father. “What have I

done?”(3)

Paraphrase:

Why do I have to go to school? I don’t think I’ve done

anything wrong to be punished like this.

3. I did not believe there was really any good to be had in

tearing me away from my home and throwing me into the huge,

high-walled building. (5)

Paraphrase:

I didn’t think it was useful to take me away from home and

put me into that building with high walls.

4. It was not all a matter of playing and fooling around. (15)

Paraphrase:

What we did at school wasn’t just playing and wasting time

doing nothing useful.

5. In addition, the time for changing one’s mind was over

and gone and there was no question of ever returning to the

paradise of home. (16)

Paraphrase:

Besides, it was impossible for us to quit school and return to

the good old days when we stayed home playing and fooling around all day. Our childhood was gone, never to come back.

Unit 2

1. If banks were required to sell wallets and money belts, they

might act less like churches. (para. 1)

Paraphrase:

Banks act like churches which usually control people’s life

and can interfere in people’s life. So, the author thinks it is

ridiculous for banks to act like churches.

2. It was lunchtime and the only officer on duty was a fortyish

black man with short, pressed hair, a pencil mustache, and a

neatly pressed brown suit. (para. 3)

Paraphrase:

uncurled hair, a thin mustache looking like a line drawn by a

pencil, and a neat and tidy brown suit

3. Everything about him suggested a carefully dressed

authority. (para. 3) Paraphrase:

Everything about him—his clothes, manner, etc. indicated

that he was a carefully dressed man who had an important

position and power.

4. I moved in for the kill. (para. 19)

Paraphrase:

I began to prepare to kill, destroy or defeat my enemy.

5. I zeroed in on the officer. (para. 20)

Paraphrase:

I’m going to have a strong argument to silence the bank

officer.

6. Look, … we’re just wasting each other’s time. (para. 29)

Paraphrase:

Look, let’s stop talkin g about this because it is a waste of

time./You are just talking nonsense. I don’t want to listen to you any more.

7.… has been shaking this boy down… (para. 30)

Paraphrase:

… has been getting money from the boy by using threats…

8. Anyway, the poli ce are on the case… (para. 30)

Paraphrase:

Anyway, the police are working on the case…

9. Not that I ever heard of. (para. 32)

Paraphrase:

I have never heard of such rules.

Unit 3

1. My husband moved into our house as is the way with us

in Esarn. (para. 1) Paraphrase:

When we got married, we followed the tradition in Esarn and

my husband came to live with my family.

2. He has ears which don’t hear, a mouth which doesn’t

speak, and eyes that don’t see. ( para. 2)

Paraphrase:

He does not notice what is happening around us and to our

children, nor does he express his thoughts and feelings. (The

woman is complaining that her husband does not bother about

their children’s troubles.)

3. … and it is no longer fertile, bleeding year after year and,

like u s, getting old and exhausted. (para. 3)

Paraphrase:

Our land is getting poorer with each passing year, like us who

are getting old, weak and tired.

4.… but in a bad year, it’s not only the ploughs that break

but our hearts, too. (para. 3)

Paraphrase: When there is a draught, the soil is so hard that it breaks the

ploughs and we feel so sad that our hearts break too.

5. Only ten years ago, you could barter for things, but now

it’s all cash. (para. 4)

Paraphrase:

Just ten years ago, we could exchange one thing for another,

but now we have to buy everything from the market.

6. Shops have sprung up, filled with colorful plastic things

and goods we have no use for. (para. 4)

Paraphrase:

Shops have suddenly appeared in the village selling

attractive plastic things and things we don’t need.

7. As for me, I wouldn’t change, couldn’t change even if I

wanted to. (para. 7)

Paraphrase:

I didn’t want to change myself and my life, and actually I

did not have the ability to change even if I wanted to.

8. Yes, this bag of bones dressed in rags can still plant and

reap rice from morning till dusk. (para. 7)

Paraphrase:

Though I’m poor, old and weak, I can still work in the rice

field all day.

9. I am at peace with the land and the condition of my life.

(para. 9) Paraphrase:

I am content with my land and accept my situation in life