新概念第二册自学导读 Lessons38

课文详注 Further notes on the text

1．He had often dreamed of retiring in England and had planned to settle down in the country．过去他常幻想退休后到英国，并计划在乡间安顿下来。

（1）dream of 在这里不表示具体的做梦，
而是“幻想”、“向往”的意思：

Frank used to dream of having a car of his own.

弗兰克过去常幻想拥有一辆自己的车。

（2）settle down 是个固定短语，
可以表示“定居”、“安身”、“安顿”等含义：

They settled down in Australia in 1988.

他们1988年在澳大利亚定居了。

After two years of travelling, I want to settle down now.

旅行了两年之后，我现在想过安定的日子了。

2．Almost immediately he began to complain about the weather, for even though it was still summer, it rained continually and it was often bitterly cold. 但紧接着他就开始抱怨那里的天气了。 因为即使那时仍为夏季，但雨总是下个不停，而且常常冷得厉害。

（1）for 在这里为连词，
为所陈述的事说出原因。它与 because不同，不能用于句首。并且在for后面必须重复主语：

I don't have a car, for I can't afford it.

我没有车，因为我买不起。

（2）连词even though引导的是让步状语从句，
表示“即使”、“虽然”：

Even though we were very tired, we went on with the work.

虽然我们已非常累了，我们仍然继续干活。

3．He acted as if be had never lived in England before．他的举动就好像他从未在英国生活过一样。

连词 as if/ though 引导方式状语从句，通常跟在描述行为举止的动词之后，如act, appear, feel, look, smell, sound等后面：

She acted as if she were mad.

她的举动像疯了一样。

It feels as if/ though it's going to rain.

这天气给人的感觉好像是要下雨。

4．In the end, it was more than he could bear. 最后，他再也忍受不住。

more than在这里表示“超过……的范围”：

This piece of news is more than I can believe.

我无法相信这条消息。

这种用法与它通常表示“比……更多”的用法稍有不同：

There were more than ten people in the room.

房间里不止10个人。