英語早間課堂:A Fly in the Ointment

【直擊主題】

There's a phrase which expresses that "a bad person or a poor thing in a group would do harm to others or take abjective influence to the members in the whole group , or even the worst is that it or he would ruin the entire group." What's it? Let's listen to a simple situational dialogue and find it .

【對話原聲 美語發(fā)音】

A : I'm so bored. I don't like my new job.

B : What did you say? You're not satisfied with your new job.

A : Yeah, I do.

B : What do you want? Your new job sounds too good to be true- interesting work, high pay, short hours. Is there any fly in the ointment?

A : But I have no freedom.

【答疑解惑】

With the development of language, in modern English it's used to express " an unpleasant thing of a pleasant thing" 表示美中不足的意思，or express " something small spoils your fun" 表示使人掃興的事情，and refers to " the flaw , inconvenience ,or impediment in an arrangement", 表示事情中的麻煩，缺陷或是障礙。However, all of the above meanings come from it's original meaning I've mentioned. And now listen again and try to hunt it. A : I'm so boring. I don't like my new job.

B : What did you say? You're not satisfied with your new job.

A : Yeah, I do.

B : What do you want? Your new job sounds too good to be true- interesting work, high pay, short hours. Is there any fly in the ointment?

A : But I have no freedom.

All right, this time have you found it? [There is a silence.] Come on , have a shot! It doesn't matter if you are right or wrong and what I would like is your active participation. [Juliet, it seems that it's a fly in the ointment. ] Yeah, dead right. It is "a fly in the ointment ". This phrase comes from 【圣經(jīng)：舊約】《傳道書》第十章. The original sentence is " Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary and send forth a stinking savour ;so doth a little folly him that is in reputation and honor ." "Fly " 是蒼蠅的意思, "ointment " 是藥膏，油膏的意思， a fly in the ointment 字面上的意思就是“藥膏里的蒼蠅”， the front part of sentence above in the Bible意思是說: 一只死蒼蠅使得做香的油膏發(fā)出臭氣， 本來做香的油膏是有香氣的，由于一只死蒼蠅而使全部的油膏發(fā)臭，這就是有點(diǎn)像我們中文里說的：一顆老鼠屎攪壞一鍋湯。Something like " a black sheep" which is a slang , 這有點(diǎn)兒像這個(gè)俚語的意思：a black sheep , 意思是：害群之馬，敗家子，敗類，可不要把它認(rèn)為是一只黑色的綿羊。Let's look at another part part of the above sentence from the Bible, 后面的意思是：這樣，一點(diǎn)愚昧，也能敗壞他的智慧和榮譽(yù)?？梢?the Bible 都是 perfectionism 的說教?？墒乾F(xiàn)實(shí)生活中，人無完人，物無完物，everything has one more face. 因此, a fly in the ointment 就有了“美中不足，”“使人掃興的事”，“事情中的缺陷，麻煩，或障礙等”的意思。

【學(xué)以致用】

Let's look at more example sentences with the phrase "a fly in the ointment " . Another fly in the ointment was that Xiangzi had nearly got into a fight that morning when the rickshaw pullers were having their feast.還有點(diǎn)美中不足的地方,早晨給車夫們擺飯的時(shí)節(jié),祥子幾乎和人打起來。 This is the sentence from a well-known literature called《駱駝祥子》written by Laoshe, a Chinese famous writer. It was a very good party. The only fly in the ointment was that the host got drunk and started abusing everybody!那是一個(gè)非常好的聚會,美中不足的是,主人喝醉了,并開始辱罵每一個(gè)人。

【視野拓展】

Talking of " a fly in the ointment " which means " an unpleasant of a pleasant thing " , we have more expressions which are as follows: to spoil the fun; to be a wet blanker ( this is slang ); to kill joy; to dampen interest.

【小題大作】

Next let's study the dialogue. Please write down the key phrases while listening to the recording. A : I'm so bored. I don't like my new job.

B : What did you say? You're not satisfied with your new job.

A : Yeah, I do.

B : What do you want? Your new job sounds too good to be true- interesting work, high pay, short hours. Is there any fly in the ointment?

A : But I have no freedom.

【日積月累】

I think these phrases should be beared in our mind. 1 not at all 一點(diǎn)也不2 be satisfied with 對......滿意3 too......to 太.......而不.......

4 high pay 高薪水5 short hours 工作的時(shí)間短6 have ( no ) freedom 有(沒有)自由【譯文參考】

The translation of the whole dialogue is :

A : 真無聊。我一點(diǎn)兒都不喜歡我的新工作。

B : 你說什么? 你對自己的工作不滿意?

A : 對呀，我就是不滿意。

B : 那你想干什么?你的新工作真是太好了：有趣味，薪水高，工作時(shí)間短。還有什么不足之處嗎?

A : 但是我沒有自由。

【詳說關(guān)鍵句子】

Let's learn the key sentences in the dialogue. 1 I am so board . 【翻譯】真是無聊。

【要點(diǎn)】bored 是動(dòng)詞bore 的過去分詞，意思是: 無聊的，厭煩的，作為形容詞用了，但是它有個(gè)過去分詞boring , 意思是令人厭煩的，無聊的，乏味的。那我們?nèi)绾芜\(yùn)用呢?如果主語是指物，就用boring, 主語是人,就是bored. Let's look at some more example sentence s : He rattled on about his job, not noticing how bored she was. 他只顧?quán)┼┎恍莸卣f自己工作上的事，沒注意到她有多麼膩煩。I'm rather bored by the rumor. 這謠傳我真聽厭煩了。This is one of the few gratifications of an otherwise boring job. 這是枯燥的工作中少有的一項(xiàng)樂趣。

2 You're not satisfied with your new job.

【翻譯】你對你的工作不滿意。

【要點(diǎn)】be satisfied with is a set phrase. Satisfied 是動(dòng)詞 satisfy 的過去分詞，意思是：感到滿意的, satisfying是 satisfy的現(xiàn)在分詞, 意思是：令人滿意的, 兩個(gè)都是形容詞。那我們怎么用呢?道理同上面所說到的boring 和 bored是一樣的. 主語是物，用現(xiàn)在分詞。主語是人，就用過去分詞。For example: I am not at all satisfied with the present situation. 我對現(xiàn)狀根本不滿意。Let me reassure you( that) your service is quite satisfying. 讓我向您保證，您的服務(wù)是很令人滿意的。

3 Your new job sounds too good to be true- interesting work, high pay, short hours. Is there any fly in the ointment?

【翻譯】你的新工作真是太好了：有趣味，薪水高，工作時(shí)間短。還有什么不足之處嗎?

【要點(diǎn)】

1 too...to 是太......以至于不能做某事的意思。我認(rèn)為文中的句子直譯還不準(zhǔn)確，確切的翻譯我覺得是：你的新工作真是好，好得讓人簡直不敢相信是真的。For example : The boy is still too young to go to school. 小男孩還不到上學(xué)年齡。 2 a fly in the ointment 用于疑問句中，a 就要改為any. A在肯定句中也可以為the, 這個(gè)短語fly錢的冠詞不是一層不變的。For example: The only fly in the ointment was the bad weather.唯一美中不足之處是惡劣的天氣。 3 interesting work, high pay, short hours在句子中做的是主語job的補(bǔ)足語。

3 But I have no freedom.

【翻譯】可是我沒有自由。

【要點(diǎn)】這句可以這樣說： I don't have any freedom.

【小編的喇叭】

Well , so much to absorb today. It's suggested that you should absorb them with a quiet state of your heart so that what we've learnt can be brought into right practice and it's unforgettable. It's time to say goodbye to you, have a nice day. Remember to review what you've learnt in the morning after work. May you have a nice day . Thank you for your listening this time , see you next time .今天講的可不少呀，我們需要有一種安靜的心態(tài)去消化知識，這樣才能真正正確的運(yùn)用到實(shí)際中來，而且不容易忘記。又該跟大家暫時(shí)在空中告別了，祝你工作順利。可不要忘記下班后再溫習(xí)功課。感謝您的這次收聽，下次再會。

【溫故知新】

【翻譯練習(xí)】

1 Please translate the following sentences into English.

當(dāng)我們正在舉行野餐的時(shí)候,忽然大雨傾盆,未免大煞風(fēng)景。

那天外出真好,美中不足的是天氣很陰。

我喜歡那套房子,但美中不足的是離上班的地方太遠(yuǎn)美中不足的是中間有一個(gè)雙塔的旅館擋住了部分海洋的美麗的景色。

我讓歷史科給煩透了--那些日期，戰(zhàn)爭之類的事。

太叫人厭煩了。

這是一頓很使人滿足的飯。

我對現(xiàn)狀根本不滿意。

參考答案：

We were having a picnic, when suddenly there came a downpour, which was rather a fly in the ointment.

It was nice to go out for the day; the only fly in the ointment was the dull weather.

I like the house, But there's a fly in the ointment: I have to commute so far to workAnother hotel of two buildings seems to be a fly in the ointment, blocking part of the beautiful ocean view. I'm bored by history dates and battles and all that stuff.

It is awfully boring.

It's a most satisfying meal.

I am not at all satisfied with the present situation.

【口語練習(xí)】

1 Please translate the following dialogue into English orally. A : 真無聊。我一點(diǎn)兒都不喜歡我的新工作。

B : 你說什么? 你對自己的工作不滿意?

A : 對呀，我就是不滿意。

B : 那你想干什么?你的新工作真是太好了：有趣味，薪水高，工作時(shí)間短。還有什么不足之處嗎?

A : 但是我沒有自由。

2 請把對話中的直接引語改為間接引語。

A : I'm so bored. I don't like my new job.

B : What did you say? You're not satisfied with your new job.

A : Yeah, I do.

B : What do you want? Your new job sounds too good to be true- interesting work, high pay, short hours. Is there any fly in the ointment?

A : But I have no freedom.

3 Topic discussion Please talk about the present of your job?

What do you think of unsatisfying job?

【聽力練習(xí)】

please listen to the recording and make a dictation. A : I'm so bored. I don't like my new job.

B : What did you say? You're not satisfied with your new job.

A : Yeah, I do.

B : What do you want? Your new job sounds too good to be true- interesting work, high pay, short hours. Is there any fly in the ointment?

A : But I have no freedom.