Antique
shops exert a peculiar fascination on a great many people. The more expensive
kind of antique shop where rare objects are beautifully displayed in glass
cases to keep them free from dust is usually a forbidding place. But no one has
to (1)muster up courage to enter a
less pretentious antique shop. There is always hope that in its labyrinth of
musty, dark, disordered rooms a real rarity will be found amongst the piles of
assorted junk that litter the floors.
No
one discovers a rarity by chance. A truly dedicated bargain hunter must have
patience, and above all, the ability to recognize the worth of something when
he sees it. To do this, he must be at least as knowledgeable as the (2)dealer. Like a scientist (3)bent on making a discovery, he must cherish the hope that one day he will be
amply rewarded.
?
After reading the last two paragraphs, you know what “bargain hunter”
is?
Yes, that is “a person pursuing the cheap antiques just like a hunter”! We
can use the word “hunter” in different ways, for example, as we know, when we
buy cosmetics we are usually given some samples for free. But there are some
people often asking for the free samples instead of buying the regular size
cosmetics. Of course they’re not welcomed by shop assistants, who call them “sample
hunters”.
In
Britain, there is a TV show called “bargain hunt”. Two teams of two people are
each given ￡200 which they have to spend on an object at an antique fair
(=event at which people show and sell antiques). The objects are sold one week
later at an auction. The team whose object makes the most profit is the winner.
That seems an interesting TV show!
?
解析：
（1）muster up=summon up 鼓起，振作
Finally I mustered up courage to ask her
out. （我終于鼓起勇氣約她出來。）
“It’s going to be fine." replied
David, with as much confidence as he could muster. 戴維斯充滿自信地說“會好起來的”。
（2）dealer：不是指“普通的賣東西的人(shop assistants)”，而是“someone who sells a particular
product, especially an expensive one”（經(jīng)銷商）
例：
car dealer：賣車的；antique dealer：賣古董的；art dealer：賣藝術(shù)品的
a dealer in modern art 賣現(xiàn)代藝術(shù)品的
（3）bent on sth, bent on doing sth 決意要做某事
They seemed bent on destroying his career. 他們好像誓要毀了他前途。
?
??????????
My old friend, Frank Halliday, is just such a
person. He has often described to me how he picked up a masterpiece for a mere ￡50.
One Saturday morning, Frank visited an antique shop in my (1)neighborhood. As he had never been
there before, he found a great deal to interest him. The morning passed rapidly
and Frank was about to leave when he noticed a large packing case lying on the
floor. The dealer told him that it had just come in, but that he (2)could not be bothered to open it. Frank
begged him to do so and the dealer reluctantly prised it open. The contents
were disappointing. Apart from an interesting-looking carved dagger, the box
was full of crockery, much of it broken. Frank gently lifted the crockery out
of the box and suddenly noticed a miniature painting at the bottom of the
packing case. As its composition and line reminded him of an Italian painting
he knew well, he decided to buy it. Glancing at it briefly, the dealer told him
that it was worth ￡50. Frank could hardly conceal his excitement, for he knew
that he had made a real discovery. The tiny painting proved to be an unknown masterpiece
by Correggio and was worth thousands of pounds.
?
解析：
（1） neighborhood：n. an area of a town or city 街區(qū)
講有關(guān)的兩個詞組：“in
my neighborhood”和“in a neighborhood”以及"in the neighborhood"，樣子差不多，意思卻不同。
例：
She grew up in a quiet neighborhood of
Boston. （她在波士頓一個安靜的街區(qū)長大。）
The hotel is situated in a peaceful
residential neighborhood. （這個酒店坐落在一個安靜的居民區(qū)里。）
Is there a good Chinese restaurant in the
neighborhood？ （附近有沒有好的中餐館？）
文中出現(xiàn)的"in
my neighborhood"是“在我住的地方附近的街區(qū)”，"in a neighborhood"是泛指某一街區(qū)，"in the neighborhood"則是指說話者當(dāng)下所處在的位置的附近。
注意：英式英語的書面語傾向于用“in my neighborhood”，口語傾向于用“where I live”。
如：there aren’t
many bookshops around where I live.
（2）sb can’t/ couldn’t be bothered to do sth：（英式英語）used to say that you don’t want to make the effort to do sth, or
that you are not interested in doing sth. （懶得去做某事，不愿去做某事）
例：
It was so hot and I couldn’t be bothered to
cook. （天太熱了，我懶得做飯。）
I should be revising, but I just can’t be bothered. （我應(yīng)該復(fù)習(xí)，但我就是不想。）
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