新目标大学英语unit 04 Text

1、swimming in socks,1 when the swim season began, my 11-year-old daughter, elizabeth, and i cut a deal. she would go to practice three times a week and try really hard and have a lot of fun, and i wouldnt make her compete in the swim meets.,swimming in socks joe posnanski,2 elizabeth does not like swi

2、m meets. she gets horribly nervous but not because she wants to win. she doesnt want to win. she doesnt expect to win. she doesnt care if she wins.,swimming in socks,3 nerves stem from the possibility that she will do something horribly wrong and let everyone down. on the day of a meet, she would be

3、 scared all day. she would be scared as the meet began and scared throughout the meet. 4 afterward, when her mother and i asked, “did you have a good time?” she would say, no, she did not.,swimming in socks,5 elizabeth started to talk about quitting swimming, which broke my heart because she loves s

4、wimming. so i came up with the deal, and she readily agreed.,swimming in socks,6 recently, elizabeths team announced a special swim night: members 11 and older would swim a timed 50 meters in all four strokes and then have pizza. it wasnt exactly a meet, because it would involve only team members. t

5、hat was my view. elizabeth countered that it absolutely was a meet because there would be races and timers and so on. we needed a good contract lawyer. none was available. i told elizabeth i really wanted her to go. she fought back furiously but finally agreed.,swimming in socks,7 when the day of th

6、e special swim night arrived, elizabeth was nervous. when we got to the pool, she became even more nervous. she was probably the youngest person there and shorter by at least a foot than most of the other kids. she panicked. she spent all her time by my side, shivering.,swimming in socks,8 her first

7、 race was the 50-meter freestyle. for the first time in competition, she used a swim turn. that was really cool to watch, and she flipped very well. but she missed the wall. she had to go back and touch the wall, so that hurt her time.,swimming in socks,9 she swam her backstroke and breaststroke wit

8、hout incident. it wasnt fun for her; i could see that. the older kids didnt really notice her. she didnt have any chance to win a medal. you always hear in sports that the butterflies go away after a while, but elizabeths butterflies just kept flapping.,swimming in socks,10 then it was time for the

9、t-shirt relay, which works like this: one person from each relay team puts on a t-shirt, a pair of socks, and a swim cap; swims 50 meters; and gets out of the pool. she takes off the clothes and puts them on the next person, who then swims 50 meters. this continues until everyone on the team has com

10、pleted a lap.,swimming in socks,11 for some unknown reason, elizabeths relay team chose her to swim the anchor leg. they worked out a cirque du soleil move to get the t-shirt off one swimmer and onto the next one. it didnt always work, but it was always entertaining. by the last leg, elizabeths team

11、 had built up a moderate lead. then it was elizabeths turn to swim.,swimming in socks,12 it was rather extraordinary to watch the team try to dress her in socks and a t-shirt. by that point, all tactics were out the window; everyone was pulling and yanking to get her inside the shirt and to get thos

12、e socks on. and then she was off. she seemed to swim faster in the t-shirt and socks than she did when she wasnt wearing them.,swimming in socks,13 approaching the halfway mark, she was still in the lead. then somebody noticed that one of elizabeths socks had fallen off and was floating in the pool.

13、 “she has to get that sock on before the end of the race,” a swimming official (or maybe it was just some guy) told elizabeths team, “or you will be disqualified.”,swimming in socks,14 everybody on her team started screaming, “elizabeth! elizabeth! stop! get the sock!” but she couldnt hear them. one

14、 of her teammates jumped in the water, grabbed the sock, and threw it at elizabeth. she still didnt notice. she was in the zone. she made the turn and started her last 25 meters.,swimming in socks,15 “elizabeth!” they yelled, even louder. she still didnt hear them. (as her father, i could relate.) m

15、eanwhile, a girl in lane two was gaining on elizabeth. it was time for desperate measures. a girl on my daughters team jumped in the pool, grabbed the sock, and swam after elizabeth. she grabbed elizabeths,swimming in socks,foot. “you have to put the sock on,” the girl screamed. elizabeth treaded wa

16、ter while her teammate put on the sock.,16 by now, the girl in lane two was about to pass elizabeth. with the sock finally on, elizabeth swam her heart out for the last 15 meters. it was close. but elizabeth beat the other girl to the wall for the victory.,swimming in socks,17 there was much celebra

17、tion and joy. hugs. high fives. cheers. and, for a few minutes, elizabeth was the hero. it was completely unexpected and completely ridiculous and completely pointless. but she was the hero.,swimming in socks,18 on the ride home, she relived her moment of glory again and again. she talked about how

18、scared she was when someone grabbed her foot and how funny it was when she was sloshing to the finish and how great the night was. she told me that if the t-shirt relay was an olympic event and she is quite sure it should be her,swimming in socks,team would win the gold medal. i told her that in my

19、professional opinion, she was absolutely right.,1. when the swim season began, my 11-year-old daughter, elizabeth, and i cut a deal. (para. 1),cut a deal: to make an agreement with sb. in which both sides have an advantage,e.g. we thought wed take long time to buy the car, but we quickly cut a deal

20、with the salesman.,swimming in socks,translation,当游泳赛季开始后，我11岁的女儿伊丽莎白和我达成一个约定。,collocations:,deal in: to buy or sell things,e.g. the police said she was dealing in stolen goods.,deal with: to take action to do sth.,e.g. i spent the morning dealing with my emails.,swimming in socks,2. . and i wouldnt

21、 make her compete in the swim meets. (para. 1),compete in: to take part in a contest or game,microsoft spokesman said the company will compete in whatever markets it is in, including china.,translation,而我不会逼迫她去参加游泳比赛。,swimming in socks,3. nerves stem from the possibility that she will do something h

22、orribly wrong and let everyone down. (para. 3),paraphrase,elizabeth feels very nervous because she fears that she cannot do the things in the way people expect of her, thus making them feel disappointed.,swimming in socks,3. nerves stem from the possibility that she will do something horribly wrong

23、and let everyone down. (para. 3),analysis,the word nerves is the subject of the sentence, which shows the deep anxiety of elizabeth. we can see from this sentence that elizabeth is not confident in herself, and that is why she felt so nervous before the competition.,translation,她紧张是担心她会犯大错，让大家失望。,sw

24、imming in socks,4. stem from (para. 3): to be the result of sth.,e.g. the team believes the issue stemmed from being overworked, and hopes a few days off will allow him a chance to recover.,her interest in flowers stems from her childhood in the country.,她对花卉的兴趣源自于她在乡下度过的童年时代。,swimming in socks,5. l

25、et down (para. 3): to fail to meet the hopes or expectations of sb.,e.g. people feel so betrayed by the products that theyve bought and they feel let down.,james does not want to let down his hometown fans.,swimming in socks,6. quit (para. 5): v. to leave sth., especially without finishing it comple

26、tely,hong said he first thought about quitting after his teams loss to algeria.,you are going to make mistakes, but you cannot quit. whatever you get, you get, he said.,swimming in socks,7. come up with (para. 5) : to find or produce an answer, a sum of money, etc.,she said the two countries should

27、together come up with a plan to fight climate change.,dont avoid complainers, listen to them just long enough to hear the problem, then try to come up with a solution.,swimming in socks,8. counter (para. 6): v. to reply to sb. by trying to prove that what they said is not true,they counter by tellin

28、g us they only want to protect those things that are theirs, which is fair enough, as far as it goes.,他们两个人都不得不对尖锐的批评进行反击。,both of them had to counter fierce criticism.,swimming in socks,9. contract (para. 6): n. an official written agreement,paul pierce is officially headed to his third team in thr

29、ee years, signing a contract thursday with the washington wizards.,约翰同意和公司签一份三年期的合同。,john has agreed to sign a three-year contract.,swimming in socks,10. fight back(para.6) : to resist strongly or attack sb. who has attacked you,the company fought back, arguing that the products came with warnings m

30、aking it clear that the balls were not safe for children.,如果他打了你，你为何不还手 呢 ?,if he hit you, why didnt you fight back?,swimming in socks,11. flip (para. 8) v. to make sb./sth. turn over into a different orientation with a sudden quick movement,the car flipped five or six times and landed upside down o

31、n interstate 5.,he flipped to a fresh page and began to write.,他翻到另外一页，开始写了起来。,swimming in socks,12. you always hear in sports that the butterflies go away after a while, but elizabeths butterflies just kept flapping. (para. 9),paraphrase,its a usual case that in a sports meet, players will feel ner

32、vous at the start but will get it over after a while of the match. however, elizabeth felt nervous throughout the swim meet.,swimming in socks,12. you always hear in sports that the butterflies go away after a while, but elizabeths butterflies just kept flapping. (para. 9),have butterflies (in your

33、stomach) : (informal) to have a nervous feeling in your stomach before doing sth.,flap: v. to (make sth.) move up and down or from side to side, often making a noise,two large birds flapped slowly across the water.,she walked up and down, flapping her arms to keep warm.,swimming in socks,13. enterta

34、ining (para. 11): adj. interesting and amusing,i found the talk both informative and entertaining.,我个人认为，足球是一项比棒球或篮球更具娱乐性的运动。,personally, i think football is so much more of an entertaining sport than baseball or basketball.,swimming in socks,14. out (of) the window (para. 12): (informal) out of exi

35、stence, use, or consideration,by now all logic had gone out of the window.,in a major true collapse, the regular rules are out the window.,swimming in socks,15. she seemed to swim faster in the t-shirt and socks than when she did when she wasnt wearing them. (para. 12),paraphrase,curiously, it seeme

36、d that elizabeth swam faster when she was wearing the t-shirt and socks than she wasnt wearing them.,translation,貌似她穿着t恤和袜子游泳比不穿游得更快。,swimming in socks,16. in the lead (para. 13): in the first position in a race or competition,rosberg remained in the lead for the rest of the race, not allowing hamil

37、ton a chance to overtake him.,我们队在前半场领先。,our team was in the lead at half time.,swimming in socks,17. in the zone (para. 14): in a state in which you feel confident and are performing at your best,that athlete was really in the zone and he broke the world record.,那运动员高水平发挥，最终打破了世界纪录。,swimming in soc

38、ks,18. gain on (para. 15): to come near to sb./sth. in distance or time,we were gaining on them when they suddenly sped up.,i couldnt go any faster, even though the car behind was gaining on us.,swimming in socks,19. it was time for desperate measures. (para. 15),something extreme had to be done at

39、this point.,paraphrase,swimming in socks,20. . elizabeth swam her heart out for the last 15 meters. (para. 16),elizabeth tried her very best to swim the last 15 meters, so that she felt very tired.,paraphrase,swimming in socks,21. but elizabeth beat the other girl to the wall for the victory. (para.

40、 16),however, elizabeth touched the wall before the other girl and won the race.,paraphrase,swimming in socks,22it was completely unexpected and completely ridiculous and completely pointless. (para. 17),the result was completely out of the expectation of all the people on the spot. it was just unth

41、inkable, but its meaningless to figure out why.,paraphrase,swimming in socks,22it was completely unexpected and completely ridiculous and completely pointless. (para. 17),the adverb completely appears three times in this short sentence. it reflects that people were really excited and surprised about the fact of winning the competition. the adjectives ridiculous and pointless are negative words in fact, but they are used as positive words to s