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Lesson 33 A day to remember
We have all experienced days when everything goes wrong. A day may begin well enough, but suddenly everything seems to get out of control. What invariably happens is that a great number of things choose to go wrong at precisely the same moment. It is as if a single unimportant event set up a chain of reactions. Let us suppose that you are preparing a meal and keeping an eye on the baby at the same time. The telephone rings and this marks the prelude to an unforeseen series of catastrophes. While you are on the phone, the baby pulls the tablecloth off the table smashing half your best crockery and cutting himself in the process. You hang up hurriedly and attend to baby, crockery, etc. Meanwhile, the meal gets burnt. As if this were not enough to reduce you to tears, your husband arrives, unexpectedly bringing three guests to dinner.
Things can go wrong on a big scale as a number of people recently discovered in Parramatta, a suburb of Sydney. During the rush hour one evening two cars collided and both drivers began to argue. The woman immediately behind the two cars happened to be a learner. She suddenly got into a panic and stopped her car. This made the driver following her brake hard. His wife was sitting beside him holding a large cake. As she was thrown forward, the cake went right through the windscreen and landed on the road. Seeing a cake flying through the air, a lorry driver who was drawing up alongside the car, pulled up all of a sudden. The lorry was loaded with empty beer bottles and hundreds of them slid off the back of the vehicle and on to the road. This led to yet another angry argument. Meanwhile, the traffic piled up behind. It took the police nearly an hour to get the traffic on the move again. In the meantime, the lorry driver had to sweep up hundreds of broken bottles. Only two stray dogs benefited from all this confusion, for they greedily devoured what was left of the cake. It was just one of those days!
参考译文
我们大家都有过事事不顺心的日子。一天开始时，可能还不错，但突然间似乎一切都失去了控制。情况经常是这样的，许许多多的事情都偏偏赶在同一时刻出问题，好像是一件无关紧要的小事引起了一连串的连锁反应。假设你在做饭，同时又在照看孩子。这时电话铃响了。它预示着一连串意想不到的灾难的来临。就在你接电话时，孩子把桌布从桌子上扯下来，将家中最好的陶瓷餐具半数摔碎，同时也弄伤了他自己。你急急忙忙挂上电话，赶去照看孩子和餐具。这时，饭又烧糊了。好像这一切还不足以使你急得掉泪，你的丈夫接着回来了，事先没打招呼就带来3个客人吃饭。
就像许多人最近在悉尼郊区帕拉马塔发现的那样，有时乱子会闹得很大。一天傍晚交通最拥挤时，一辆汽车撞上前面一辆汽车，两个司机争吵起来。紧跟其后的一辆车上的司机碰巧是个初学者，她一惊之下突然把车停了下来。她这一停使得跟在后头的司机也来个急刹车。司机妻子正坐在他身边，手里托着块大蛋糕。她往前一冲，蛋糕从挡风玻璃飞了出去掉到马路上。此时，一辆卡车正好从后边开到那辆汽车边上，司机看见一块蛋糕从天而降，紧急刹车。卡车上装着空啤酒瓶。成百只瓶子顺势从卡车后面滑出车外落在马路上。这又引起一场唇枪舌剑的争吵。与此同时，后面的车辆排成了长龙，警察花了将近一个小时才使车辆又开起来。在这段时间里，卡车司机不得不清扫那几百只破瓶子。只有两只野狗从这一片混乱中得到好处，它们贪婪地吃掉了剩下的蛋糕。这就是事事不顺心的那么一天！
【New words and expressions】 生词和短语
●prelude n. 序幕，前奏
●unforeseen adj. 意料之外的
●series n. 系列
●catastrophe n. 大祸，灾难
●crockery n. 陶器，瓦器
●suburb n. 郊区
●collide v. 猛撞
●learner n. 初学者
●panic n. 惊慌，恐慌
●windscreen n. （汽车的）挡风玻璃
●alongside prep. 在......的旁边，与......并排
●slide v. 滑
●stray adj. 离群的
●confusion n. 混乱
●greedily adv. 贪婪地
●devour v. 狼吞虎咽地吃
重点词汇
1. prelude n. 序幕，前奏
a prelude to sth ......的前奏
Eg: a prelude to serious trouble 麻烦的前奏
联想记忆
introduction 导言，绪论
introduction to the book
preface 序，前言
foreword 序
2. unforeseen adj. 意料之外的
句子
I foresee a bright future for you.
形变
foreseeable 可预见的
foreseeing 预料之中的
unforeseeing 意料之外的
联想记忆
foretell 预言，主语可以是人或物
predict 预言，预示（语气较强），主语必须是人
Eg: He predicted that it would happen in ten years.
forecast : 预测，预报（主要指天气的预报）
Eg: Timely snow foretells a bumper harvest. 瑞雪照丰年
3. series n. 系列(series 单复数形式同形)
句子
We've got a series of good harvest.
a series of reaction 一系列反应
联想记忆 chain 连串，连锁
a chain of 一系列
a chain of reaction一系列反应
chain store 连锁店，
chain reaction 连锁反应
chain smoker 吸烟很严重的人
近义词汇
succession 侧重时间上的连续
a suucession of failures 一系列的失败
Eg.: We've got a succession of successes.
string 连续不断相似的事件
Eg.: a string of cars 一连串的汽车
train 一个接一个发生的事
a train of thoughts/ ideas 一个个的想法
4。catastrophe n. 大祸，灾难
词组
worldwide catastrophe 世界范围的灾难
national catastrophe 波及全国的灾难
同义辨析
disaster ,catastrosphe,calamity
disaster 不可预料的意外事件造成的灾难，不幸（语气较弱）
eg: nature disaster
calamity 巨大而严重灾害的不幸事件
The attack on Pearl Harbor (珍珠港)was a crushing calamity.
nature calamity 自然灾害
5。 panic n. 惊慌，恐慌
英释
uncontrollable quickly spreading fear or terror
词句
get into a panic 陷入惊慌之中
He suddenly got into a panic and stop his car.
be struck with panic== be seized with panic 惊慌失措
He was seized with panic.
6。slide v. 滑
句子
He slid the drawer open.
A sliding door.
同义辨析 slide ,slip
slip v打滑，（因地面光滑而失去平衡，不一定摔倒）
slide 指某个平面上的直线运动，不能表示失去平衡，当表示"滑落，溜进，溜出"的意思时，两个词可以互换
7. confusion n. 混乱
英释out of order
词组
in order 秩序井然 out of order 混乱
in confusion 乱七八糟
be covered with confusion 局促不安
throw sb into confusion 使某人惊慌失措
8. devour v. 狼吞虎咽地吃；吞没，毁灭
英释
1. eat like an animal
The dog devoured the cake
2. destroy 吞灭，席卷
The flames devoured the whole building
3. take in eagerly with eyes, ears, or mind 贪婪地看
His eyes devoured the scene. 他两眼贪婪地看着。
固定搭配
be devoured by/with 心中充满（好奇）
I am devoured with anxiety.
近义表达：swallow v.一口吞下
She swallowed some milk.
wolf down 狼吞虎咽
反义表达 ： take a sip of sth 小口呷
take a bit of sth. 尝一小口
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