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】

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

“在這個地方野餐簡直太妙了，”格格利亞.格利姆說。

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

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

“好了，好了，司法官，”羅克沃爾說，“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?”那位司法長官冷笑一聲說道，“好，我就是布林克斯利.米爾斯。我還有一個名字叫格格利亞.格利姆。現(xiàn)在你們趕快滾吧!”

【生詞匯總】

limelight n. 舞臺燈光

precaution n. 預防措施

fan n. 狂熱者，迷

shady adj. 遮蔭的

sheriff n. 司法長官

notice n. 告示

sneer n. 冷笑

【知識點講解】

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

這個句子里stop表示停靠、停留的意思，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，離開，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，引導目的狀語從句，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，沒有逗號。在這個句子里用的是should，表示目的或動機。

② so that 還可以引導結(jié)果狀語從句，表示“因此、所以”，此時不能與in order that 互換，而從句中的謂語則使用相應的時態(tài)，主從句之間也可以用逗號隔開。例如：

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

因為身體不太舒服，她取消了旅行。

3. disguises can sometimes be too perfect.

大家可能覺得這個句子順序有點兒怪怪的，似乎can和sometimes應該換換位置。其實因為sometimes是時間副詞，在英語中，時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.

昨天我看了場電影。

4. they had all made themselves comfortable.

① make oneself/one+adj. 這里的形容詞充當賓語補足語 表示“使得某人……”

You should make yourself happy.

你應該使自己快樂。

② 還有一種形式是make sb. /sth. done，歸納起來就是make+賓語sb. /sth. +賓語補足語。用過去分詞作賓語補足語，說明這里賓語和賓補動詞do之間是一種被動關系。例如：

Parents' words always make me surrounded with warm.

爸媽的話總讓我感覺很溫暖。

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