常春藤生活英語：母子之約

Patricia and her husband, Mike, were having an argument about another woman in Mike's life—his mother. "You two haven't dined together for so long," Patricia said. Mike replied by saying that his busy job occupied most of his time. He also said that he knew his mother was happy enough when she was around his beautiful wife and two lovely daughters. "I've made a reservation1 for you both at Tony's Steakhouse for tomorrow at seven," his wife told him as she handed him the phone.

"Hello, Mother, would you like to go to Tony's tomorrow night for dinner?" Mike asked, "You know, it's Mother's Day." His mother thought something was wrong when Mike told her it would only be the two of them. "Don't worry, Mom. The family is great. I just think it'll be fun if only the two of us go out, like we used to do in the old days."

The next day, when Mike picked up his mother, she was all dressed up. Mike complimented2 her, but she just said, "I'm really looking forward to our dinner." They drove to the restaurant and sat at the same table they used to sit at 30 years ago. Mike's mother said she wanted to focus on happy things, but she needed to tell him one thing first. "Son, I know you have to work hard to be successful, but make sure you spend as much time with your family as possible."

派翠西亞正和她丈夫麥克爭吵，為的是麥克生命中的另一個女人，也就是他的母親。派翠西亞說：『你們兩個已經(jīng)很久沒一起吃飯了?！畸溈藙t回答說他忙碌的工作就占去了他大部分的時間。他還說他知道光是跟他美麗的太太和兩個可愛的女兒在一起，他母親就夠開心了。他太太邊拿電話給他邊說：『我已經(jīng)幫你們倆在東尼牛排館訂好明晚七點的位子了。』

麥克問：『喂，媽，妳明天晚上想不想去東尼牛排館吃晚飯?妳知道的，明天是母親節(jié)?！划?dāng)麥克告訴他母親只有他們母子倆要去時，她覺得事有蹊蹺。『別擔(dān)心，媽。家里一切都很好。我只是覺得如果只有我們兩個人去的話會很好玩，就像以前一樣。』

隔天麥克去接他母親時，她已經(jīng)盛裝打扮好了。麥克贊美她一番，不過她只是說：『我真的很期待我們的晚餐?！凰麄凃?qū)車前往餐廳，然后坐在他們?nèi)昵白^的同一張桌子。麥克的母親說她想專注在開心的事情上，不過得先告訴他一件事?！簝鹤?，我知道你為了成功得努力工作，但你一定要盡量多花時間陪陪家人?！?/p>

Building Your Vocabulary

1. dine　vi. 進(jìn)餐

Al dined at a Thai restaurant on his birthday.

艾爾生日時在一間泰國餐廳用餐。

2. occupy　vt. 占用(一段時間或空間)

The bed occupied most of Jack's bedroom.

這張床就占掉了杰克臥房的大半空間。

Phrases for Learning

1. have an argument　　爭吵

We had an argument about the wedding.

我們?yōu)榱嘶槎Y的事吵架。

2. used to + 原形動詞　　過去曾∕常做……

Paul used to go hiking when he was young.

保羅年輕時常去健行。

3. be/get all dressed up　　盛裝打扮

Joan got all dressed up for the party.

喬安妮盛裝打扮準(zhǔn)備參加派對。

4. look forward to + 名詞∕動名詞　　期待∕盼望……

Nancy is looking forward to opening her gifts.

南西期待著要拆開她的禮物。

參考字詞

1. reservation　n.(座位、房間等的)預(yù)訂

2. compliment　vt. 贊美，恭維

Tips In Use

...his mother was happy enough...

(……他母親就夠開心了。)

1. enough 作副詞用時，表『足夠可以』，可修飾形容詞或副詞，采后位修飾，即 enough 恒置于該形容詞或副詞之后，而不可置于其前。本句即為此例。

Allen studied hard enough to keep up with his classmates.

(艾倫夠用功，足以跟上他的同學(xué)。)

2. enough 亦常作形容詞，表『充份的』，修飾名詞時，通常置于該名詞前，但亦可置于其后(罕用)。

Bill doesn't have enough time for lunch.

=Bill doesn't have time enough for lunch.

(比爾不夠時間吃午餐。)

注意:

enough 不論作副詞或形容詞，其后通常接不定詞詞組(to + 原形動詞)或"for + 名詞"。