Out of the limelight

【課文】

An ancient bus stopped by a dry river bed and a party of famous actors and actresses got off. Dressed in dark glasses and old clothes, they had taken special precautions so that no one should recognize them. But as they soon discovered, disguises can sometimes be too perfect.

'This is a wonderful place for a picnic,' said Gloria Gleam.

'It couldn't be better, Gloria,' Brinksley Meers agreed. 'No newspaper men, no film fans! Why don't we come more often?'

Meanwhile, two other actors, Rockwall Slinger and Merlin Greeves, had carried two large food baskets to a shady spot under some trees. When they had all made themselves comfortable, a stranger appeared. He looked very angry. 'Now you get out of here, all of you!' he shouted. 'I'msheriff here. Do you see that notice? It says "No Camping" -- in case you can't read!'

'Look, sheriff,' said Rockwall, 'don't be too hard on us. I'm Rockwall Slinger and this is Merlin Greeves.'

'Oh, is it?' said the sheriff with a sneer. 'Well, I'm Brinksley Meers, and my other name is Gloria Gleam. Now you get out of here fast!'

【課文翻譯】

一輛古舊的汽車(chē)停在一條干涸的河床邊，一群著名男女演員下了車(chē)。他們戴著墨鏡，穿著舊衣裳，特別小心以防別人認(rèn)出他們。但他們很快就發(fā)覺(jué)，化裝的效果有時(shí)過(guò)分完美了。

“在這個(gè)地方野餐簡(jiǎn)直太妙了，”格格利亞.格利姆說(shuō)。

“是再好不過(guò)的了，格格利亞。”布林克斯利.米爾斯表示同意，“沒(méi)有記者，沒(méi)有影迷!我們?yōu)槭裁床唤?jīng)常來(lái)這里呢?”

“此時(shí)，另外兩位演員，羅克沃爾.斯林格和默林.格里夫斯，已經(jīng)把兩個(gè)大食品籃子提到了一片樹(shù)蔭下。當(dāng)他們都已安排舒適時(shí)，一個(gè)陌生人出現(xiàn)了。他看上去非常氣憤。“你們都從這里走開(kāi)，全都走開(kāi)!”他大叫著，“我是這里的司法長(zhǎng)官。你們看到那個(gè)布告牌了嗎?上面寫(xiě)著‘禁止野營(yíng)’--除非你們不識(shí)字!”

“好了，好了，司法官，”羅克沃爾說(shuō)，“別使我們難堪。我是羅克沃爾.斯林格，這位是默林.格里夫斯。”

“噢，是嗎?”那位司法長(zhǎng)官冷笑一聲說(shuō)道，“好，我就是布林克斯利.米爾斯。我還有一個(gè)名字叫格格利亞.格利姆�，F(xiàn)在你們趕快滾吧!”

【生詞匯總】

limelight n. 舞臺(tái)燈光

precaution n. 預(yù)防措施

fan n. 狂熱者，迷

shady adj. 遮蔭的

sheriff n. 司法長(zhǎng)官

notice n. 告示

sneer n. 冷笑

【知識(shí)點(diǎn)講解】

1. An ancient bus stopped by a dry river bed and a party of famous actors and actresses got off.

這個(gè)句子里stop表示�？俊⑼Ａ舻囊馑�，如：Are you stopping for supper? 你要留在這兒吃晚飯嗎?

a party of 一群，一組，后面接可數(shù)名詞

get off 下車(chē)，離開(kāi)，也可表示(使某人入睡);下班;不再討論某事(+sth.)get sth. off 郵寄某物

2. they had taken special precautions so that no one should recognize them.

① 這里的so that表目的，引導(dǎo)目的狀語(yǔ)從句，可與in order that 互換，從句常用may/might、can/could、should、would等詞，主句和從句之間連接緊密，沒(méi)有逗號(hào)。在這個(gè)句子里用的是should，表示目的或動(dòng)機(jī)。

② so that 還可以引導(dǎo)結(jié)果狀語(yǔ)從句，表示“因此、所以”，此時(shí)不能與in order that 互換，而從句中的謂語(yǔ)則使用相應(yīng)的時(shí)態(tài)，主從句之間也可以用逗號(hào)隔開(kāi)。例如：

She didn't feel well, so that she cancelled the trip.

因?yàn)樯眢w不太舒服，她取消了旅行。

3. disguises can sometimes be too perfect.

大家可能覺(jué)得這個(gè)句子順序有點(diǎn)兒怪怪的，似乎can和sometimes應(yīng)該換換位置。其實(shí)因?yàn)閟ometimes是時(shí)間副詞，在英語(yǔ)中，時(shí)間副詞的位置比較隨意，句首、句中、句尾都可以，具體根據(jù)句子意思而定。例如：

I watched a movie yesterday. / Yesterday I watched a movie.

昨天我看了場(chǎng)電影。

4. they had all made themselves comfortable.

① make oneself/one+adj. 這里的形容詞充當(dāng)賓語(yǔ)補(bǔ)足語(yǔ) 表示“使得某人……”

You should make yourself happy.

你應(yīng)該使自己快樂(lè)。

② 還有一種形式是make sb. /sth. done，歸納起來(lái)就是make+賓語(yǔ)sb. /sth. +賓語(yǔ)補(bǔ)足語(yǔ)。用過(guò)去分詞作賓語(yǔ)補(bǔ)足語(yǔ)，說(shuō)明這里賓語(yǔ)和賓補(bǔ)動(dòng)詞do之間是一種被動(dòng)關(guān)系。例如：

Parents' words always make me surrounded with warm.

爸媽的話總讓我感覺(jué)很溫暖。

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