常春藤生活英語(yǔ)：Murphy's Law 莫非定律

Candy signed up for a cooking class because she wanted to improve her cooking skills. After she browsed through the list, she chose a baking class. Candy had often thought that becoming a pastry chef would be fun. However, she had always been too hesitant to try it. On the first day of class, Candy was all thumbs. It seemed the other students were better at baking than she was. She feared she might be the worst student in the class, but she decided to try her best.

The second day of class was going better and, although she was still anxious, Candy was feeling more confident. It seemed to her that mixing everything together was quite easy. When that was done, she poured the mixture into a cake pan. Then, she placed the pan in the oven. As the cakes baked, Candy and the others watched the teacher demonstrate how to properly decorate a cake.

Afterwards, it was time to take out the cakes. Unfortunately for Candy, something had gone wrong with hers. It looked and smelled terrible. After the teacher checked and tasted the cake, she said Candy had made several huge mistakes. Instead of using sugar, she used salt. Instead of only using egg whites, she used whole eggs. And last, instead of using cocoa, she used cinnamon. It was a disaster that only Murphy's Law could explain.

坎蒂想使廚藝進(jìn)步，所以她報(bào)名上烹飪課。在她瀏覽過(guò)課程表后，她選了烘焙課?？驳俪Ｔ谙?，當(dāng)一位糕點(diǎn)師傅會(huì)很有趣。不過(guò)她一直因?yàn)樘q豫而沒(méi)有嘗試。上課的第一天，坎蒂弄得手忙腳亂。其它學(xué)生的烘焙技巧似乎都比她好。她害怕她可能會(huì)是班上最糟糕的學(xué)生，但她仍決定全力以赴。

第二天的課程進(jìn)行得較為順利，雖然坎蒂還是很不安，但她感覺(jué)比較有自信了。對(duì)她而言，把每樣材料混合在一起似乎相當(dāng)容易?；旌虾靡院?，她把面團(tuán)倒進(jìn)蛋糕烤盤中。然后她把烤盤放進(jìn)烤箱里。蛋糕在烤的期間，坎蒂和其它學(xué)員看老師示范怎樣正確地裝飾蛋糕。

之后該是把蛋糕取出來(lái)的時(shí)候了。很不幸地，坎蒂的蛋糕出了差錯(cuò)。它看起來(lái)和聞起來(lái)都糟透了。老師檢查并嘗了蛋糕后，說(shuō)坎蒂犯了好幾個(gè)天大的錯(cuò)誤。應(yīng)該用糖，她卻加了鹽巴。應(yīng)該只用蛋白，她則放了整顆蛋。最后，她用的不是可可粉而是肉桂。這樣的失敗只有用莫非定律才能解釋得了。

Building Your Vocabulary

1.hesitant　a. 猶豫的，遲疑的

You will miss this chance if you are hesitant.

如果你猶豫的話，你就會(huì)錯(cuò)失這次機(jī)會(huì)。

2.pour　vt. 倒，灌，注

Alice poured some juice into a cup.

艾莉絲倒了一些果汁到杯子里。

3.demonstrate　vt. 示范

I'll demontrate how to use this machine later.

我待會(huì)兒會(huì)示范如何操作這臺(tái)機(jī)器。

Phrases for Learning

1.sign up for...　　報(bào)名參加……(的課程)

Lisa signed up for a yoga class to stay fit.

莉薩報(bào)名上瑜珈課來(lái)健身。

2.browse through...　　瀏覽……

I spent 30 minutes browsing through this magazine.

我花了三十分鐘的時(shí)間瀏覽這本雜志。

3.be all thumbs　　笨手笨腳

I am all thumbs when I play the guitar.

我彈吉它時(shí)指法都很生澀。

參考字詞

1.pastry chef　n. 糕點(diǎn)師傅

2.mixture　n. 混合物;混合料

3.egg white　n. 蛋白

4.cocoa　n. 可可粉

5.cinnamon　n. 肉桂

6.disaster　n. 失敗;災(zāi)難

Grammar Check

...demonstrate how to properly decorate a cake.

(……示范怎樣正確地裝飾蛋糕。)

句中的"how to properly decorate..."稱作名詞詞組，所謂名詞詞組乃由『疑問(wèn)詞 + 不定詞詞組(to + 原形動(dòng)詞)』組成。名詞詞組與名詞子句一樣，在主要子句中可作主詞、受詞或置于 be 動(dòng)詞后作主詞補(bǔ)語(yǔ)。此處的"how to properly decorate a cake"即作動(dòng)詞 demonstrate 的受詞。

We haven't decided where to go on vacation.

(我們還沒(méi)確定要去哪里度假。)